There are many similarities and differences between the economies of chile and Venezuela, but perhaps the most significant would be that the former focussed mostly on agricultural exports.
The first sentence although I believe the last one is also correct.
At a time when trade and transport were made primarily by water, and bearing in mind that European powers needed to have free access to the rich colonies, and only by sea could they communicate with America and the colonies, the ocean and the seas were the higways of the past. Therefore, access and control of the sea routes, was the only way to have control over the colonies, their riches; and become the dominant power in the world. In addition, the wars between France and Great Britain were not only for trade or wealth, but for power itself, to decide who would dominate the seas.
