Lecture 25: Mercantilism, Capitalism and the

1
Lecture 25 Mercantilism, Capitalism and the
Consequences of Empire
2
-- By the 1500s Europe moves away from feudalism
and toward economic system known as
mercantilism -- Premise of mercantilism is
that it is best for countries to increase
exports and collect precious metals
(gold/silver capital) -- Money rather than
land, becomes associated with wealth -- Monarchie
s considered essential component of
mercantilism State exercised much control over
economic life through licens- ing of
corporations and trading companies, regulating
production and making treaties to obtain trading
privileges -- Through Navigation Acts, England
is able to destroy commerce of its chief rival,
Holland -- Jean Baptiste Colbert, financial
advisor to Cardinal Mazarin, is given post of
French comptroller of finance under Louis
XIV after Mazarins death
3
-- Colbert reduces public debt and tries to
balance French budget tries to equalize
taxation, but is opposed by local
elites -- Colbert attempts to make France
economically self-sufficient encourages growth
of industry though state subsidies and
protective tariffs regulates quality and price
of goods -- Colbert attempts to reduce trade
barriers within France by initiating road
building, and restricting use of natural
resources -- Tax revolts and Colberts
resistance to Louis XIVs spending excesses
cause Louis to replace him -- Dutch nation was
most successful mercantile state, perhaps
as result of religious toleration and early
adoption of Protestantism nation ruled by
merchants and cooperative partnerships -- Dutch
East Indies Company setup to coordinate spice
trade against rivals Portuguese, Spanish and
English
4
-- Mercantilism aids discovery and creation of
colonial markets -- First European to reach Asia
may have been Marco Polo (1200s) -- Ascendance
of Ottoman Turks in 1400s cuts off overland
travel to East and Europeans are forced to
establish maritime routes -- By 1500s
Portuguese carrying on regular trade with
China Spanish follow by exploiting Mexico,
Hispaniola, Peru British colonize North
America -- European expansion into the New World
is a tragedy for the native populations ½ of
population of Mexico destroyed all but 300 of
100,000 Hispaniolans killed within first 10
years -- Encomienda system enslaved Indians in
return for salavation -- Bartoleme de las Casas
persuades Pope that Indians have souls and
entitled to humane treatment and salvation (1537)
5
-- Encomienda system illegal by 1542 slave
labor, especially in construction of missions in
the Southwest, continues -- Portuguese are first
to trade in Asia (1514) by 1557 Macao acquired
as a trading station 1570 Spain and China trade
in Philippines 1619 Dutch settle in Taiwan,
claim Pescadores -- By mid-1600s Jesuits arrive
in China and are welcomed at Ming court Ming
Empire also begins series of maritime expeditions
, possibly as far west as Mexico -- By 1620s
worldwide trading system, centered in Seville,
experiences severe depression which reaches
China, Japan -- 1640 Chinese merchants in Manila
are massacred by Spanish Japanese cut off all
trade with Philippines -- First Europeans in
Japan had been Portuguese who land on Kyushu in
1543 Jesuits convert 300,000 by end of 1600s
6
-- Many Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch arrive,
convincing shoguns that Christian missionaries
were preliminary to conquest -- Japan resorts to
official persecution of Christians after 1612
Spanish are refused entry after 1624 Japanese
forbidden to travel abroad building of large
ships forbidden only Dutch are allowed to
remain on artificial island of Dejima in
harbor of Nagasaki -- Spanish and Portuguese
first to colonize India, followed by French,
Dutch and English -- Under Elizabeth I, English
do more pirating that colonizing, especially
Spanish ships filled with gold and precious
gems from the New World pirates rewarded with
knighthood -- European colonization of new lands
economically enriched Europe, but also created a
sense of European centrism and superiority which
would persist for centuries