The Age of Discovery is an informal European historical period from the 15th century to the 18th century. It is characterised by major overseas exploration. This exploration is a considered a powerful factor in European culture. England, Spain, France and Portugal all sent naval expeditions to search for and conquer countries in Asia, African and the Americas. This led to competition between the above-mentioned countries for land and resources. There was only a limited amount of land and resources available to be colonised, so the colonial powers ended up waging wars against each other for the right to control land and resources
