As new discoveries and economic opportunities became available in the Renaissance, the kings and queens of Europe began to invest in chartered companies. Why were monarchs willing to invest in these sometimes risky business ventures? Select one:
a. The monarch could expand his or her territory into new lands without the cost or risk required to set up a colony.
b. The costs of funding and defending a charter were low and therefore worth the risk and capital involved.
c. The monarch could control the company's every decision from afar, adding to their power.
d. Most monarchs believed that the companies could serve as their eyes and ears abroad--as spies.

As a cultural movement, the Renaissance encompassed the innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures, beginning with the 14th-century resurgence of learning based on classical sources, which contemporaries credited to Petrarch; the development of linear perspective and other techniques of rendering a more natural reality in painting; and gradual but widespread educational reform.

In politics, the Renaissance contributed the development of the conventions of diplomacy, and in science an increased reliance on observation. Although the Renaissance saw revolutions in many intellectual pursuits, as well as social and political upheaval, it is perhaps best known for its artistic developments and the contributions of such polymaths as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who inspired the term “Renaissance man.”