Bringing Silver Value Back on Track Silver is a precious metal with a wide array of uses. Silver

Between the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century, silver production or the increased flow of silver had an effect in the society and economy(both good and bad) throughout the world. While the Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan were leading the world in silver production, the government of Ming China were making all domestic taxes and trade fees be paid in silver.

Europe seemed to remain the most neutral in this desperate silver trade, choosing to remain only involved enough to observe. British merchants were not entirely reliant on trade to or from the Asian worlds so merely recorded how China received “nothing but silver” (Doc. 4) and the Portuguese use this to “their good advantage in China”. However, England could not remain completely unaffected as scholars such as Charles D’Avenant observed. Luxury goods especially spices and silks have become prominent in European culture. While Europe draws from Asia “nothing on solid use” it has “tasted of this luxury” (Doc. 8) and it is not advisable for England to pull out of this silver trade. England could afford to remain more objective, but it could not pull out entirely. It had roots planted early on, and it would cause severe social disturbance to tear them up.

Socially, China has been impacted greatly from the introduction of silver into their nation. In document 1, Ye Chunji, a Ming Dynasty county official, spoke about the differences between the “frugal” and “extravagant” man in an order limiting expenses. He states that a frugal or poor man understands his limitations and can live off very little unlike a wealthy or extravagant man

Document 7, Charles D’Avenant, an English scholar,elaborates on the desire Europe now has for luxury items after “tasting

Silver production in the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century increased substantially due to Spaniards gaining control of Potosí. This led to them creating mines in the area, which was rich in silver. By doing this, they substantially increased the silver in the hands of the Spaniards, which they mainly used to pay for luxury goods and products from Asia. The silver trade had long reaching effects on the social and economic state of empires and countries worldwide from the time period of the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Socially, the silver trade affected the Chinese social mindset and structure and caused them to change. Economically, the silver trade negatively affected the economy of Europe overall.

Documents 3,5,6, 7 and 8 all mention how the economy changed dramatically due to the arrival and growth of silver as a currency. In document 3, a Ming dynasty court official writes about how the silver coin is hard to come by because the government is hoarding all of it. They take silver for taxes but do not redistribute it to the people. He is writing this because he is trying to convince the emperor to distribute the silver more appropriately to the people, and because his family is obviously not doing well financially. He is a court official who most likely has small influence in the government and writes in hopes of getting the emperor to consider spreading the wealth to the lower classes of China, to save his family, and other families like his. Document 5 expresses a different, but somewhat related view about how silver has become a hindrance to regular business interactions, because customers can no longer trade items of their own to purchase goods, they have to go through a lengthy process to pay everything in silver. Document 6 shows a counter point of view about the wealth that the mining of silver has brought to Spain. Document 7 is a report written to convince the emperor of China that there is much wealth to be found in foreign trade, because of how much silver some countries will pay for Chinese goods. Finally, document 8 examines how European countries are able to purchase Asian commodities freely because of their immense supply

Document 2 strongly states that silver flow began to snowball towards the Asian commodities in Asia, rather than those in Spain. This was due to the fact that prices of Spanish commodities were very high and people turned to the less costly Asian commodities. As an effect, silver flow started to concentrate in Asia and around Asian commodities. Wang Xijue, a Ming dynasty court official, reports to the emperor in document 3 about the scarcity of silver coin and the negative effects it has on the value of grain. Grain was a main cash crop in the Ming dynasty in the late 16th century and when the price of grain dropped, cultivators earned less of a profit. This snowball effect was directly based upon the price of silver because when the government takes the silver and doesn’t distribute it, there is less silver to pay for the grain. As a result, this reduces the amount of food produced and the population of the dynasty is reduced as less land is put into cultivation. Silver’s indirect effect on the amount of food produced affected many societies throughout the globe in the mid-seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. Document 4, 5 and 6 are expressing the constructive economic impact on the global flow of silver. In document 4, the positive economic effect on the global flow of silver is that silver coins are a great use of currency. Portuguese use the Japanese silver coins to their

The Portuguese had used silver from Japan to "bring from China gold, perfume, silk and other luxury goods." (Doc. 4) As a result, The Portuguese used the Japanese silver to their advantage. Since Japan only used silver and China used actual trading goods, the Portuguese bought goods from the Chinese, furthering the flow of silver into China. This meant only luxury goods were coming out of China, not

From 1500 to 1750 Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan led the world in silver

From 1500 to 1750 silver production was led by Tokugawa Japan and Spanish colonial America around the world. Silver was important and very needed but hard to obtain. In China for example the government only accepted silver as a form of payment for domestic taxes and trade fees. During the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century the effects of silvers global flow was impacting. Socially, the silver flow caused people to suffer while turning others greedy making them unfair with trade. Economically , the global flow made it difficult for people to stay afloat.

Silver production and exchange boomed between the mid-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. This was mainly caused by the Spanish colonization in the Americas, as well as the Japanese Tokugawa. Copious amounts of silver had been mined, which thus increased its supply, seen by the major flow of the metal around the world. In addition to increased supply, silver made its way around the globe due to the Ming dynasty mandated that all taxes and trade fees be paid in silver. The movement of this fundamental metal generated lasting social and economical effects that were felt across the globe. Socially, the scramble for raw silver was experienced by many nations resulting in increased labor, mining, and social unrest. Economically, silver affected each country directly, with strengthening and weakening of the empires and economies due to their increases and decreases in supply. Overall, based on documents one through eight, silver

The gold sovereign consequently turned into the most astounding unit of quality, over the previous sterling cash. This change was joined by two further advancements. Initially, the supply of silver significantly expanded with the disclosure of huge stores of silver-bearing minerals in North America and Australia and the recharging of movement and fare of silver from since a long time ago settled mine operations in Mexico, South America, Germany, Spain, and Austria. Second, there was a huge extension of the white collar class in Europe, America, and Britain

Have you ever wondered how your gold jewelry was made and where it came from? Well, the answer is it all starts with the element on the periodic table. Gold is the 79th element on the periodic table with a mass of 196.967. It is represented on the table by the symbol Au and has 79 protons and electrons and 118 neutrons. It is classified as a metal on the periodic table. It is a very exciting element to learn about, because it is so common in our day to day life, so let’s dive in.

Gold was used for many different things and it was valued very much during the past and even now it is valued. A common use of gold was when it had been turned into

They produced every coin with the year 1652 engraved on it because a new king rose to the throne in England and was mad that the colonists had made their own consistency of money. By putting the same date, 1652, on all the coins, they led the king to believe that they had made the coins in that one year only. They did this for at least thirty years.