The correct answer is the first (A).
Mercantilism was an economic system based on the accumulation of precious metals, which worked under the aegis of buying cheap and selling expensive, to enrich the European nations and bourgeoisies. In this sense, the support mechanism of the model was to keep the trade balance favorable, that is, to export more and import less. This would cause more metals to enter than to leave the country.
To this end, the European mercantilist nations needed to expand their consumer markets, which was done through navigations and settlements. That is, mercantilism propelled the states to open new trade routes for their products, including the East, toward the East Indies.
