ABSTRACT
By the eighteenth century, European participation in the world economy had expanded greatly both in terms of its volume and its intricacy. Vainglorious monarchs enjoyed pomp, ceremony, duplicity, and warfare, but increasingly they came to understand that these luxuries had to be paid for and that a strong economic base provided the best means of achieving their goals. The eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of England as an economic superpower. The restructuring of other aspects of England's commercial institutions provided additional incentives to the growth of foreign trade. The colonial powers of western Europe, including Portugal, failed in their attempt to narrow the gap between themselves and England. In many ways the state sought to promote the growth and to enact policies designed to improve the economy. In terms of developmental possibilities, the French aristocracy could not have, even had it wanted to, pioneered agricultural development.
