For several hundred years all European monarchs with a reasonably adventurous population chartered territories in various non-European parts of the world. A monarch could not explore and exploit new territories him or herself; or could s/he directly finance such expeditions as, despite the Disney-style image of monarchs, most of them did not have much in the way of riches or disposable income and they invariably spent beyond their means.
When a new territory was “discovered”, or at least found by Europeans, the underlying sense of supremacy felt by Europeans meant the monarch would announce the territory was his or, if it was already heavily populated (eg India) he would claim exclusive trading rights. He would then sell the trading rights to the highest bidder, who then had to get volunteers to go out and set up colonies or trading posts to earn enough to pay for the charter.
This was particularly prevalent in America and explains why the founding colonies were so focussed on business and making profits, perhaps setting the tone for the onward development of the whole country.
Thank you,
Eddie