In: Economics
England was one of the most powerful and successful country in the 18th century due to its international trade policy. England widely used the theory of Mercantlism to amass great wealth and power. The theory advocates that for a country to accumulate wealth, it should exports more and imports less, so that they can have a trade surplus and have huge reserves of gold and silver. England followed a protectionist approach as they minimised their imports by applying high tariffs on goods coming to their country and promotoed exports by providing subsidies to their domestic industries. Also, colonization of several nations majorly India and Africa gave them access to cheap raw materials which they used for further production of finished goods giving them a high cost advantage as compared to other developed nations. They, then sold those finished products to their colonies thereby generating wealth for their country.