ABSTRACT
It was in the Iberian peninsula that the Mercantilism of the territorial State first made its appearance, for as far back as the thirteenth century some of its features are to be traced in the policy of James I of Aragon; but it was not till the reigns of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who by their marriage and the conquest of Granada brought the whole of the peninsula, except Portugal, under their rule, that the building up in Spain of a national economy, under monarchic control, could be definitely undertaken. An all-round development of the resources of the country was doubtless contemplated by these mercantilist rulers, but the course taken by Spanish enterprise in relation to the outer world combined with other factors to produce something of a very different kind.
