Author Question: How and why did mercantilism encourage European colonization of the Americas? (Read 1536 times)

Jesse_J · **on:** Jun 25, 2013

I am doing my work history homework and I would greatly appreciate if anyone could help me because we don't have textbooks and the book online isn't working. Thank you

camila · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 25, 2013

Mercantilism was an economic theory that posited that the richer a nation was,the more powerful it would be.It was the dominant economic system in the West throughout the 18th century.

Colonies could be exploited for cheap raw materials - furs,lumber,fish and so on - that could be used to feed the home populations of the colonizing countries,and for use in producing manufactured goods in these countries.America had all these things in abundance,which encouraged European colonization there.

camila · **Reply #2 on:** Jun 25, 2013

The mercantilist theory made capitalism necessary and proper. The Americas were a place where capitalist expansion could take place. In Europe land was owned by the upper class and there was no room for a merchant class to develop. The Americas provided the opportunity for that merchant class to build new businesses (tobacco, shipping trade, naval stores, to name several) and then trade those goods back into an expanding world economy.

Without the Americas, those opportunities would never have been available. As I said, the landed class of nobles would not give up their property and there was little or no impetus for them to work hard in the new businesses associated with the mercantilists. The nobles were already tapped into an income source from their land and there was no need for them to build more wealth or take up more time in such an effort. The mercantilists needed the wealth and made use of the opportunity in the colonies to garner such wealth to themselves.

camila · **Reply #3 on:** Jun 25, 2013

What ammianus said above. Plus, mercantilism also emphasized maximizing exports and minimizing imports. While European countries had the capability of manufacturing goods for export, they needed those raw materials to make things with - they could either import them from other countries (which goes against the mercantilist theory), or they could go out and take them.

For European countries, taking resources from one another meant a long and costly war. In the Americas, though, taking land and it's associated resources was cheap and easy - any resistance they met was underarmed and poorly organized. So - all the Eurpoean countries started sending as many people as they could overseas to procure territory and all the raw materials within. It was kinda like a big shopping mall for them, but one where everything was free.