Why did the queen of Spain pay for Marco Polo's trip?

Answer 1

Assuming that this is referring to Queen Isabella of Spain's hiring of Christopher Columbus, there are a few things worth noting:

1) No Such Thing as Italy: Italy is a more recent country and did not exist in the late-1400s and early-1500s when Columbus sailed for Spain. The Italian Peninsula was divided into a number of city-states that could not compete with a large empire like Spain. As a result, there would be no competition between the city-state of Genoa, where Columbus was from, and Spain. Isabella would not have sensed any conflict of interest.

2) Mercenary: In those days, an explorer was loyal to whoever paid his way. As a result, Queen Isabella was not worried that Columbus would betray her since she paid for his travels.

3) Sailing West: Columbus proposed a novel way to get to East Asia. While Portugal, Spain's rival, had discovered the route south and east around Africa to get to East Asia and controlled this passage, Columbus suggested forging a route that the Portuguese had never considered. Queen Isabella was interested in seeing if this idea had legs.

Answer 2

The queen of Spain paid marcos expedition because she too wanted to know what was out there.

Answer 3

because she wanted to