The main reason was that so they get to have the land.
It transported livestock, crops, and diseases among Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of items which began during the period of exploration in the 15th century.
The Columbian Exchange moved crops from the Old World to the New World and vice versa. Tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and pumpkin were all transferred to Europe becoming staple food crops for many countries. Europeans brought disease, domesticated animals, rice, onions, and sugarcane to the Americas. Africa was introduced to new foods and manufactured items in exchange for slaves to work plantations in the New World.
The characterization of mercantilism as a "set of practices" demonstrates the absence of a preconceived plan for the economic policy of European countries that, between the 16th and 18th centuries, disputed slices of American territory to keep them in the condition of colonies. During this period, in Europe, the wealth available in the world was thought of as something that could not be expanded, and therefore the absolutist states strove to secure for themselves as much of this supposedly limited wealth as possible. Gold and silver, circulating in the form of coins or locked in the coffers of kings were understood as their translation, hence the true search fever of the so-called metals
