What role did mercantilism play in early European exploration and colonization?

The role that mercantilism played was that the Europeans wanted to be more wealth so they sent people to explore a new lands to make crops and objects that they can sell for more money. The European countries at the time wanted to become wealthier in order to have more power. They wanted to export more and import less. A nation does not have all the resources so many nations set out to find new lands. Many nations created colonies such as England. They began to enforce laws so that the colonies sent the country the raw material, they would manufacture then sell it. This would increase a nation's power.