Mercantilism

=__Britain's "Mercantilist" Economy __= Mercantilism is basically the act of protecting trade monopolies, and making sure the wealth goes back to the mother nation 1. Laws are also placed which allow superior government intervention and control over the economy. The colonies were be used as markets or sources of raw materials. Thus, the intention was to keep the mother country’s exports higher than its imports. This would result in the country's capital reserves growing, and indeed making the country more prosperous.


 * The Navigation Acts [3] **
 * passed by the English Parliament to to promote and protect the English economy against foreign competition
 * developed and updated along the 17th -18th century
 * goods in and out of English colonies 2 must be shipped on vessels which were made by the English, and sailed by crews that were 75% English
 * goods being imported/exported by England also had to be transported by English-made ships
 * goods from foreign countries had to be transported on vessels from the exporting nation or English ships
 * some products 3 could export only to another English colony or to England

**The Western Colonies' impact on the British economy** [2] 
 * the Americas were resource-rich and provided England with raw materials to suffice themselves in the global market. Some examples include:
 * 1) //Sugar from the Caribbean//
 * 2) //Tobacco & Cotton from the southern US states//
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">//Lumber from Upper/Lower Canada//
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">//Fish (esp. cod) from Newfoundland//
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Africa provided the slaves necessary for labour to work in cotton and tobacco field in the southern colonies
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">with the abundance of natural resources from the Americas, Britain effectively made large amounts of good readily available to the global market
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Britain's colonies (worldwide) supported its economy furthermore because they were the largest importer of goods 4

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(245, 66, 66);">**Founding the [British] East India Trading Company** [4] <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">monopoly granted by the English crown (had to be assessed and renewed each year), thus the government had superior control over the company
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">contributed greatly to expanding British India (especially land and military) [1]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">it was first titled under “The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies”
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">major spice trading company in founding years [1]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">when exploration first began for the company, it went as far as Japan (later into China)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">in 1610, it established trading posts and factories in India (provinces of Bengal, Madras, Bombay)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">fought mainly with French and Dutch competition 5<span class="wiki_link"> <span class="wiki_link">[1]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);"> During the empire's decline in 1858, it had an "army" of 24,000

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(245, 66, 66);">**Australia's economy** [2]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Australia's eastern tip had been claimed in 1770, so it was fairly late to the "rise" that Britain had been going through
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">However, it was used as a penal colony (prisoners were brought to be isolated)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Wool was Australia's base economy during the Rise of the British Empire
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Fishing and agriculture later grew as British Empire went to its imperial century
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28);">Even though Australia's land mass was enormous, its resources during the time was just enough to sustain its colonists

1 -** "[|British East India Company]." __The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition__. 2008. //Encyclopedia.com.// 10 May. 2009 <[|http://www.encyclopedia.com]>.
 * References
 * 2 -** "British Empire." // Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]//. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
 * 3 -** "Navigation Acts." // Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]//. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.
 * 4** - "East India Company [English East India Company]." // Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]//. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

1: The mother nation is named after the nation which was created first. The analogy is that the "mother" nation will take care of her "children" (or colonies). However, we know most of the time, that the "children" break away from the "mother" country. 2: Consisted of colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. 3: These products included tobacco, rice, indigo and many others which were in competitive in the global market. 4: This was mainly due to mercantilism - mostly all the products, transport, and companies were British 5: After the Seven Years' War, however, all of "French India" was given to England except for some trading posts. This greatly limited competition and encouraged rapid growth.
 * Footnotes:**

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 200%; text-align: center; display: block; color: rgb(188, 21, 21);"><span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(28, 146, 28); text-align: left; display: block; font-size: 50%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 72, 255); text-align: center; display: block;"><span style="color: rgb(65, 230, 86);">Rise of The British Empire | <span style="color: rgb(16, 157, 33);"><span style="color: rgb(65, 230, 86);">Home<span class="wiki_link"> | Agriculture and Economy