What was the mercantilism system as the product of European colonization, and what was the role of companies in this regard?

What does mercantilism describe?

a system that saw the world’s wealth as fixed

What does fixed wealth mean?

any one country’s wealth came at the expense of other countries

What did mercantilism assume?

oversees possessions existed solely to enrich Europe motherlands

What should colonies do?

ship more value to the mother country than they received in return

Why were colonies supposed to be closed to competitors?

so that foreign traders wouldn’t drain precious resources from an empire’s exclusive domain

When did European states grow rich enough to wage almost unceasing wars against one another?

as the mother country’s monopoly over its colonies’ trade generated precious metals for royal treasuries

What did mercantilists understand?

that economics and politics are interdependent, with the merchant needing the monarch to protect his interest and the monarch relying on merchant’s trade to enrich the state’s treasury

Chartered companies

awarded monopoly trading rights over vast areas

Examples of chartered companies

Virginia Company and Dutch East India

What did mercantilist system require?

alliance between state and its merchants