In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market. With the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world, the demand for goods began growing.
The Expansion of Trade in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
However, these merchants faced challenges when trying to expand production within towns. Urban crafts and trade guilds held significant power in the towns. These associations of producers trained craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted the entry of new people into the trade.
Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products, making it difficult for new merchants to set up businesses in towns. As a result, merchants turned to the countryside as an alternative.