Mercantilism is the name given to the economic doctrines and practices of major trading nations roughly from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Colonial empires such as those of England, France, and Spain were among those adhering to the mercantile system. Although specific practices regarding the doctrine varied from nation to nation, there were basic principles all mercantilists followed. Mercantilists practiced heavy state regulation of economic activity in order to boost national wealth. The wealth of the nation was based upon its stocks of gold and silver, rather than on its peoples' living conditions, for example.
This essay seeks to highlight these key features and explain how they impacted on the transition from a Feudal society to a different type of society – a Capitalist society. After the dissolution of the Roman Empire which concluded the Dark Ages, a ‘Feudal Society’ came into formation. This type of society was based on the ownership of land and feudal social classes reflected how much land people owned. Royalty, like Kings and Queens were in the highest class who were understood to be very powerful and had a lot of money. These very wealthy men and women owned most of the land in the kingdom.
The Efiks developed a complex culture resembling the beginnings of English consumerism. They would trade slaves for copper and manufactured goods. Power became associated with wealth, and the acquisition of wealth became the primary focus of attaining and maintaining power. Not surprisingly, as power was vested in wealth, trade wars developed. The trade wars between Old Calabar and New Calabar exemplified the best and the worst characteristics of capitalism.
Capitalism is defined as an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. The beginnings of this economic order can be dated back to the eleventh century in Europe. At this time, feudalism was the political system, and the land was the basic unit of capital. A creation of classes was established when wage labor and rents were introduced into the system. The royalty and clergy were the highest class and used the production from the lower classes for their own good.
Slaves, numbering in the millions and widely dispersed, accounted for a non-trivial share of its total population. In key areas, slaves were not merely present but supported what has been termed a ‘slave mode of production,’ a mode that rested both on an integrated system of enslavement, slave trade, and slave employment in production, and on “the systematic subjection of slaves to the control of their masters in the process of production and reproduction.”2 Most importantly, Rome counts as a slave society in terms of the structural location of slavery: dominant groups, once again above all at the core, relied to a significant degree of slave labor to generate surplus and maintain their position of dominance.3 Since the role of slavery in central productive processes turned Rome into a ‘slave economy’ just as the widespread domination of slaves as a primary social relationship made it a ‘slave society,’ these two terms may be used interchangeably, especially in those strata where slaves and ex-slaves continuously enveloped owners and patrons and mediated their interaction with the freeborn
Ownership of the slaves granted the masters power to use these slaves in their favor, wether it be in the fields or their houses. Coulibri during early 1800s was very well maintain, as it was owned by Massa Northbert Roget , who was quite wealthy due to his work and inherited wealth. Slaves employed to work for Coulibri were very well disciplined and trained to maintain Coulibri to its glory, wether it be house condition inside or outside. Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea was set during the mid 1800s, when Britain passed the Emancipation Act of 1833 which freed black slaves and led to the demise of many white slave owners. Therefore, Coulibri described by Rhys is in a state of disrepair and decay, the Estate represents the downfall of the colonial empire and the aftermath of its exploitative reign in the West Indies.
Due to the distinct social values and beliefs represented by each party, the working class population primarily would vote for the Labour party and the middle class would vote for the Conservative party. This was strengthened by the fact that people want to belong to a group which has power and influence, similarly as what they would have when supporting their local football team. PJ Pulzer a political scientist stated in 1967 that; 'class is the basis of British party politics;all else is embellishment and detail' ,PJ Pulzer, in his statement, made it clear that social class was well above the media in terms of influencing the public until the early 80s. Has this power slipped or does class still remain strong. Nowadays, the media has an overall influence in who people vote for.
Urbanization- Urbanization led to a need for written records and political organization. Cuneiform was used to records economic and political policy. Religious temples of the pantheon (polytheistic) also acted as cultural and political centers. Ancient Laws- Hammurabi’s codes was a strict hierarchal set of laws based on socio economic status (i.e. wealth) from land.
The countries involved in the ‘Scramble for Africa’ were Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy. A key economic feature of colonialism was producing and exporting raw materials either agricultural or mineral, precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. Tropical products for luxury consumption such as coffee, sugar, spices, timber and fabrics like cotton. Later when Britain, France and Germany were competing against each other for colonies in Africa in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the international market had changed rapidly with a huge demand for raw materials for manufacturing such as jute, cotton, rubber and sisal (Bernstein, 1992:48). Mass consumption demand such as tea, sugar and vegetable oils (Bernstein, 1992:48).
After a brief period of experimenting with indentured European labor, the British turned to large scale importation of Africans to be used as slaves on the sugar plantations. The plantation dominated economic life in every sense. It occupied the best lands, the laws supported the slave system, and in general all commercial and other economic activity depended on the rhythm of activity of the plantation. Upon Emancipation, many of the ex-slaves settled down as small farmers in the mountains, cultivating steep hill slopes far away from the plantations. With many Africans settling into the beautiful landscape of Jamaica, new musical dawns were on the horizon.