Why did governments create chartered monopolies?

Why did governments create monopolies for exploration and long-distance trade?

A monopoly offered private investors enough potential reward to accept the high cost and risk of exploration and new trade routes when the state did not want to finance them directly.

Exploration and the creation of distant trade routes required large investments with uncertain returns. A government that wanted the strategic or commercial result without paying the full cost could grant exclusive rights, making the potential profit large enough for private investors to bear the risk. The monopoly increased possible rewards because investors also accepted the danger that the expedition or trade route might fail entirely. The arrangement therefore linked state objectives, private capital, and monopoly privilege rather than arising only from abstract hostility to competition.