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==Colonialism and Mercantilism==
{{detailsFurther|Mercantilism}} {{detailsFurther|Age of Discovery}}
[[Image:Portuguese discoveries and explorationsV2en.png|thumb|300px|[[Portuguese discoveries]] and explorations from 1415 to 1543: first arrival places and dates; main Portuguese [[spice trade]] routes in the [[Indian Ocean]] (in blue); territories of the [[Portuguese Empire]] under the rule of [[King John III of Portugal|King John III]] (1521–1557) (in green).]] The deterioration of the climate that brought about the end of the [[medieval warm period]] (or medieval weather anomaly) caused an economic decline at the beginning of the 14th century (see [[Great Famine of 1315–17|Great Famine]]). However, demographic expansion continued until the arrival of the [[Black Death]] epidemic in 1347, when ca. 50% of the European population was killed by the plague. The economic effects of a labor shortage actually caused wages to rise, while agricultural yields were once again able to support a diminished population. By the beginning of the 15th century, the economic expansion associated with the Commercial Revolution in earlier centuries returned in full force, aided by improvements in navigation and cartography.
 
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===Geopolitical factors===
In 1453, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] took over [[Constantinople]], which cut off (or significantly increased the cost of) overland trade routes between Europe and the [[Far East]],<ref>{{cite book |title=New York: the World's Capital City, Its Development and Contributions to Progress |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.226262 |chapter=Chapter 1 |author=Rankin, Rebecca B., Cleveland Rodgers |publisher=Harper |year=1948}}</ref> so alternative routes had to be found. English laws were changed to benefit the navy, but had commercial implications in terms of farming. These laws also contributed to the demise of the [[Hanseatic League]], which traded in northern Europe.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times | author= [[Cunningham, William | author-link= William Cunningham (economist)|Cunningham, William]]| page= 26 | year=1892 | publisher = University Press}}</ref> Because of the [[Reconquista]], the Spanish had a warrior culture ready to conquer still more people and places, so Spain was perfectly positioned to develop their [[Spanish Empire|vast overseas empire]].<ref name="isbn0-449-90496-2">{{cite book |author=Weatherford, J. McIver |author-link=J. McIver Weatherford |title=Indian givers: how the Indians of the Americas transformed the world |publisher=Fawcett Columbine |location=New York |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiangivershow000weat/page/231 231] |isbn=0-449-90496-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/indiangivershow000weat/page/231 }}</ref>
Rivalry between the European powers produced intense competition for the creation of colonial empires, and fueled the rush to sail out of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Diamond | first1 = Jared M. | title = Guns, germs, and steel: the fates of human societies | url = https://archive.org/details/gunsgermssteelfa0000diam | url-access = registration | year = 1997 | publisher = W.W. Norton | location = New York | isbn = 0-393-03891-2 }}
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===Inflation===
{{detailsFurther|Price revolution}}
[[File:Potosì 8 reales 1768 131206.jpg|thumb|right|[[Potosí]] (Bolivia) [[silver]] 8 reales, Carlos III, 1768]]
[[File:doubloon.jpg|thumb|right|Spanish gold [[doubloon]] stamped as minted in 1798]]
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===Banks===
{{detailsFurther|History of banking}}
[[Image:Matsys the moneylender.jpg|left|thumb|''The Moneylender and his Wife'' (1514)<br/> Oil on panel, 71 x 68 cm [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris]]
Various legal and religious developments in the late Middle Ages allowed for development of the modern banking system at the beginning of the 16th century. [[Interest]] was allowed to be charged, and [[Profit (economics)|profits]] generated from holding other people's money.
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===Economic theory===
{{detailsFurther|History of Economic Thought}}
 
As the economy grew through the Commercial Revolution, so did attempts to understand and influence it. [[Economic theory]] as a separate subject of its own came into being as the stresses of the new global order brought about two opposing theories of how a nation accumulates wealth: [[mercantilism|mercantilistic]] and [[free-trade]] policies. Mercantilism inflamed the growing hostilities between the increasingly centralized European powers as the accumulation of precious metals by governments was seen as important to the prestige and power of a modern nation. This involvement in accumulating gold and silver (among other things) became important in the development of the [[nation-state]]. Governments' involvement in trade affected the [[nobility]] of western European nations, because increased wealth by non-nobles threatened the nobility's place in society.
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==Notes==
{{reflistReflist|30em}}
 
==References==
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