The Commercial Revolution resulted from the Age of Exploration and led to which outcome for European merchants?

• A. Increased standard of living
• B. Decreased standard of living
• C. Feudal revival
• D. Isolation of markets

Answer: (A)

Expansion of global trade and new business practices reshaped European economies as explorers opened up routes and colonies produced wealth. For merchants, this meant access to broader markets for spices, metals, and other goods, along with rising profits. Innovations in banking, credit, and the growth of joint-stock companies allowed merchants to pool capital, take on risk, and expand trading networks across Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Cities that became trading hubs grew wealthy, and the overall flow of wealth into mercantile classes raised their incomes and social standing. This combination of higher profits and financial tools is why the outcome for European merchants was an increased standard of living. The other options don’t fit because the era drove more interconnected markets and wealth, not decline or isolation, and it did not herald a feudal revival.