These 15 articles follow on from those in The Global Opportunity in that they examine how and why the Europeans expanded worldwide. Part one explores the means in terms of science, technology and material resources; part two examines the motives, primarily as a result of restricted resources in Europe; while part three concludes with the reasons that the expansion continued and grew - the momentum.

Contents: Introduction; Means: Geography in 15th-century Florence, Thomas Goldstein; Navigation primitive et navigation astronomique, Paul Adam; Portuguese shipbuilding and the early voyages to the Guinea coast, Richard W. Unger; Le rÿle des capitaux internationaux dans les voyages de découvertes aux XVe et XVIe siècles, Jacques Heers; Italian influences in Iberian colonization, Charles Verlinden; Motives: Prince Henry the Navigator, P. E. Russell; Fernand Colomb et le traité d'astrologie d'Henri le navigateur, Guy Beaujouan; Back to gold - and silver, Andrew M. Watson; The quest for Prester John, C. F. Beckingham; Prophecy and discovery: on the spiritual origins of Christopher Columbus's 'Enterprise of the Indies', Pauline Moffitt Watts; Momentum: The transfer of colonial techniques from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, Charles Verlinden; The Castilian as plainsman: the medieval ranching frontier in La Mancha and Extremadura, Charles Julian Bishko; Atlantic exploration before Columbus: the evidence of maps, Felipe Fernández-Armesto; European merchants in the medieval Indies: the evidence of commercial documents, Robert S. Lopez; Frontier arrangements in fragmented societies: Ireland and Wales, Rees Davies; Index.