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American History to 1877 Student’s Name Student ID Professor’s Name Date of Submission Question 1 Mercantilism is a term that was used in 1763 by a man named Marquis de Mirabeau. Mercantilism was intended to make certain countries such as England, Great Britain, and other countries to acquire colonies and therefore amass economic strength. Such a country would have needed to export more than it imported which meant that the country would have a favorable balance of trade. A country with limited resources such as England could obtain colonies and therefore use them to supply with reliable raw materials. The colonies were established so that certain countries could take advantage of them to provide the materials they could not produce. They were to help the mother countries attain a favorable balance of trade (Henretta, 2012). Colonies supplied various products including tobacco, grain, and sugar. They also provided natural resources that could not be found in the mother countries. Such resources such as lumber were extremely valuable and were limited in the British market. The colonies were also used a good marketplace for British and other mother countries products. Britain, England, and others took raw materials from colonies and converted them to finished goods after which the goods were sold back to the colonies at a very high cost. However, when colonies began to trade with other countries around the world, various trade restrictions were placed to prevent the colonies reaching a level of the mother countries (Geise, 1992). The mercantilism system wanted to ensure that the colonies did not compete in any way with the mother country and therefore they
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