Part one of term paper
The original quest for colonies, which began in the 17th century, was economically justified by the dominance of the mercantilist system. One of mercantilism's key assumptions was that a country could only become wealthy through the accumulation of gold stock. The only way to maintain a large gold stock was to block trade with other nations, ...

Part two of term paper
... were eager to invest their wealth in markets at home and overseas. The overseas investments, in most cases paid a higher return, but were inherently more risky. One role of a huge empire is to eliminate the risk of overseas investment. As the empire grew larger, British capital diffused farther. By the dawn of the 20th century, British capital could be found all over the Earth. A second approach to the profit motive was somewhat similar to the supposedly out of favor mercantilist model. Lea ...