O mercantilism, or the systemmercantilist, was the economic model that was in force in the western world during the AgeModern, that is, from the 16th to the mid-18th century. The term mercantilism derives from merchant, which is associated with commerce and the market. Therefore, it concerns the means of exchange, buying and selling goods. You may have heard this term more than once in classes about formationFromStatesnationalsEuropeans, like Portugal and Spain, and about the time of Big onesNavigationsOverseas. However, the concept needs to be well clarified.
To begin with, mercantilism was not the same everywhere. Each state that got involved in the colonization adventure had a very peculiar mercantilist development, so it is more accurate to say “practicesmercantilists" than “mercantilism”, understood as a single system. In this sense, there was the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French, English etc. mercantile practice. But what did these practices have in common? What characteristics can be listed for the definition of a mercantilist practice?
The mercantilist practices were all associated with the central political power of their countries. The political model of that time was monarchical absolutism. Each of the monarchic crowns sought to expand their empire beyond the European continent, that is, they intended, via overseas navigation, to exploit the riches of other continents. Therefore, what these States had in common was: the search for precious metals (search that is conventionally called by "metalism"); The search for a favorable trade balance and the search for protectioncustoms (known as protectionism), which aimed to enrich the state and control all economic activity.
These three common characteristics were associated with others, according to the nation in which the mercantilist practice was involved. In the case of Portugal and Spain, the mercantile system had a colonialist and exclusivist bias, that is, the ExclusiveColonial, or the Colonial Pact. Colonial exclusivism required that settlers under the yoke of the Metropolis did not link up economically with other nations. What was produced was negotiated only with the State that had colonized it.
Other States, such as the French and the English, launched other models of commercial practice, such as the industrialism it's the commercialism, which aimed at stimulating the development of manufacturing factories and internal trade. THE Netherlands, which played a fundamental role in the mercantilist economy, with the two commercial companies, the indiesWesterners and the one of indiesOrientals, elaborated a mixed form of mercantilism that combined industrialism and the stimulus to the system given that Dutch banks provided credit through their banks to several other States.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
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