How did capitalism and mercantilism help the growth of the atlantic system?
The economic and political system of the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries) from which capitalism evolved is commonly described as merchant capitalism or mercantilism[13] (EB). This period was associated with geographic discoveries by merchant overseas traders, especially from England and the Low Countries; the European colonization of the Americas; and the rapid growth in overseas trade. The associated rise of a bourgeoisie class eclipsed the prior feudal system. It is mercantilism that Adam Smith refuted in his Wealth of Nations which is a recognized treatise of capitalist theory. Mercantilism was a system of trade for profit, although commodities were still largely produced by non-capitalist production methods.[6] Noting the various pre-capitalist features of mercantilism, Karl Polanyi argued that capitalism did not emerge until the establishment of free trade in Britain in the 1830s. Under mercantilism, European merchants, backed by state controls, subsidies, and monopoli
