How Did Britain Come To This Dominant Position In The Atlantic Economy?

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The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were tumultuous times in Europe. The major powers of Europe were all vying for dominance of the world economy, and were trying all kinds of methods in order to achieve that goal. As the centuries passed, Britain came to dominate the Atlantic trade and became one of, if not the major power in Europe. The question is though, how did Britain come to this dominant position in the Atlantic economy? While the rise of Britain cannot be attributed to just one aspect of society, it can be said that the economic policies of Britain greatly influenced their rise to power and are a significant reason for their dominance in Atlantic trade.
The rise of Britain began in the late sixteenth/early seventeenth centuries during the decline of the Spanish Empire. Much of Spain’s overseas empire was in decline during this time …show more content…

The goal of this act was to “boost the recruitment of British seamen into the merchant marine and the navy; to stimulate employment in British ports and linked industries in their hinterlands; and to ensure that the profits of trade, plus shipping and harbor dues, benefited Britain rather than rival foreign centers of trade.” This idea was fundamentally mercantilist in origin. According to mercantilist doctrine, “legitimate exchange between colonists of different nationalities was seen as a threat to the imperial strength of the nation state,” so it makes sense that in order to maintain power over their trade and income, the Navigation Acts were created at the expense of Britain’s rivals. Despite all the economic success in Britain, “much of the vigour and enterprise that underpinned British trans-Atlantic trade and settlement in the empire was not the direct result of the Navigation Acts; at least equally important was the efficiency of the private sector of the

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