World History › Section Q · The Atlantic world and a global economy › Topic Q.3
The mercantilist economy
Why did European states fight over trade routes, ban foreign cloth and insist that colonies trade only with them? The answer lies in mercantilism, a set of ideas that treated trade as a contest for a fixed stock of wealth and shaped empires from the 1500s to the late 1700s.
In this topic
- Wealth as a contest
- The tools of policy
- Colonies in the system
- Spain's closed fleet system
- Colbert's France
- England and the Navigation Acts
- The Dutch and the trading companies
- Worked example: reading Thomas Mun
- Worked example: from trade rules to war
- The critics
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
This topic is part of Wuanberri Pro. Checking your access…