Which statement is the strongest counterclaim to the claim?Claim: The marine chronometer is the most historically significant object because it allowed for the rise of global trade.

The claim says the chronometer was historically significant because it allowed global trade to rise. Choice D directly challenges that cause-and-effect idea: global trade had already existed for centuries, and it would have continued without the chronometer. Choice B only shows that Europeans traveled far away before the chronometer, not that global trade did not depend on it.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.