When Henry Tudor came to the throne, he saw that unless England entered the race, the world would be a colony of Spain and Portugal.
As Portugal was a small country and easily beaten, Henry first organised to take away some of Portugal's African lands. Then he turned to the New World, the south of which was mainly in Spanish hands.
Henry first chose to send an expedition north to lands that Spain had not yet had time to reach. He sent ships captained by John Cabot.
