WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Mercantilism was based on the idea that a nation’s wealth and power were best served by increasing exports and reducing imports.

Detailed explanation-2: -Inventions and discoveries facilitated the rise of mercantilism. The discoveries of compass and printing press were of great importance, with the help of compass navigation became easier and it led to the discovery of new countries like United States.

Detailed explanation-3: -Mercantilism was a popular economic philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries. In this system, the British colonies were moneymakers for the mother country. The British put restrictions on how their colonies spent their money so that they could control their economies.

Detailed explanation-4: -The mercantilist goal was to maximize a nation’s export surplus-the balance of trade, which was equated with the future prosperity and power of the realm-and the means were cheap production inputs, that is, cheap raw materials (for which colonies proved useful) and cheap, and therefore poor, labor at home.

Detailed explanation-5: -During the European Age of Exploration, the nations of Europe adopted a new economic policy called mercantilism. The theory of mercantilism (shown above) held that a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth. Wealth, after all, allowed nations to build strong navies and purchase vital goods.