How significant was the role of religion in driving the forces of exploration from Europe? What ...

ANSWER:
While not a prime factor in the era of exploration, religious motives did exist. The two main areas that sent explorers, Iberia and Genoa, differed in their religious approaches. The argument could be made that Genoa's purpose was entirely commercial, while the Spanish and Portuguese were competing in both religion and commerce with the Islamic areas that had already established trade, technology, and navigation ventures within Africa, around it, and extending into India and Southeast Asia. Conversion was a stated mission of Prince Henry the Navigator's voyages, which were funded at least in part by the Order of Christ but which also established diplomatic and trade contacts in Christianized Africa. Islamic contenders in Iberia and North Africa had also established roots and routes in Africa that predated Christianizing missions.