In what way did expansion and global trade during the 15th to 18th centuries affect the economies of European countries?

the world may never know

while it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the need for slaves to grow and pick the cotton.

explanation:

before eli whitney's invention of the cotton gin, picking and cleaning cotton was a slow, labor-intensive job. workers, usually slaves, had to pick the seeds from the cotton fibers by hand. this invention made it possible to grow large amounts of cotton on big farms and make money.

capitalism is an economic system that works around the concept of wealth creation in the pursuit of economic growth for the nation while mercantilism focuses on wealth accumulation through extraction of wealth which they believe is measured by the amwount of gold bollions that the nation has in its possession.