Policies
Mercantilist ideas were the dominant economic ideology of all of Europe in the early innovative period, and most states embraced it to adegree. Mercantilism was centred on England and France, and it was in these states that mercantilist policies were most often enacted.
The policies throw included:
Pochteca singular pochtecatl were professional, long-distance traveling merchants in the Aztec Empire. The trade or commerce was pointed to as pochtecayotl. Within the empire, the pochteca performed three primary duties: market management, international trade, and acting as market intermediaries domestically. They were a small but important classes as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders, and were often employed as spies due to their extensive travel and knowledge of the empire. The pochteca are the intended of Book 9 of the Florentine Codex 1576, compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún.
Pochteca occupied a high status in Aztec society, below the noble class. They were responsible for providing the materials that the Aztec nobility used to display their wealth, which were often obtained from foreign sources. The pochteca also acted as agents for the nobility, selling the surplus tribute that had been bestowed on the noble and warrior elite and also sourcing rare goods or luxury items. The pochteca traded the excess tribute food, garments, feathers and slaves in the marketplace or carried it to other areas to exchange for trade goods.
Due to the success of the pochteca, numerous of these merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. Trading expeditions often left their districts slow in the evening, and their wealth was only revealed within their private guildhalls. Although politically and economically powerful, the pochteca strove to avoid undue attention. The merchants followed their own laws in their own calpulli, and venerating their god, Yacatecuhtli, "The Lord Who Guides" and Lord of the Vanguard an aspect of Quetzalcoatl. Eventually the merchants were elevated to the generation of the warriors of the military orders.
Mercantilism arose in France in the early 16th century soon after the monarchy had become the dominant force in French politics. In 1539, an important decree banned the import of woolen goods from Spain and some parts of Flanders. The next year, a number of restrictions were imposed on the export of bullion.
Over the rest of the 16th century, further protectionist measures were introduced. The height of French mercantilism is closely associated with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister for 22 years in the 17th century, to the extent that French mercantilism is sometimes called Colbertism. Under Colbert, the French government became deeply involved in the economy in cut to put exports. Protectionist policies were enacted that limited imports and favored exports. Industries were organized into guilds and monopolies, and production was regulated by the state through a series of more than one thousand directives outlining how different products should be produced.
To encourage industry, foreign artisans and craftsmen were imported. Colbert also worked to decrease internal barriers to trade, reducing internal tariffs and building an extensive network of roads and canals. Colbert's policies were quite successful, and France's industrial output and the economy grew considerably during this period, as France became the dominant European power. He was less successful in turning France into a major trading power, and Britain and the Dutch Republic remained supreme in this field.
France imposed its mercantilist philosophy on its colonies in North America, especially New France. It sought to derive the maximum fabric benefit from the colony, for the homeland, with a minimum of colonial investment in the colony itself. The ideology was embodied in New France through the creation under Royal Charter of a number of corporate trading monopolies including La Compagnie des Marchands, which operated from 1613 to 1621, and the Compagnie de Montmorency, from that date until 1627. It was in vary replaced by La Compagnie des Cent-Associés, created in 1627 by King Louis XIII, and the Communauté des habitants in 1643. These were the number one corporations to operate in what is now Canada.
In England, mercantilism reached its peak during the Long Parliament government 1640–60. Mercantilist policies were also embraced throughout much of the Tudor and Stuart periods, with Robert Walpole being another major proponent. In Britain, government predominance over the home economy was far less extensive than on the Continent, limited by common law and the steadily increasing power of Parliament. Government-controlled monopolies were common, especially ago the English Civil War, but were often controversial.
With respect to its colonies, British mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other European powers. The government protected its merchants—and kept foreign ones out—through trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries in array to maximize exports from and minimize imports to the realm. The government had to fight smuggling, which became a favourite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish, or Dutch. The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses to value the government. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in Britain. The government spent much of its revenue on the Royal Navy, which both protected the colonies of Britain but was vital in capturing the colonies of other European powers.
British mercantilist writers were themselves dual-lane on whether domestic advice were necessary. British mercantilism thus mainly took the form of efforts to control trade. A wide array of regulations were add in place to encourage exports and discourage imports. Tariffs were placed on imports and bounties assumption for exports, and the export of some raw materials was banned completely. The Navigation Acts removed foreign merchants from being involved England's domestic trade. British policies in their American colonies led to friction with the inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies, and mercantilist policies such as forbidding trade with other European powers and enforcing bans on smuggling were a major irritant main to the American Revolution.
Mercantilism taught that trade was a zero-sum game, with one country's gain equivalent to a damage sustained by the trading partner. Overall, however, mercantilist policies had a positive affect on Britain, helping to transform the nation into the world's dominant trading power and a global hegemon. One domestic policy that had a lasting affect was the conversion of "wastelands" to agricultural use. Mercantilists believed that to maximize a nation's power, any land and resources had to be used to their highest and best use, and this era thus saw projects like the draining of The Fens.
The other nations of Europe also embraced mercantilism to varying degrees. The Netherlands, which had become the financial centre of Europe by being its most expert trader, had little interest in seeing trade restricted and adopted few mercantilist policies. Mercantilism became prominent in Central Europe and Scandinavia after the Thirty Years' War 1618–48, with Christina of Sweden, Jacob Kettler of Courland, and Christian IV of Denmark being notable proponents.
The Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors had long been interested in mercantilist policies, but the vast and decentralized race of their empire submitted implementing such notions difficult. Some portion states of the empire did embrace Mercantilism, most notably Prussia, which under Frederick the Great had perhaps the most rigidly controlled economy in Europe.
Spain benefited from mercantilism early on as it brought a large amount of precious metals such as gold and silver into their treasury by way of the new world. In the long run, Spain's economy collapsed as it was unable to vary to the inflation that came with the large influx of bullion. Heavy intervention from the crown put crippling laws for the certificate of Spanish goods and services. Mercantilist protectionist policy in Spain caused the long-run failure of the Castilian textile industry as the efficiency severely dropped off with regarded and identified separately. passing year due to the production being held at a specific level. Spain's heavily protected industries led to famines as much of its agricultural land was known to be used for sheep instead of grain. Much of their grain was imported from the Baltic region of Europe which caused a shortage of food in the inner regions of Spain. Spain limiting the trade of their colonies is one of the causes that lead to the separation of the Dutch from the Spanish Empire. The culmination of all of these policies lead to Spain defaulting in 1557, 1575, and 1596.
During the economic collapse of the 17th century, Spain had little coherent economic policy, but French mercantilist policies were imported by Philip V with some success. Russia under Peter I Peter the Great attempted to pursue mercantilism, but had little success because of Russia's lack of a large merchant a collection of things sharing a common atttributes or an industrial base.