Abstract
Mercantilism was both an economical policy and different theoretical ideas. It was typically a European phenomenon which reached its highest development in the seventeenth century. It slowly disappeared during the eighteenth century. Thus, mercantilism covered the period from the Renaissance to the industrial era. Mercantilism was never a coherent economical doctrine. It was more an addition of different ways of thinking which appeared in different Europeans countries and were at the origin of national experiences. We can wonder in which way Mercantilism was a moral revolution and in what ways it represented a major breakthrough toward modernity. As most of the European colonial powers saw the process of colonization through mercantilist ideas, Colonies became an experimental field for mercantilism. Thus we can also wonder what significance it would hold for North American colonization efforts.
