One cause for European exploration was their desire for wealth. Europeans were looking for new materials and to trade with new civilizations. Another cause for European exploration was to spread Christianity throughout the world. Europeans also wanted to expand their country by finding undiscovered land. This caused conflict between European countries. Spain and Portugal had an ongoing conflict over land. The pope put a stop to this conflict with a treaty of tostado. The treaty was assigning each country to a hemisphere that they could explore and colonize. This line was called the line of demarcation. Portugal was given the eastern hemisphere of the world allowing them to explore and colonize Asia. And Spain was assigned to the west