<P> So, by the mid-17th century, Russians established the borders of their country close to modern ones, and explored almost the whole of Siberia, except the eastern Kamchatka and some regions north of the Arctic Circle . The conquest of Kamchatka later would be achieved in the early 1700s by Vladimir Atlasov, while the discovery of the Arctic coastline and Alaska would be completed by the Great Northern Expedition in 1733--1743 . </P> <P> European overseas expansion led to the contact between the Old and New Worlds producing the Columbian Exchange, named after Columbus . It involved the transfer of goods unique to one hemisphere to another . Europeans brought cattle, horses, and sheep to the New World, and from the New World Europeans received tobacco, potatoes and maize . Other items becoming important in global trade were the sugarcane and cotton crops of the Americas, and the gold and silver brought from the Americas not only to Europe but elsewhere in the Old World . </P> <P> The new trans - oceanic links and their domination by the European powers led to the Age of Imperialism, where European colonial powers came to control most of the planet . The European appetite for trade, commodities, empire and slaves greatly affected many other areas of the world . Spain participated in the destruction of aggressive empires in the Americas, only to substitute its own, and forcibly replaced the original religions . The pattern of territorial aggression was repeated by other European empires, most notably the Dutch, Russian, French and British . Christianity replaced older "pagan" rituals, as were new languages, political and sexual cultures, and in some areas like North America, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina, the indigenous peoples were abused and driven off most of their lands, being reduced to small, dependent minorities . </P> <P> Similarly, in coastal Africa, local states supplied the appetite of European slave traders, changing the complexion of coastal African states and fundamentally altering the nature of African slavery, causing impacts on societies and economies deep inland . (See Atlantic slave trade). </P>

What was a primary motive for the european voyages of discovery