Did the mercantilists promote colonization to acquire the inexhaustible wealth of the new world?

It seems so. Mercantilists were essentially state licensed monopolists. They argued that national wealth was acquired by exporting more finished goods than importing. Raw materials needed be acquired for production, and so state exploitation of foreign lands helped keep import prices lower (also see triangular trade). Finished goods made at home could then have high profit margins benefiting mercantilsts and and their state sponsors.

This system became viewed as immoral and inferior based on the law of comparative advantage (i.e. stemming from free trade) and benefits of free enterprise arose throughout the industrial revolution.