Compare And Contrast The Social And Economic Effects Of Silver Dbq

The global exchanging of silver during the mid-16th and early 18th century's affected countries as Spain and China in economic aspects such as the growing economies due to the global trade of silver and the negative impact on both economies due to inflation and social aspects such as hierarchies and the devastation of ancient societies caused by the mita and encomienda systems The economies of China and Spain were drastically impacted by the silver trade. As seen in Document 1 the trading of silver extended all over the globe. The main mining areas of silver can be seen in Zacatecas, Potosi and as well as Japan. The mining industries of Mexico and Peru helped power the Spanish economy and army.

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 author also mentions that China-based their economy on the exchange of silver. Another important thing in this chapter was the role of the Chinese voyages in the history of China and the entire world. The voyages that were created around the 1400s were used for three reasons,

The silver trade has left many good uses in the trade, social rank, and also having the countries envy. Like in Documents 1, 2 and 4. In document 1, Ye Chunji explains that once you have the some of the silver currency, you can have the whole market in your hands, which is larger than a man who is rich and have thousands but won’t be better enough than the silver. Also in document 2, Tomas de Mercado explains that If they never would have the silver, the Asians wouldn’t have paid out for them. Lastly, In document 4, a british merchant, Ralph Fitch, explains that he wishes that our government should exchange like the Japanese with the Portuguese, and the Portuguese with the Chinese.

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.

there have been many changes in commerce. One change in commerce over the years was who dominated Trade in The Indian Ocean. Over the course of this time period the Indian ocean trade was dominated by the Indians, the Chinese the Arabs and even the distant European powers. Their were also changes in what goods were traded. Some trade goods like the exotic animals taken from Africa to China that weren’t traded for longer then a few decades. The reason Ming China had imported animals was because they were in an age of exploration at the time and wanted to have some animals for their exotic royal zoo. Also sending great explorers like Zheng He showed their ability to travel to distant lands and take what they please. Another change was how things were traded. Over the course of the 1,100 years described many changes occurred in the world of sailing. China had many of these inventions with in it’s walls before this time period. China was so Ethnocentric .that they did not spread their inventions till generations after they were made, and even then it was often by accident The compass were great improvements on how sailors navigated to their destinations. The ships them selves also changed throughout this period. The Chinese Junks were incredible ships, vastly larger then the ones Columbus used, They were equipped with cannons to defend them selves from pirates and were, in their time the most impressive ships on the water. There are changes in commerce in the Indian

The increased flow of silver altered the worldwide global trading both socially and economically. The global flow of silver from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century caused social and economic issues by creating social impact in China, changing the economic purpose for trading, and the overall exchange between the Chinese and European nations.

During the mid sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century, the usage of silver was immensely popular because of its dominance in trade such as the requirement of paying domestic taxes and trade fees with silver in the Ming Dynasty. Thus, the increased flow of silver caused social and economic effects in all region associated with trade such as Ming China, Spain, Tokugawa Japan and England by increasing trade and wealth but also profoundly weakening the state of these countries such as increasing social division, competition, and inflation.

Like Lopez there were a lot of Spaniards that never worked with silver or were important persons, but in Potosi they became strongly important been silver traders. This opportunity was very attractive to any person in the old world; it was the main reason why Spaniards were moving to Potosi. Into the functions of the silver traders was also to provide credit for miners and refiners. These credits were like cash loans to supply materials, tools and other goods needed to make silver. Credits were given, of course, at interest .

Furthermore, this experience led to the discovery that the key to success is control over regions that produced valuable goods, since control over trade routes ultimately leads to their change.1 China with its warfare and seafaring technology never claimed to take control over the sea even after Zheng He’s voyages, since they had enough, if not more resources than everyone else, unlike Europe. The conclusive thought is that Europeans were poor, and in order for them to succeed in an otherwise rich world, force was the only option. The bias is therefore in the fact that Europeans had no

In the year 1500, Ming China enforced an isolationist policy for trade. China had totally separated itself from the outside world, and private international trade was made unlawful. Just certain trade was permitted, for example, the Japanese were permitted in an assigned port like clockwork. Be that as it may, around the mid-1500s, a few Europeans came to Guangzhou to exchange. After this, in 1517, a Portuguese endeavor arrived, however, the gathering was placed in prison. Fortunately, in 1557, the Ming court and the Portuguese agreed to a settlement, formally making Macau, a region on the south shoreline of China, a legitimate exchanging port for the Portuguese. Later on, exchanging got to be allowed among the Chinese once more, and was no

The combination of increasing unemployment rate and food price created severe poverty across the nation (Goldfinger par. 1-3). The currencies in China, too, went through a lot of changes to accommodate the increasing trade. At first, the silver Spanish dollars became rare and increased in value so much that it was outlawed as a usable currency. However, at the same time, the Chinese copper currency were also being used less due to the fact that the metal was becoming rare and the administration of the currency was extremely poor. The Mexican dollar was introduced but the problem was not solved until paper money were used in 1853 (Goldfinger par. 2). To make the economy worse, during the First Opium War, China had to pay six million silver dollars to ransom Canton, and an additional nine million dollars were paid to foreigner traders for their loss. Later, twelve million taels of silver were paid to Britain and France under the treaties negotiated after the Second Opium War. All of those factors weakened the Chinese economy in the 1800s (Allingham par.5-9). However, the Opium Wars’ impact is everlasting, for “the Chinese have embarked on a long and arduous struggle to expunge the humiliations which they suffered during and since the Opium War…Foreign industrialists may continue to dream of the supposedly unlimited China market, but the Chinese…are determined to keep the 'open door' sufficiently ajar to import vital technologies, while keeping all unwanted

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.

Japan was a large exporter of silver, copper, sulphur, camphor, iron, swords, lacquer, furniture, sake, tea and high quality rice. Southeast Asia was a major hub of entrepôt activity. There, Indian textiles, Japanese and American silver and Chinese silk and ceramics were traded for Southeast Asian pepper, spices, woods, resins, lacquer, tortoise shells, pearls and deerskin. The Indochinese countries, especially Vietnam, were also significant exporters of sugar. (Frank, 1998)