What is merchanlisim?

Answer 1

The word you're looking for is "mercantilism". It is the economic principle that became popular in several European nations from the early 17th century on, especially those engaged in international trade, such as England and the Dutch Republic.

The theory says that money wealth of a nation is the source of its prosperity. And that to accumulate that wealth, your earnings from export trade must be bigger than the cost of import trade. It lead to policies like export subsidies, high tariffs on imports, trying to monopolize markets such as the market for certain spices, and the establishment of colonies to better control production and trade of goods.