All of these reasons contributed to the conquests of the Spanish conquistadors except the destabilizing impact of Christian missionaries. The expeditions of Cortes (in Mexico) and Pizarro (in Peru) were the first Spaniards that those native people encountered and so there cannot have been any prior contact between Christian missionaries and the native population.

Akbar the Great is the most famous ruler of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent. Akbar the Great is remembered for his successful military campaigns and the expansion of Mughal territory across virtually the whole of the subcontinent. He is also associated with religious tolerance and for appointing ministers on the basis of merit, rather than nepotism.

Francisco Pizarro was one of the Spanish conquistadors who conquered much of South America in the early sixteenth century. Pizarro led a series of expeditions to try and conquer the Inca Empire in the 1520s and was finally successful in the early 1530s when he captured the Incan emperor and had him executed. Pizarro is responsible for establishing Spanish control over the modern-day country of Peru.

In South America the vast majority of colonies were established directly by the Spanish or Portuguese crowns. However, European colonies in North America were generally established by private investors and joint-stock companies. Some of the differences between the colonial experiences of settlers in North America and settlers in South America can be explained by this distinction.

Sonni Ali ruled the Songhai Kingdom in West Africa for several decades in the second-half of the fifteenth century. Sonni Ali was a successful military commander and it was during his reign that the Songhai Empire captured the wealthy cities of Timbuktu and Djenne.

The Spanish conquest of the Philippines took place in the sixteenth century and culminated with the conquest of Manila by the forces of Lopez de Legaspi in 1571. The Philippines would continue to be controlled by the Spanish until it was ceded to the United States after the Spanish-American War in 1898.  

The Kingdom of Kongo was located in Central Africa. The Kongolese Kingdom existed as an independent state from the late fourteenth century until the late nineteenth century. It had extensive interaction with the Portuguese Empire, and was a Portuguese vassal for parts of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Modern-day Mexico City sits on the same site as Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

The correct answer is east to Iran because that was the furthest east that the Ottoman Empire extended. North to Bosnia is incorrect because the northern boundary stretched into present-day southern Poland at one time. The southern boundary stretched into North Africa, making "south to Cyprus" incorrect. The western boundary covered Bosnia and territories were even seized in Tunisia, making the "West to Bulgaria" answer incorrect. 

The first European colony in South Africa was settled by the Dutch East India Company, at the southernmost point of South Africa as a refueling and restocking area for ships sailing around the Horn of Africa and on to the East. There was no challenge of that initial settlement from locals, as the initial land was rocky and inhospitable, and frequently subjected to harsh storms.