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Mercantilism
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Developments in Europe
Mercantilism Introduction
The process of mercantilism can be said to
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factor while another, would be the rise of
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trading routes, communities, and the
was detrimental to the general public as it absolutism and the economic prerequisite
also be identified with the second phase of unification of the nation-state as an identity.
colonial expansion and the development of a Agreeing with this, Clough attempted to
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method to protect the state, from the influx secure economic unity in terms of state
state.
However, according to Braudel, classical Firstly, Wealth is essential for political and
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of colonialist ambition of exploitation for This can be seen in the rise of the absolutist
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Dobb describes the system as a for example, in France under Sun King
state-regulated form of exploitation through Louis XIV, his political power was
trade, a part of ‘primitive accumulation’ legitimized using the opulence and grandeur
Since all taxation was collected by the extracted from the state and the church.
crown in the name of the King or religion, Secondly, it led to an increase in control
the continuation of the dynastic rule was over national economic rights.
important to control economic resources. It was also a quest for power and authority
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to gain wealth from colonies Heckscher
Thirdly, Wealth and power are the ends of
national policy, in light of the theory that modifies the paradigm of viewing
absolutist state.
are harmonious till they work in isolation, that mercantilism was the source of 11% of
playing merely an instrumental role with the wealth of the crown, while to Michelet
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each other. Further, they attempted to cloth there were two important components of
the colonial policy in the garb of national Spanish mercantilism, the first was the
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Europe towards the development of They were aided by armchair scholars such
economic ideas and policies. Its impacts, as Sepulveda, who discussed the men from
therefore, varied from region to region. these newly discovered regions to be part of
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In the region of Portugal however, the influence the process of colonization in the
objectives of colonialism were distinct from regions of England and France. However, it
those of Spain. There were primarily three was an outcome of organized state policy
emphasize
announcements
papal decrees andJo that provided an additional market for goods
produced in proto-industrial
European nations. Secondly, they studied region of France that led to the systematic
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limiting their own activities to the Eastern monopolized companies is termed the East
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activity was trade in the region of the Indian Colonial France was based on the systematic
Ocean, which was ruled by the merchant economic policy proposed by Colbert. In his
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consistent expansion of commercial element of industrial profit that could be
capitalism and state rivalries between achieved only by adopting the mercantilism
England, France, and the Dutch, a number of policy of availing cheap raw materials and
trade wars and treaties brokered for peace
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and altered the balance of power often in the
favor of mercantilism as a policy and its that provided a final shape to the mercantile
organization. Firstly, Montchretien who policy of France.
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world. This was done through a series of
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ordinances in a relatively short span of time, carefully crafted legislations and regulations
it largely failed the test of mandatory that ensured the primacy of British interest
industrialization as France did not move on
England.
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Molasses Act 1733. According to historians,
For example in the context of the Americas,
the excessive rate of taxation and the
the colonialists from England marginalized
exploitative nature of English mercantilism
principles. in competition.
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However, to Maurice Dobb, the process of However, international competition still
colonization is less uniform and unified than remained, in this period the trade and
mitigated in a short period of time. The casuse of these wars can be found in the
pursue a polic of racialism and imposed the the regions controlled by England, these
Code noir or black code on the colonies in were prisoners who were forced to conduct
1685, to control the nature of slave trade in tasks such as work on plantation lay roads
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criminals were sent to colonise new lands of
While, the English East India company
convict colonies.
focussed on the trade relations developing
The third category were the indentured
between India and England and attempted
sugarcane and cotton became the She however, points out that in the 20th
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colonial empires. Barbara Sallow throws indentured labour, that was forced labour
light on an important aspect of slave trade in sent from one colony to another to assist in
three categories: Slavery in the Arican sense agriculture, this has led to the development
of the word where, native tribals were of diasporas outside the native country of
evicted from land, branded used as slaves in people with similar roots and traditions.
This Article is a moral and intellectual assertion of the Author, no part of it may be
reproduced or transmitted without her prior permission
the Industrial revolution according to some French colonial factors that regulated the
historians as the demand imcreased along rate of export duty and the volume of export
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However, this picking up in commercial
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pace was only seen in a few sectors such as de-industrialisation and the replacement of
Sugar and Sugarcane products, cotton finished goods with commercial agrarian
metropolises in Europe.
the period of lull caused by the continental The claim of Early historians regarding the
blockade led to the Carnatic Wars rise of industrialisation was refuted as it did
(Anglo-French) in the mid 18th century. not take into consideration the rise in
added a dimension of exploration to the Old the commercial activities, slave trade was
World and thus, created a gap between the investment heavy therefore, he argued that it
Old and the New World, one that was varied between 50 and 100 percent.
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The expansion of trade led to the complexity
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of the joint stock companies, tht brought the Therefore, slave trade’s actual investment
France was 35.2 million according to To Eric Williams, therefore the industrial
there were two two primary sources of Imanuel Wallerstein, slavery was the third
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income one that could be sold to generate stage of capitalism in europe that preceded
more income in the way of finished goods the mechanisation of the industrial
This Article is a moral and intellectual assertion of the Author, no part of it may be
reproduced or transmitted without her prior permission
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References