Global trade is not a modern phenomenon. World history is full of examples of one society gradually expanding by trading goods with adjacent territories and establishing markets in newly contacted regions. In the fifteenth century, global trade changed decisively because of technological developments in maritime navigation that began to connect more remote parts of the world. The modern European trading empire emerged when it became possible to move massive quantities of cargo across the ocean and to maintain commercial monopolies in spite of geographical dispersion. The term mercantilism is used to describe the process of European commercial expansion, violent exploitation of resources, and economic domination over the rest of the world, including the Americas, Africa, and parts of Asia.
Q10. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Q10. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.
Answer and solution
Correct answer: C
Solution
Answer: C — Technological advancements in maritime navigation in the 15th century transformed global trade, enabling Europeans to establish commercial monopolies and exert economic dominance over distant regions.
1. Identify the baseline: trade existed before the fifteenth century.
2. Identify the change: maritime technology connected distant regions and enabled movement of large cargoes.
3. Identify the consequence: geographically dispersed commercial monopolies and European economic domination.
4. C preserves this complete chain. A substitutes a claim about when mercantilism was conceptualised. B is narrower and foregrounds exploitation. D changes the driver to resource discovery.
5. Answer: C.
Detailed reasoning and elimination check:
The structure is earlier trade → improved navigation → remote trade and control. The best summary retains the change and its enabling cause. A date attached to the definition of mercantilism, or a newly introduced resource-discovery cause, is not equivalent.
Apply: Keep the chain: navigation technology → distant cargo and monopolies → European dominance. C.
Check: The structure is earlier trade → improved navigation → remote trade and control. The best summary retains the change and its enabling cause. A date attached to the definition of mercantilism, or a newly introduced resource-discovery cause, is not equivalent.
1. Identify the baseline: trade existed before the fifteenth century.
2. Identify the change: maritime technology connected distant regions and enabled movement of large cargoes.
3. Identify the consequence: geographically dispersed commercial monopolies and European economic domination.
4. C preserves this complete chain. A substitutes a claim about when mercantilism was conceptualised. B is narrower and foregrounds exploitation. D changes the driver to resource discovery.
5. Answer: C.
Detailed reasoning and elimination check:
The structure is earlier trade → improved navigation → remote trade and control. The best summary retains the change and its enabling cause. A date attached to the definition of mercantilism, or a newly introduced resource-discovery cause, is not equivalent.
G Strategy shortcut
Spot: Identify the exact question task and the relevant passage claim.Apply: Keep the chain: navigation technology → distant cargo and monopolies → European dominance. C.
Check: The structure is earlier trade → improved navigation → remote trade and control. The best summary retains the change and its enabling cause. A date attached to the definition of mercantilism, or a newly introduced resource-discovery cause, is not equivalent.
G Strategy: Spot: Identify the exact question task and the relevant passage claim. Apply: Keep the chain: navigation technology → distant cargo and monopolies → European dominance. C. Check: The structure is earlier trade → improved navigation → remote trade and control. The best summary retains the change and its enabling cause. A date attached to the definition of mercantilism, or a newly introduced resource-discovery cause, is not equivalent.