Answer:
I think it's a bit of both
Step-by-step explanation:
Taking Britain as an example, its overseas colonial expansion went through three stages. They are the stages of adhering to mercantilism, carrying out "license" system, "pillaging ship" model and establishing commercial capitalism centered on the North American colonies. After the Industrial Revolution, it gained the position of commodity competition, and under the guidance of free trade thought, it seized the key places of trade network, raw material producing areas and markets by means of maritime hegemony and gun diplomacy, and constructed the free capitalism stage of invisible trade empire. As well as the industrial capital (imperialism) stage in which the British empire was built with India as the core, the British empire returned to the colonial road after suffering fierce competition from other European countries.