Why didn't the Targaryens conquer Essos?

[Michael]

Instead of Westeros, or after that conquest. Thats sure as hell what i wouldve done if i was a member if the royal family out if the libe of successiob, taking a bunch of dragons. Ive been reading the world of ice and fire all day and i think its going to my head :)

[Shawn]

WELL, WASNT SHE STILL PREPARING?

[Shawn]

6th book

[Michael]

Shawn wrote: "6th book"

That would be amazing

[Mitali]

At the time of Aegon's conquest, the Targaryens were living on Dragonstone - which is just off the coast of Westeros, but across the Narrow Sea from Essos. Westeros was a loose collection of prosperous but feuding kingdoms, who had never fought against dragons, and hardly ever even seen them. (Western) Essos was made up of: (a) the ruins of Valyria, which were uninhabitable, (b) the ruins of other places that were defeated by the Valyrians, such as the cities of the Rhoynar, (c) the Dothraki sea, which was an empty grassland not worth conquering, and (d) the Free Cities and the Slaver's Bay cities, which had once been under Valyrian rule, and therefore knew how to fight against dragons. It makes sense that if Aegon the Conqueror was merely looking for a place to conquer, Westeros was a much better target than Essos.

Besides, Essos is a much bigger place than Westeros. The area seen in the books is only about half of it, and its eastern part, beyond Qarth, was unfamiliar even to the Valyrians.

Even if later members of the Targaryen dynasty - such as Daemon the Rogue Prince - wanted to conquer Essos, the same problems would present themselves.

[Courtney Lee]

Mitali wrote: "At the time of Aegon's conquest, the Targaryens were living on Dragonstone - which is just off the coast of Westeros, but across the Narrow Sea from Essos. Westeros was a loose collection of prospe..."

and adding onto what you're saying, Westeros has a lot more resources than Esso, and it's a lot smaller so it would have been much easier to conquer. basically conquering Essos wouldn't have been worth the effect because the Targaryan's would have been at a disadvantage due to the fact that they don't know the land AND due to the lack of resourse. So in the end Westeros was the better choice.

[Matthew]

They already had conquered Essos, at least as far as the cities along the Rhoyne and the Ghiscari Empire (which is now called Slaver's Bay) were concerned. This empire fell to pieces after the Doom of Valyria, which left their homeland a ruined mess. It must have seemed like the natural choice for the Valyrians to turn westward where opportunities for fresh conquests existed.

Aegon the Conqueror then spent the rest of his life completing that conquest. After his death, the realm was gripped by chaos due to the Faith's Militant Uprising. His son's struggled to put it down and it didn't end until his grandson became king. Shortly after that was the Dance of Dragons, a civil war amongst the Targaryens. The last of the dragons died not long after that.

So to answer your question, they went west because it was the smarter choice. And by the time they had finished conquering and consolidating their hold and stopped fighting amongst themselves, they had no dragons left. These were what made them mighty conquerors, so without them, they simply settled in to rule.