The opening of the new air route is an epoch-making event, which marks the beginning of the capitalist era, has made historic changes in world history and is a major turning point in human society. It broke the primitive closed and isolated state of all nationalities in the world, expanded the interactive activities of all nationalities in the world, and became the first step for human beings to integrate into the world. It directly induced the price revolution, commercial revolution and overseas colonial expansion of western European countries, opened up a vast world for the emerging bourgeoisie, accelerated the development of capitalist economy and the collapse of feudalism in western Europe, and promoted the formation of the world market. This paper attempts to analyze and study the reasons for the opening of new air routes from a scientific point of view, and discusses that the opening of new air routes is not only the natural result of social and economic development in Europe, but also the inevitable product of capitalist development. It has profound economic and social roots, as well as some religious roots.

Keywords: the fundamental conditions for opening up new air routes

There are two great discoveries in western Europe on the eve of entering modern times: first, the discovery of "man" in the Renaissance is an inward self-reflection and exploration of man; Second, the discovery of the "world" by the opening of new air routes is the exploration and conquest of nature by human beings. At the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, western European countries dreamed of exploring the routes to the East. After a series of maritime exploration activities, they opened up routes to India, America and other parts of the world. These routes are often called new routes. Under the influence of Eurocentrism, western historians generally call this process "geographical discovery". The opening of the new route is not an isolated event. It happened at the same time or around. There are two major movements in the west. One is the Renaissance (14-17th century). The other is the Religious Reform Movement (1520- 1570). These three movements are related. The opening of new air routes and the occurrence of religious reform were influenced by the Renaissance. The humanistic spirit shown in the Renaissance is an enterprising spirit to create secular happiness. Encouraged by this spirit, the opening of the new air route was completed. Renaissance also promoted the religious reform: humanists condemned the dark corruption of the Catholic church, which provided religious reformers with an argument to attack Catholicism; Humanists studied the original Bible and the original teachings of Christianity, which also opened the way for the formation of Protestantism. The Renaissance, the opening of the new air route and the religious reform opened the way for the capitalist mode of production from different aspects: the pioneer of the new air route was the bourgeoisie. Renaissance injected a positive and enterprising spirit into the bourgeoisie; The religious reform overthrew the rule of the Catholic Church as a stubborn fortress of feudal forces for the bourgeoisie in many European countries, and exercised the spiritual weapon of Calvinism for the bourgeoisie. The opening of the new air route is the product of the development of social production, and it is a response to the requirements of the times when feudal society declined and capitalism began to rise. Expanding the origin, market and means of exchange of raw materials is an inevitable need for the emergence and development of capitalist economy in Europe. It promoted the primitive accumulation process of capitalism and had a great impact on the distribution of world productive forces. The opening of the new air route has profound economic and social roots, as well as certain religious ideological roots, and the subjective and objective conditions are fully met. This paper analyzes the reasons for opening up new routes.

First of all, the embryonic development of European capitalism and the ensuing "gold rush" are the economic and social roots of the new route.

1, the development of commodity trade, Europe's greedy pursuit of gold

14-15th century, capitalist relations of production appeared in feudal systems of major European countries. The primitive accumulation of capitalism is going on, and handicrafts, commerce and especially trade are developing unprecedentedly. Big businessmen expand their trade markets everywhere in the known world; With the weakening of the landlord class, the bourgeoisie is rising; The nation tends to be unified, the ideology and culture are being updated, and the intellectual community is brewing a profound change. All these show that human history is in the process of great change. With the development of commodity economy and the expansion of trade, money, as a means of payment for commodity exchange, not only replaces land as the main symbol of social wealth, but also becomes an important symbol to measure social status and power. People's demand for money is increasing. Due to the scarcity of currency circulating in society, the currency used in Europe at that time was mainly gold coins, and gold was an important ornament and a symbol of wealth, so people's desire for it was endless. /kloc-after the change of the gold standard in the 0/5th century, gold became the only means of payment for domestic and foreign trade, and the demand increased sharply. However, the output of precious metals in western Europe is not high, and a large part of it is transported from Central Africa by caravans crossing the Sahara desert. This traditional mode of supply is increasingly unable to meet the needs of the development of commodity economy. At the same time, the huge trade deficit with the East led to a large outflow of silver, which aggravated the widespread money shortage in western European markets and seriously restricted the accumulation of capital. Europeans were crazy about money and gold at that time. Taking risks in any profitable place in the world has become the inherent attribute and inevitable behavior of the capitalist economic system. As Engels wrote in "On the Disintegration of Feudal System and the Emergence of Nation-State", the word "gold" is a spell that drives the Spanish to cross the Atlantic to America. When white people just set foot on the newly discovered coast, the first thing they want is gold. As Engels pointed out, "the discovery of America was driven by the golden dream that drove the Portuguese to Africa" [1]. Columbus himself said: "Gold is the most precious of all commodities, and gold is wealth. Who owns gold? He can get everything he needs in the world. At the same time, he can get the means to save his soul from purgatory and make it enjoy the joy of heaven again. [2] It can be seen that the motivation of Columbus's voyage to the West is not isolated, but hidden behind his motivation, which constitutes the real ultimate driving force of history. It was the ever-changing economic and political motives at that time and the requirements of the emerging bourgeoisie. This desire to venture far away for gold essentially reflects the urgent demand of capitalism for plundering wealth and accelerating primitive accumulation of capital. It is precisely because of its strong economic purpose that it is "promoted by an internal economic force" [3], and the western navigation activities will last forever and have a far-reaching impact. The key to the continuation of West Airlines for more than 200 years lies in the development of commodity currency economy in Western Europe and the needs of primitive accumulation of capital. Is the most fundamental driving force. Its ultimate goal is to seek new financial resources to meet the needs of the national treasury and society, especially to open up a broad venue for the emerging bourgeoisie ... The initial achievements of Westbound Airlines have not yet produced significant economic effects, but only opened the prelude to the increase of national treasury income and primitive accumulation of capital. Decadent feudal lords, big businessmen who want to live in poverty and ambitious bourgeoisie have insatiable pursuit of material wealth. We will never be satisfied with boxes of gold and ships of spices. Subsequent colonial conquest, piracy, commercial wars, fraudulent trade and slave trade, as well as the development of colonies. It is protracted and needs to be done later. With the development of western maritime colonization, its motivation has not disappeared, but has been stimulated by vested interests, showing its power day by day. Therefore, the initial' discovery' of western navigation is not its end, on the contrary. Some people pin their hopes on distant overseas and the East. This is not unreasonable. The Middle Ages East was very rich. Not only distant China and India, but also Arabia, which is close to Europe, has great attraction to Europe. Egypt, Syria and Palestine all have prosperous cities, prosperous businesses and a lot of wealth. The key is how to get there. Europeans will never stop until they reach their goals, just as the Crusaders invaded the East.

2. Europe's demand for luxury life.

Europe has a long tradition of trading with the outside world. Europe needs foreign goods. For centuries, Asia has been the main source of many valuable commodities in Europe, and some manufactured products cannot compete with Europe. For example, silk, cotton fabrics, carpets, jewelry, porcelain and high-quality steel, as well as some unprocessed or semi-finished medicinal materials and articles, such as sugar, especially spices, are more important than today. Everyone needs to use spices, which can make fresh meat and other foods that are easy to deteriorate without refrigeration equipment more delicious. Since the Romans first tasted the wonderful taste of spices, spices have become an indispensable thing in European life, and the whole of Europe needs a lot of spices. However, spices are produced in the Far East, and the transportation is not always smooth, and they need to be changed hands many times before they can be transported to Western Europe. Therefore, the price becomes extremely expensive. With the development of European commodity economy, the demand for oriental luxury goods is also increasing. Oriental spices, silk, porcelain and other products are constantly transported to the west, but there are no products that can be exchanged in the west, only gold and silver exchange, resulting in a large outflow of gold and silver. At that time, oriental goods arriving in Europe changed hands many times through Arab and Italian businessmen, which was not only small in quantity, but also expensive. Western Europeans have a stronger desire to explore new trade channels. Magellan led the Spanish fleet to open a new route to the east, and then completed the first round-the-world voyage. Its direct purpose is to avoid Portugal's sphere of influence to the west and compete with the Portuguese for the spice islands-Moluccas from Nishi. It needs to be proved that the spice islands are also within the Spanish sphere of influence to the west of papal meridian, and the king who supports them also expects to gain huge wealth from sailing activities. From the five agreements signed by Columbus and Queen Isabella I of Spain in 1492, and the agreement signed by Magellan and King Charles I of Spain to discover spice islands, we can see the outstanding economic purpose of navigation.

3. The influence of Marco Polo's travels

Feudal nobles used money to buy luxury goods, and farmers also used money to pay land rent. Businessmen and handicraft workshop owners need more money to expand their business, and gold is the most valuable means of exchange. With it, everything is available. Everyone longed for gold, and Columbus was fascinated by it. Columbus wrote in "To the King and Queen of Spain": "Gold is the most precious of all commodities, and gold is wealth. Who owns gold? He can get everything he needs in the world. At the same time, he can get the means to save his soul from purgatory, so that his soul can focus on the joy of heaven. " [5] This is the psychological portrayal of Europeans at that time. However, the output of precious metals in western Europe is not high, and the traditional gold supply mode can not meet the needs of commodity economy development. At that time, the western European market was generally short of money, and Europeans were eager for gold. Where on earth can they get a lot of precious metals? Europeans found the answer from a travel book, that is, The Travels of Marco Polo. Since The Travels of Marco Polo spread in Europe, it has aroused the infinite reverie of Europeans. Europeans have always regarded the East, especially China, as a paradise on earth for peanuts. Among them, about Japan, "the root is gold, and there are countless ... The monarch has a big palace, and the top of the palace is made of pure gold, ... the palace room. Therefore, the wealth of this palace is endless and no one can be trusted. " Japan is also full of gems and pearls, and their colors are like roses. Pearls are big and round, as heavy as pearls. As for Quanzhou Port in China, there are as many businessmen coming and going, "more than the rest of the ports in the world combined". "There are 100 ships unloading pepper in this port every year. Those who bring other spices are not included. [6] Kelpolo said: "The East is paved with gold tiles and bricks, doors and windows are decorated with gold, and there are even rolling minerals in the river. The East is simply a splendid golden world and a paradise for adventurers. " [7] Under the exaggerated description of Kyle Poirot, the development of commodity economy and the germination of capitalism drive Europeans to pursue gold. Westerners believe that their "golden dream" can only be realized by going to China and other eastern countries. The Travels of Marco Polo also described the wealth of Southeast Asia and South Asia in great detail, introducing the rich spices, gold, pearls and precious stones in this area. These spice islands have caused Europeans to retreat, which is no less than the reverie caused by China's amazing wealth. For example, in Qin Hai (Nanhai), "* * * has seven. There are many kinds. Pepper, for example, is as colorful as snow and has a huge output, even on such an island. Because all the rich resources in it, whether it is gold and precious stones or various spices, are incredible "; Java Island: "This island is very rich, producing spices such as black pepper, nutmeg, galangal, ginger and clove ... so much gold that no one can believe it" [8]. Travel notes describe the wealth of Southeast Asia, exaggerating the gold, spices, jewelry, medicinal materials and other valuables in Southeast Asia, and comparing the wealth of China, Japan and India in the travel notes. It is one of the factors that stimulate western Europeans to take risks in the east from all directions. Columbus has a Latin edition of The Travels of Marco Polo published by 1485. He often reads it and makes 264 marginal notes. French scholar Coutier once gave the page numbers of these marginal notes. These marginal notes reveal to people that Columbus was most concerned about the geographical location and products of the East, especially spices, medicinal materials and jewelry. The marginal note goes straight to the last page of the travel notes, which shows that it is deeply influenced [9]. Almost all the important people who opened up new routes have read travel notes. Every time explorers go to a new place, they always look for cities, regions or countries described in their travel notes, such as Prince Henry, Diaz, Columbus and so on.

Second, the commercial crisis is the direct cause of the opening of new routes.

What is a business crisis? Mainly refers to the East-West trade, because the trade route is not smooth, the goods are in short supply or the transshipment cost is high, and the prices of eastern goods in the European market skyrocket, which Europeans lament as a business crisis. There are two main reasons: 1, Italians and Arab businessmen have monopolized trade for a long time; Ottoman Turkey controls the traditional trade routes.

Europe's foreign trade is mainly conducted with China, Indian, Southeast Asian countries and other eastern countries. At the end of 13, the goods imported from the east increased by 10 times compared with the beginning of 2002. The Eastern Mediterranean is a transit point for East-West trade, in which the goods are mainly spices, camphor, silk, precious stones, cloth and so on. These goods are very popular in the European market, expensive and belong to the upper class. Selling these goods can make a lot of profits. At that time, East-West trade was basically monopolized by Italians and Arab businessmen. The high profits make western European businessmen on the Atlantic coast salivate, so that they can only find another way to directly operate East-West trade. At that time, it was not easy to go to the East, and it was even more difficult to go to the distant East. 1 1 century, European feudal lords once organized the Crusades. The looting attempt in the east has caused heavy casualties. It is also difficult to take a peaceful approach. The traditional eastern trade route refers to the route to transport goods such as silk, spices and medicinal materials from China, Nanyang and India to Europe. The oldest trade route starts from China in the east and passes through the hinterland of Central Asia to Asia Minor (there are many branches in the middle). There are usually two trade routes to Europe via the Indian Ocean: one is to enter the Persian Gulf from the Indian Ocean and land there. One is to reach Egypt through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and then transfer from Egypt to Europe. These three trade routes finally converge on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, where oriental goods generally arrive first and then transfer to Europe. At that time, oriental goods were extremely popular in the European market, which was a necessity for the upper class. However, after repeated turnover by Persians, Arabs, Eastern Romans and Italians, the trade between East and West was basically monopolized by Italians and Arab businessmen. If European businessmen want to directly manage oriental goods and monopolize rich profits, they can only bypass Arab and Italian businessmen and find another way. What's more, from the middle of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire became stronger. Constantinople occupies an important position in east-west traffic, as well as a vast area around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and controls the hub of Asia-Europe trade routes. Although the traditional East-West trade has not been completely interrupted, the extortion of Turks, long-term war and piracy have destroyed the normal business order and stopped business travel. The number of goods shipped from eastern Europe to Europe has decreased sharply. Prices are rising rapidly. The upper class in Europe has always regarded oriental luxury goods as necessities of life and bought them in large quantities at high prices, resulting in a serious trade surplus, a large outflow of precious metals and unbearable financial burden. In addition, western European businessmen and consumers have long complained that Italian and Arab businessmen are exploiting each other, so all countries have taken action. I hope to find another way and open up a new sea route that can bypass the Mediterranean and reach the East. The main purpose of European navigators' sailing activities is to "bypass the Muslim forces in the eastern Mediterranean, open up new routes to Indian, Southeast Asian, China, Japanese and other eastern countries, and do business with them directly" [10]. By the end of15th century, Europeans finally had the conditions to realize this wish.

Carrying forward and spreading the gospel of Christ and the humanistic trend of thought in the Renaissance are the religious and ideological roots of the new route.

Carrying forward and spreading the gospel of Christianity all over the world is the spiritual motive force to promote the development of western Europeans overseas. Compared with other widely spread religions in Europe and Asia, Christianity is more permeated with universalism. From the very beginning, it took fraternity as its teaching purpose and claimed to be the religion of all mankind, so there was a strong demand for everyone to accept Christianity. They even believe that even if force is used, they will spare no effort to popularize Christianity. This almost bellicose missionary spirit is growing day by day in the long-term confrontation with Muslim forces who are almost in line with the spirit. Many crusades by the Crusaders were inspired by this spirit. Since the Middle Ages, there has been a legend in western Europe: John the priest is a powerful Christian monarch in the East. Christians in western Europe dream of forming an alliance with this monarch so that * * * can join the forces attacking Muslims. Prince Henry of Portugal, who is keen on sailing, is motivated not only by trying to seize the spice trade, but by forming an alliance with John, an oriental priest, to launch a new crusade and spread the gospel of Christ to the whole world. One of the motives of navigators who completed the new route around 1500 to engage in maritime exploration activities is to promote Christianity in overseas countries. Columbus was an ardent Christian. He believed that "God gave him unique grace to accomplish the mission entrusted to him". Everything he did was arranged by God [1 1]. This religious enthusiasm had a great influence on Columbus's voyage, and he always permeated with strong religious feelings in the process of exploring new routes.

/kloc-from the beginning of the 6th century to the end of the 7th century, a religious reform movement took place in Europe. This movement broke out in Germany and spread to western, central and northern Europe. Religious reform is first and foremost a political movement and a national movement, as well as an ideological emancipation movement and a new cultural movement. Luther's theory of salvation by faith and impunity by faith freed people from spiritual dependence on churches and priests and fear of hell. God's fear and exhaustion. Calvin's fatalism encourages people to strive for progress in real life, thus proving that they are God's voters, not the abandoned children of the times. Calvinism and the essence of democracy have also promoted the democratization of some social and political life and state power. It is conducive to the rationality of decision-making, the collectivity of action and the participation of activities. The religious reform also obviously promoted and promoted the opening of new air routes. It further emancipates people's minds in spirit, consciousness and thought, relaxes or relieves the bondage of God to people, withers people's enthusiasm and gives play to people's initiative. In addition, it has directly accelerated the process of opening up new air routes. Through the religious reform, the war of independence and the bourgeois revolution, the Netherlands won its independence and became the first capitalist country. It immediately became a major player in developing new routes. Protestantism and Catholicism struggled repeatedly in Europe, forcing some Protestants to make a living and colonize overseas, creating the Millennium Kingdom of Protestantism. In order to meet the challenge of Protestantism, Catholicism carried out anti-religious reform and established Jesuits and other organizations to preach overseas and win over believers. Competing with Protestantism. Protestants seeking development overseas and Catholic priests preaching in newly discovered places further promoted the movement of discovery, exploration and conquest. Because the religious reform enhanced national consciousness, national sentiment and national feelings, accelerated the formation of modern nation and nation-state, and made western powers more competitive in exploration, discovery, colonization and plunder, thus promoting and accelerating the opening of new air routes. For example, Magellan and Drake's voyage around the world, Britain, the Netherlands and France's exploration of northwest routes, Britain and the Netherlands' exploration of northeast routes, and many discoveries made by the West in the Pacific Ocean and Australia-Oceania all have the color of competing with vested interests, monopolists and potential opponents for the interests of their own nation and country.

Renaissance is the ideological factor to open up new air routes. According to medieval Catholic theology, people are most concerned about the afterlife, not the present life, which is a paradise after death. Catholicism also believes that people are born guilty, but they can atone by abstinence. The Renaissance swept away this theological concept. The Renaissance flourished in14-16th century, starting from Italy and spreading to western European countries. Due to capital, the emerging civil class has stepped onto the historical stage as an independent political force, "becoming a class reflecting the further development of production, trade, education, social system and political system" [12], which urgently needs a cultural and ideological system different from the feudal tradition to affirm its political status and economic activities. According to the needs of the times and classes, they developed secular education in universities and city schools. Reviving Roman law, absorbing classical culture and oriental culture, activating cultural market and other ways and means to carry out cultural consumption, rationally absorb effective nutrients from traditional culture, and strive to build a new culture. The guiding ideology of the new culture is humanism. The ideological core of humanism is individualism and its theoretical basis is the theory of human nature. Humanists advocate people-centered and oppose the world view centered on God. They emphasize and celebrate human values, dignity, nobility and the greatness of human strength. Humanists advocate "humanity" against "divinity", emphasize human rights against theocracy, and criticize the religious view that abstinence equals justice. They believe that worldly happiness is above everything else, and the purpose of life is to pursue personal freedom and happiness, honor and wealth, emphasizing the important role of human morality, talent, wisdom and courage. Humanists advocate exploring nature, studying science, pursuing truth and benefiting mankind with knowledge; Education should develop people's personality and develop people's personality in an all-round way. Renaissance and humanism are the new culture movement and ideological emancipation movement in the historical transformation period of Europe. They cultivated the opening of new air routes ideologically, culturally and spiritually. Not only the ancient geography, astronomy and cartography have been revived, but also the opening of new air routes has been directly affected. In addition, explorers, navigators, geographers, businessmen and so on. During this period, they were all influenced by Renaissance and humanism. They either make contributions, seek gold and make a fortune, conquer plunder, seek knowledge and truth, spread the gospel, expand their territory, or make a name for themselves-all for a "person", not for a god; It's all for the real world, not for the paradise in the afterlife.

Fourth, the development of European productive forces, the progress of science and technology and the support of the royal family make the subjective and objective conditions for opening up new air routes available.

1, the improvement of earth circle theory and navigation technology, including compass, astrolabe, solid structure and bigger and faster seagoing ships.

As early as in ancient Greece, Pythagoras, a famous philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, pioneered the theory of the earth circle, but it was gradually paid attention to in Columbus' time. After Ptolemy's Geographic Guide, which was lost for more than 65,438+0,000 years, was translated into Latin, the theory of the earth sphere was widely spread and the navigation technology was improved. /kloc-300 years before 0/500. The average tonnage of European ships has increased by four times, and the fragile single-deck galleon with a deadweight of only 150-200 tons has given way to the round hull galleon with a deadweight of 600-800 tons. By13rd century, the rudder had been installed at the stern, and the compass invented by China was introduced to Europe by Arabs at the end of12nd century. This greatly improves the efficiency of navigation. /kloc-in the 0/4th century, the Portuguese reformed the Arabian spinnaker, thus speeding up navigation. In this way, the hull is enlarged, the speed is accelerated and the handling is more convenient. The improved sailboat can reduce the number of rowers by 100-200, and correspondingly reduce the grain carried by so many people, which is more economical. In addition, in 1485, the Portuguese first used the astrolabe, which was quickly replaced by a cheaper quadrant. This is an instrument necessary for measuring longitude. As early as the14th century, the technology of drawing maps in western Europe has been quite developed, and nautical charts indicating the location of coastlines and ports began to appear. In shipbuilding technology, the Portuguese are at the forefront. They can build multi-masted ships and hang more sails on the main mast in the middle. Adapt to different wind directions and airflow. By 1500, western Europeans have been able to build ships with strong structures and larger hulls, strong keels, strong ribs and double-layer oak hull plates-all of which can withstand the rebound when heavy guns are launched. The improvement of navigation technology has provided favorable conditions for the geographical discovery and overseas colonial expansion of western European countries.

2. Progress in maritime weapons and tactics.

Western European countries can conquer countries and regions without hindrance during the period of overseas expansion. One of the reasons is that they have advanced maritime combat methods, including: (1) warships equipped with artillery; (2) The newly designed warships can carry more than 40 ships; (3) 16 years1920s, a new type of artillery made by Flanders and German metallurgists, with a length of 5- 12 feet, fired round stone bullets (later iron balls), weighing 50-60 pounds, which could crush the hull of enemy ships within 300 yards. (3) Tactically, from hand-to-hand combat on deck to bombarding enemy ships with artillery. At sea.