mercantile colonies

Examples of mercantile colonies in the following topics:

• An Empire of Commerce

  • The British economic policy in its American colonies was called mercantilism, which set out to maximize profits for Britain.
  • The economy in the colonies differed regionally.
  • The British government imposed an economic policy called "mercantilism" on its American colonies.
  • The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses so that gold and silver would pour into London.
  • Indeed, the goal of mercantilism was to enrich the mother country.

• The Mercantalist System

  • Mercantilism regarded government control of foreign trade as crucial for ensuring the prosperity and military security of the nation.
  • Under mercantilism, nations sought to establish colonies to produce goods for export as a chief means of acquiring economic strength and power.
  • For Britain, the goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses to increase the flow of gold and silver pouring into London.
  • British mercantilism mainly took the form of efforts to control trade.
  • Once under British control, regulations were imposed on the colonies that allowed the colony to produce only raw materials and to trade only with Britain.

• Trade and Economy

  • Mercantilism was the basic policy imposed by Britain on its colonies from the 1660s.
  • Mercantilism meant that the government and merchants based in England became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires and even merchants based in its own colonies.
  • The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses so that gold and silver would pour into London.
  • The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country.

• French Explorers

  • Prior to the establishment of the 1663 Sovereign Council, the territories of New France were developed as mercantile colonies.
  • It is only after 1665 that France gave its American colonies the proper means to develop population colonies comparable to that of the British.
  • Colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique were founded in 1635 and on Saint Lucia in 1650.
  • France's most important Caribbean colonial possession was established in 1664, when the colony of Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti) was founded on the western half of the Spanish island of Hispaniola.
  • French colonial expansion wasn't limited to the New World.

• New France and Louisiana

  • New France, colonized by France in the 16th century, included the colonies of Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland, and Louisiana.
  • The territory was then divided into five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland (Plaisance), and Louisiana.
  • In 1627, France invested in New France, promising land parcels to hundreds of new settlers with the hope of turning the area into an important mercantile and farming colony.
  • The colony forbade non-Roman Catholics from living there, and Protestants were required to renounce their faith to establish themselves in New France.
  • Many therefore, chose instead to move to the English colonies.

• The Coming of the English

  • Roanoke is still called “the Lost Colony” today.
  • Proprietors were appointed to found and govern settlements under mercantile charters granted to joint stock companies.
  • The colony survived and flourished by developing tobacco as a cash crop for the colony; it served as a beginning for the colonial state of Virginia.
  • Along with agriculture, fishing, and logging, New England became an important mercantile and shipbuilding center, serving as the hub for trading between the southern colonies and Europe.
  • The colonial South included the plantation colonies of the Chesapeake region—Virginia and Maryland—and the lower South colonies of Carolina and Georgia.

• The Rise of the Assemblies

  • The proprietary colonies were created after the Restoration of 1660 and typically enjoyed greater civil and religious liberty than other colonies.
  • The essential difference between the charter colonies and the proprietory and provincal colonies was that property-owning men in the charter colonies could elect their own governors.
  • Despite Benjamin Franklin's efforts at the Albany Congress to unite the thirteen colonies under a single system of colonial governance, the British North American colonies remained independent of each other until the eve of the American Revolution.
  • As the only electable body in the colonial political system, the colonial assemblies were also responsible for approving new local taxes and colonial government budgets.
  • However, it is important to note that these assemblies were mostly representative of the privileged and mercantile classes.

• English Colonies

  • A single person or family owned proprietary colonies, also called charter colonies.
  • Investors owned Joint Stock colonies.
  • The Jamestown colony became a small city within the larger colony of Virginia (which became an economically successful colony due to tobacco).
  • Along with agriculture, fishing, and logging, New England became an important mercantile and shipbuilding center, serving as the hub for trading between the southern colonies and Europe.
  • The colonial South included the plantation colonies of the Chesapeake region and the lower South.

• A Growing Population and Expanding Economy in British North America

  • Philadelphia became the center of the colonies with the largest population, which was very diverse, by the end of the colonial period.
  • The first convicts in the colonies arrived before the Mayflower.
  • The Massachusetts settlement spawned other Puritan colonies in New England, including the New Haven, Saybrook, and Connecticut colonies.
  • Along with agriculture, fishing, and logging, New England became an important mercantile and shipbuilding center, serving as the hub for trade between the southern colonies and Europe.
  • In the Southern colonies, the settlers came mainly from the English colony of Barbados and brought African slaves with them.

• The Expansion of England's Empire

  • These were charter colonies, proprietary colonies and royal colonies.
  • Other colonies in the rest of the Americas followed at a much slower pace.
  • A number of English colonies were established under a system of independent Proprietary Governors, who were appointed under mercantile charters to English joint stock companies to found and run settlements.
  • In effect, with the Union they became British colonies.
  • British colonies in North America, 1763 to 1775, published in 1911.