The question is about long-term motives behind Philip II’s decision to assemble the Armada. The driving forces were religious and political: a Catholic claimant against English Protestant rule, anger over England’s support for Dutch rebels, and the desire to strike back after Mary Queen of Scots was executed. These are enduring, strategic grievances that shaped Philip II’s worldview and policy over many years. The discovery of new trade routes by English merchants in the Atlantic, while important for England’s economic and maritime rise, isn’t a direct motive for launching the Armada. It represents broader economic expansion rather than a political or religious incentive that would push Philip II to invade. It helped England become a stronger maritime power, which in turn made invasion more appealing to Spain as a way to curb English influence, but it is not itself a long-term cause of the Armada.