The policy of mercantilism was intended to (1)enrich European governments (2)end slavery in the Americas (3)promote the isolation of Asia (4)establish religious freedom in New Spain
History · High School · Sun Jan 24 2021
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(1) enrich European governments.
Mercantilism is an economic theory practiced widely in the 16th through the 18th centuries which held that a country's power depended on its wealth—specifically its supply of gold and silver. This led to the belief that governments should encourage exports and accumulate precious metals to increase national wealth. It was a system that saw the global economy as a fixed pie, where one country's gain was another country's loss, prompting policies aimed at obtaining trade surpluses. Through colonization, European powers established a system where the colonies would provide raw materials to the mother country, which would then produce finished goods for sale back to the colonies as well as other markets, thus enriching the European state's treasury.