How did the mercantilist system encourage the growth of European colonization of the Americas?

a. europe established colonies to provide economic benifits to europeans

b. europe needed colonies to provide an outlet for surplus populations at home.

c. europe sought colonies to spur competition among lagging home economies

d. europe used colonies to safeguard wealth during conflicts at home

The answer is A.

Mercantilism, remember, was this economic theory that said that a country's power was based on it's wealth. Therefore, wealthier countries had more power.

All of Western Europe followed the mercantilism theory, so all these European countries were scrambling to get rich.

One way to do that was by establishing colonies and exploiting those colonies for the economic benefit of those greedy European countries.