Editing History of Europe (section)

===Mercantilism and colonial expansion===
{{Main|Mercantilism}}
[[File:Colonisation2.gif|thumb|left|The evolution of [[Colonial empire]]s from 1492 to the present]]

The [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] kingdoms were able to dominate colonial activity in the 16th century. The Portuguese forged the first global empire in the 15th and 16th century, whilst during the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, the crown of Castile (and the overarching Hispanic Monarchy, including Portugal from 1580 to 1640) became the most powerful empire in the world. Spanish dominance in America was increasingly challenged by [[British colonisation of the Americas|British]], [[French colonisation of the Americas|French]], [[Dutch colonization of the Americas|Dutch]] and [[New Sweden|Swedish]] colonial efforts of the 17th and 18th centuries. New forms of trade and expanding horizons made new forms of [[Federalism|government]], [[Constitutionalism|law]] and economics necessary.

Colonial expansion continued in the following centuries (with some setbacks, such as successful wars of independence in the [[American Revolution|British American colonies]] and then later [[Haitian Revolution|Haiti]], [[Mexican War of Independence|Mexico]], [[Argentine War of Independence|Argentina]], [[Brazilian Independence|Brazil]], and [[Spanish American wars of independence|others]] amid European turmoil of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]). Spain had control of a large part of North America, all of Central America and a great part of South America, the Caribbean and the [[Philippines]]; Britain took the whole of Australia and New Zealand, most of India, and large parts of Africa and North America; France held parts of Canada and India (nearly all of which was lost to Britain [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|in 1763]]), [[French Indochina|Indochina]], large parts of Africa and the Caribbean islands; the Netherlands gained the [[Indies|East Indies]] (now [[Indonesia]]) and islands in the Caribbean; Portugal obtained Brazil and several territories in Africa and Asia; and later, powers such as Germany, Belgium, Italy and Russia acquired further colonies.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

This expansion helped the economy of the countries owning them. [[Mercantilism|Trade]] flourished, because of the minor stability of the empires. By the late 16th century, American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Conquest in the Americas|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575057_13/spain.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028035130/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761575057_13/Spain.html|archive-date=28 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Herbert S, Klein, ''The American Finances of the Spanish Empire : Royal Income and Expenditures in Colonial Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, 1680–1809'' (1998) p. 92 [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Herbert-Klein/publication/319175990_The_American_Finances_of_the_Spanish_Empire_1680-1809/links/5997235445851564431d0934/The-American-Finances-of-the-Spanish-Empire-1680-1809.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614034106/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Herbert-Klein/publication/319175990_The_American_Finances_of_the_Spanish_Empire_1680-1809/links/5997235445851564431d0934/The-American-Finances-of-the-Spanish-Empire-1680-1809.pdf |date=14 June 2021 }}</ref> The [[French colonial empire|French colony]] of [[Saint-Domingue]] was one of richest European colonies in the 18th century, operating on a [[plantation economy]] fueled by [[Slavery in Haiti|slave labor]]. During the period of French rule, [[cash crop]]s produced in Saint-Domingue comprised thirty percent of total French trade while its sugar exports represented forty percent of the Atlantic market.<ref>{{cite book|last=McLellan|first=James May|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIxDYmc0c3YC|title=Colonialism and Science: Saint Domingue and the Old Regime|publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-226-51467-3|edition=reprint|page=63|quote=[...] French Saint Domingue at its height in the 1780s had become the single richest and most productive colony in the world.|access-date=22 November 2010|archive-date=27 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427155348/https://books.google.com/books?id=tIxDYmc0c3YC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Alcenat|first=Westenly|title=The Case for Haitian Reparations|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/|url-status=live|access-date=20 February 2021|website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|language=en-US|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226224437/https://jacobinmag.com/2017/01/haiti-reparations-france-slavery-colonialism-debt/}}</ref>