France’s mercantilist monopoly confined all colonial trade to French ships

Evidence

The monopoly meant that only ships from French ports could trade with the colonies. From the perspective of the royal government, the colonies existed to contribute to the economy of the metropole, and it was therefore perfectly logical that the planters should be constrained in this way. … It was to be a monogamous relationship of control and support in which colony and mother country would expand in power and wealth together. French ships would buy slaves in French ports in Africa, bring them to French colonies in the Caribbean, and bring back plantation commodities to Europe to be sold by French merchants. The money and the profits would stay within the family. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 120

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content