The colonial powers during the seventeenth century were led by the economic principles of the mercantilism. This economic principle was basically suggesting that in order for a country to gain as much wealth as possible, it needs to produce a lot, export more than it imports, and use protectionism as a defense mechanism. In order to accomplish this, the colonial powers engaged into mass production of goods that were in high demand and were sold for good price, resulting in creation of enormous plantations of cash crops. Some of the cash crops that contributed to accumulation of wealth through trade were the sugar cane, cotton, indigo, tobacco etc. Something else that this economic principle suggested was the creation or opening up of new markets, and the result of that was conquering new territories, where both the resources were used, and it was a new market for the products, though this came slightly later in the history.
