The Impact of Exploration on European Economies

1. How did exploration help capitalism?

1.1. Capitalism is an economic system based on investment of money for profit.

1.2. More exploration led to more trade, which gave people money to invest in companies.

2. How does a market economy grow?

2.1. Once people started to have more money, they could now buy and sell more things.

2.2. If a product was in high demand and there wasn't much of a supply of that product, it could be very expensive.

2.3. A market economy happens when prices are determined by supply and demand.

3. What is the cottage industry?

3.1. Merchants needed to hire people to turn raw materials into products. Many people were hired to work in cottages, or homes.

3.2. Lots and lots of products were created this way. This was called the cottage industry.

4. What is mercantilism?

4.1. Countries thought the best way to build power was to save money.

4.2. To do this, they increased exports (what they sold) and decreased imports (what they bought).

4.3. They also established colonies in other places to get even more money