From the gradual disappearance of Feudalism in Europe since the 13th century, Mercantilism was emerging, mainly from the conquest and colonization of America, Africa and part of Asia, essentially its coastal areas, by Portugal, Spain, England, Holland, France, Denmark from the 15th century. That first great expansion of Europe ended up burying Feudalism, and opened the floodgates of the world enclosed in its fiefs and castles towards new commercial, economic, cultural horizons of domination and slavery.
Along with the expansion, a new economy conceived as Mercantilism was formed, which was based on the fact that the wealth of nations is determined by the amount of gold and silver that each kingdom accumulated or had, whether in ingots, bulk, jewelry or coins. . To preserve wealth, a monopoly of production and trade was necessary, that is, the express prohibition of foreigners to trade with countries; only the nationals and, with previous permission of the King or Real Certificate, could exercise the commerce in their country.
Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Antonio_Canal
Each European kingdom or power began its expansion in America, Africa and Asia; and the only ones who could trade and produce in these colonies were the subjects of the country or dominant king, or those who exceptionally gave him permission to do so. With the economic interaction, production and trade, although monopolistic, began a great impetus to monetization, which has never stopped, and remains to this day. Only what the King and his government decided through the Estanco was produced, which was the extension of monopoly and productive control. The King was the only one who could allow the entry of goods that came from other kingdoms or countries. Each Kingdom sought to conquer and colonize lands throughout the world, as a symbol of its power and wealth. The armed power existed to guarantee the colonial domination and the extraction of wealth, as well as to give security to the ships that brought products from those colonies, or took the products of the metropolis to these colonies.
Source: http://historiasocial.cl/2016/04/05/mercantilismo-recaudadores-impuestos/
Soon the contradictions, the conflicts and the wars between the monarchies and the colonialist piases began for the distribution and control of the colonial booty. The weapons had an explosive growth, because they all needed them to defend themselves, to attack and seize new territories. The gunpowder that the Chinese had invented since ancient times, but only used for fireworks, was used by Europeans to invent firearms that determined the power of a kingdom. The ships began to fill with cannons, and ships, caravels, frigates and brigantines were growing and went on to have up to 240 guns each.
The commercial monopoly and the control of production soon came into deep contradiction with the growing needs of the world. The kingdoms and countries that opened to production and trade went ahead in wealth and welfare for their peoples such as England, Holland, Denmark and, to a lesser extent, France since the 17th century. Those who remained locked in the monopoly of trade and in the stagnant production, stagnated and impoverished. Cases such as Spain, Portugal and Russia. What we call development of the productive forces could not continue in the narrow enclosures of mercantilism, monopoly and estanco, and pushed the barriers that oppressed them through more production and more trade. In this context where a new theory and a new economic model arises: Liberalism.