What is the connection between mercantilism and colonialism?

Answer 1

Answer
Mercantilism is an economic system that requires two distinct political entities to exist. It requires a metropole, which is the main part of the country and where the leadership sits. It also requires colonies, which are distant regions with unique resources that can transfer these unique resources to the metropole.

In order to create this kind of relationship, leaders from the metropole must create colonies in distant lands in order to extract these resources. This is why mercantilism necessarily leads to colonialism. Note that this form of colonialism can exist within large empires as well. The Russian expansion into Siberia and Central Asia in the 1700s and 1800s mirrors the Western European creation of colonies in the Americas and this expansion was done with the purpose of extracting raw materials that were present in these territories.

Further Elaboration on the Metropole-Colony Relationship
Mercantilism is the economic policy that a metropole should have a number of colonies that provide it material wealth, unrefined resources, and a market for its goods. As a result, according to mercantilism, the colonies were required to engage in two general behaviors: (1) The colonies were locked into exclusive trade between the colonies and the metropole and were not allowed to trade with any other nation or colony. (2) No manufactures or complex goods could be made in the colonial territory. As a result the colonies would provide wealth to the metropole by trading their Natural Resources for less than they would be worth and by buying manufactures for much more money.