Commercial Revolution Research Paper

The Commercial Revolution took place from the 16th century to the 18th century. Causes and features of the Commercial Revolution include a new need for trade routes and the uprising of mercantilism. The Commercial Revolution also impacted European society politically, economically, and socially between 1500 and 1700. Some causes for the Commercial Revolution included the discovery of new trade routes that allowed much easier trade with the Eastern hemisphere. This allowed countries in Europe to trade directly with countries rather than deal with the Italian city states or the Ottoman Empire, both who previously had the only way of trading with the Eastern hemisphere. Another cause for the Commercial Revolution was the desperation that many

The Commercial Revolution was responsible for changing and creating the banking industry, the stock markets, and the insurance industry. The Commercial Revolution changed the banking industry by allowing banks and the families that owned the banks to make more money. During this time period, banks began to charge interest and forced people to pay to use the bank. An example of a big banking family would be the Fuggers, a family in northern Europe that took hold and dealt with all citizens in their area, from peasants all the way up to royalty. The Commercial Revolution created stock markets as a result of the Age of Discovery. Stock was a way to reduce risk on sending ships out to trade, instead of one person spending all the money on a voyage, a group of people could put their money together with less risk involved for everyone. The Commercial Revolution also created official insurance. While insurance had existed long before the Commercial Revolution, the Commercial Revolution helped create official insurance documents like we have today. Once again, this was done in part due to risk on ships going out on voyages. This economic impact on European society also changed the political power of nations. With giant banking families, such as the Fuggers, gaining power and money even royalty had to borrow from the large banks thus removing some of the power countries had on the economy. Another example of this is with Henry VIII establishing the Royal Navy in an effort to keep trading ships safe from pirates and keep the money coming into England from the trade. These examples both show how the economic impact from the Commercial Revolution affected the political power of