4.+Geographic+Factors+that+affected+the+European+Journeys+to+the+New+World

=Geographic factors that affected the European Journeys to the New World.=

1. __Winds and Currents__

On their westward voyage, sailing ships took the route that the North-East Trade Wind route boosted by the Equatorial Current since they needed favouable winds to reach destinations in reasonable time. On their return to Europe, the Gulf Stream (a current) swept them through the Florida Channel, up the Atlantic coast of North America into the south-westerly winds and North Atlantic Drift.

2. __Location of the land masses__

The Caribbean archipelago (chain of Caribbean islands) stretches from the Florida Channel in the north to the Orinoco Basin in Venezuela to the south. It is divided into the Western and Eastern Caribbean which consists of the Greater and Lesser Antilles respectively.

Using Hispaniola as a base, the Spaniards occupied the other islands of the Greater Antilles and the mainland. Apart from Trinidad, they ignored the 'Useless Islands' (in their opinion) of the Lesser Antilles.

Because of the direction of the North-East Trade Winds, ships from Europe and Africa entered the Caribbean through many passages between the islands of the Lesser Antilles, proceeding to the mainland of South and Central America, and to the Greater Antilles.