Les mercantilistes et la question coloniale aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles

Abstract

Monetary enrichment was among the hottest topics in mercantilist writings of 17th century France and England. How might wealth best be increased in a world which, until the close of this period, was to remain largely without the concept of the market ? Colonies came to be seen as a means of increasing the home nation's wealth given the right political and economic conditions. The economists of the day enquired into whether colonies could enrich the nation, and if so how they might best contribute to this. Three views on this formed over the course of the period. The 'predatory' view saw the colonies as a means of enrichment through unfair trade with no major local investment. A second view was that the economic development of the colonies should be promoted as a basis for trade on a more equitable, albeit exclusive, basis with the home nation. The third view held that colonies were the road to the impoverishment rather than the enrichment of the home country. These three views underpinned discussion of the colonial question throughout 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.