Mercantilism, the country needs a favorable balance of trade so it exports more than it imports goods. The mother country would import manufactured goods to the colony exporting raw materials in exchange. For example the Columbian exchange exported new foods and crops from the Americas such as maize, tobacco, sugar, cotton and potatoes. Horses were brought from Europe and introduced to the Native American people. For example: the Lakota mostly hunted buffalo and this practice was improved with the introduction of horses.
Hope this helps
Acquiring colonies to provide a favorable balance of trade.
Mercantilism was the theory that trade generates wealth and peer, so gathering colonies that stimulate trade would fall under mercantilism.
