It contributed because with renaissance came a previously non existent kids le class from former serfs and peasants who were able to afford little luxuries such as spices. These could only be accessed from Asia( at the time) and Portugal had a monopoly on the only known route to Asia. Spain having just defeated the Arabs and driven them out of Spain were looking for a way to make money, and back then trade was the way to do that. So they tried to find a new route to Asia and hired Italian Christopher Columbus to find a new route. He was one of the few people who believed in a spherical earth theory and not a flat earth theory. He set sail for Asia landed in the America’s and made Spain rich, and began the European age of exploration.