Answer :
Gold. The explorers started out searching for the fabled land of El Dorado, where they believed they would find riches aplenty. After that failed, they began looking towards the other resources.
The natural resource of Latin America that the first European explores most desired was gold.
Originally, explorers came to the lands of what now is known as Latin America in search of gold, silver, silk and other valuables as well as land to claim for their European countries.
The lust for gold had lured the Spanish explorers to Latin America and there, they found that it has been mined all through that region. More precisely, from northern Mexico all the way to the southern tip of Chile, we can see one of the richest gold-bearing areas on Earth.
