Europe and the World: New Encounters, 1500-1800 On the Brink of a New World The Atlantic seaboard had become the center of a commercial activity that raised Portugal and Spain and later the Dutch Republic, England, and France to prominence The age of expansion was a crucial factor in the European transition from the agrarian economy of the Middle Ages to a commercial and industrial system The Motives for Expansion Catholic Europe had been confined to one geographic area Europe had never completely lost touch with the outside world The goods of Asia and Africa made their way into medieval castles In the 9th and 10th the Vikings had even made to the eastern fringes of North America Fantastic Lands