Question: in great-depth how trade functioned as the main historical force that propelled the commercial and technological revolutions which eventually led to the discovery of America, as well as to the rise of an international economy (known as Mercantilism) that valued gold and precious goods as wealth which brought the conquistadors to the New World. Second, explain the critical role that technology, epidemic disease, and religious ideas played in the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires. Third, describe how international trade and global markets influenced the colonization of the American continent by Spain, France, Holland, and England.