Merchantilism

The Importance of Mercantilism What is mercantilism? Mercantilism, in the 1500’s, was term that was used to describe the government’s control of the economic system that heavily depended on trade to increase the wealth of a nation. Mercantilism was like a chain reaction or a snowball effect, once it affected something, the something will affect other things and etc. or one amazing thing will lead into another thing and so on. Some of the mercantilism effects were very important. Some of those effects which were very important first began with trade, then it started explorations and colonization, will ultimately lead into great advancements in engineering and mathematics. How did mercantilism really affect trade? Well, first of all, trade is the core of mercantilism. Trade, first started with close countries, then it expanded to many other countries, then to countries in other continents, and so forth. With all the trading at the time, Europe started thinking of ways to increase their wealth, in particular. If they were going to gain anything, they would have to start cutting down on imports and start having more exports. It’s better to have more exports because the country sends other countries their resources and in return the country gains money. If they had more imports which means they will keep buying things from other countries making them lose money instead of gaining. As imports increased, Europe demanded for more precious metals. Precious metal, at the time, was used for numerous things. Some involve making weapons of war, scientific and mathematic inventions, personal use items, like jewelry and a number of other things. Another way for Europe used mercantilism to gain much wealth was through exploration and colonization. At first people think, what does exploration and colonization has to do with mercantilism. Well, Europe wanted wealth, and one way for the country to get imports at a lower cost was to send people to other countries. When their

Cited: Martella, John. "Philosophy, Economic History, and the Rise of Capitalism." The Rise of Capitalism. N.p., 1992. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://www.drury.edu/ess/history/modern/econhist.html>. Samir. "What Are the Main Features of Mercantilism?" What Are the Main Features of Mercantilism? PreserveArticles, 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. <http://www.preservearticles.com/2011090413010/what-are-the-main-features-of-mercantilism.html>.