About one-tenth of Earth's land surface is covered in ice. Built up over thousands of years, most ice occurs in thick ice sheets that cap the land at the North and South Poles. Ice also tops the peaks of high mountains, and rivers of ice called glaciers gouge deep valleys in polar and mountain regions.
The desire of European merchants to control the trade in luxury goods from Asia- silk, cotton, and spices- combined with the technology advances in shipbuilding and navigation led to a wave of long-distance voyages of exploration that redrew the map of the globe between the 15th and 18th centuries.
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