Professor Brophy
History 102


Mercantilism and the Atlantic Economy

Mercantilism and Cameralism
-cameralism: domestic economic improvement and regulation;
    social and economic engineering for greater productivity and wealth
-mercantilism: favorable foreign trade balance for economic growth and state power
-the peculiar case of Spain
-Montchretien (1616), Mun (1622)

II. French Mercantilism under Colbert (1663-1685)
-protective tariffs; promotion of manufacturing centers
-state incentives for production: monopolies
-royal manufactures; strict quality control
-creation of merchant fleet
-similar tendencies in Prussia, Austria, Russia, Holland, etc.

III. Colonial Competition and Naval Rivalry
-colonies and trading posts in mercantalist theory
-the East Indian Companies of England (1600), Holland (1602), and France (1664)
-control of trade: e.g., British Navigation Acts (1651, 1660, 1696); competitive statist character
-trade expansion, naval force, and war (Spain-England, France-Holland, England-Holland, England-France)

IV. The Atlantic Economy in the Eighteenth Century
-development of world economy and European Dominance
-five principle economic zones: East Indies, West Indies, North America, Latin America, western Africa
-triangular trade: Eur. Metropoles, Africa, new world plantations
-spectacular growth for empires, bourgeoisie

V. Summary
-state-directed economies, colonies, European trade dominance
-key aspect to European state building; statist character to early merchant capitalism
-imperialism: metropoles’ exploitation of colonial resources; the legacy of slavery
-Britain’s colonies as springboard for industrial leadership