The Age of Exploration started in the 1400's. Europeans were desparate to get spices from Asia. Spices were used to food and keep it from spoiling. Spices, however, were and to get. European rulers began to pay for explorations to find a sea route to Asia so they could get spices cheaper. As explorers searched for the sea route to Asia, and later, the Northwest Passage, many new lands were explored. Spain all of South America and much of North America. Spanish explorers, for gold, often destroyed native and forced them to to Christianity. Meanwhile, English and French pirates often plundered newly formed Spanish settlements and gold from Spanish sea vessels. Territory disputes and English pirating eventually a war between Spain and England. England won the war and colonized much of the east coast of what would later become the United States. Later, a war between England and France forced the French from lands they had claimed in the New World.