Read the excerpt and answer the question below. "Closer to the center of European society, armed enterprise by one sovereign was sure to provoke a countereffort by rivals; and only rarely could a ruler conquer territories from which important tax income could be garnered. The success of the Spanish government in fashioning a vast empire in the Americas and its failure to maintain control over the Netherlands illustrate these facts very clearly. Spanish military effort in the New World paid off handsomely. Indeed it was the swelling flow of New World silver after the 1550s that made Philip think he could conduct war both in the Mediterranean against the Turks and in the north against the Dutch."
-Source: William H. McNeill, historian, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force, and Society since A. D. 1000, 1982
Which of the following best supports the general argument in the excerpt about how economic and military competition between European powers influenced New World exploration?
Choose 1
Choose 1

(Choice A)
A
the development of a system of plantation agriculture that depended on enslaved laborers

(Choice B)
B
the popularity in Europe of novels romanticizing voyages to the Far East

(Choice C)
C
the increase in piracy as other European powers tried to capture Spanish treasure ships

(Choice D)
D
the reliance of European nations upon private companies to lead exploration efforts