Book excerpt: The Age of Discovery explores one of the most dramatic features of the late medieval and early modern period: when voyagers from Western Europe led by Spain and Portugal set out across the world and established links with Africa, Asia and the Americas. This book examines the main motivations behind the voyages and discusses the developments in navigation expertise and technology that made them possible. This second edition brings the scholarship up to date and includes two new chapters on the important topics of the idea of "discovery" and on biological and environmental factors which favoured or limited European expansion.