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Silver Dbq Essay

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Silver DBQ The era of global interaction began in the late 15th century when Christopher Columbus accidentally made contact with the Americas. Following this, several European countries—Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, France, and others—sought to colonize this New World, reshaping the world’s economic state and patterns. In South America, Spanish colonists discovered the rich silver mines of Bolivia. There, the Spanish used the labor force of natives and spurred the circulation of silver. At the same time, Europeans began making overseas voyages to Asia, driven by the journey of Portuguese sailor Vasco de Gama, who became the first European to reach India overseas. This officially linked Asia and Europe through overseas routes, which became …show more content…

In Document 3, a British merchant describes his journey through Southeast Asia, most likely intending to share his story with Europeans back home. He describes how the Portuguese used Japanese silver to gain an advantage in trade with the Chinese, demonstrating the importance of silver to China and Japan. The author claims that Japan relied on the production of silver while European sailors depended on Japanese and Spanish silver to facilitate trade with the Chinese, who valued silver over European goods. Document 4 also serves to describe Spain’s trade relationship with China due to silver and illustrates the scale of the trade carried out between the two countries. Through this document, the author shows how the Chinese flocked to the Philippines; there the Chinese participated in large-scale trade with the Spanish, who exercised colonial control in the Philippines and its capital, Manila at this time. Document 5 also demonstrates this pattern of economic trade based on silver. The document, written to recount how the introduction of silver affected China’s economy, reports with a wistful tone that Chinese markets began to charging customers in silver, rather than accepting crops and animals as a form of payment. This can be attributed to China’s trade with European merchants, as the Chinese usually sought payment for their …show more content…

While silver allowed Europeans to increase trade with Asian empires, it also caused a trade imbalance between European and Asian merchants. While the Europeans sought Asian silk, spices, and luxury goods, most Asian merchants had no interest in European goods and rather demanded silver. The impact of this imbalance on Spain is described in Document 1; the author claims that expensive goods ruined the economy of his country, attributing this to Spain’s reliance on silver, rather than the production of goods. The author’s critical tone can be accredited to the economic state of Spain at this time, facing increasing inflation as the constant production of silver drove up prices. In Document 7, the account of an English political economist further defines this pattern. The author, who is presumably against trade with Asia, argues for the restriction Indian textiles, most likely hoping to persuade government action in Parliament. The author does this through the claim that Europe sends all of its valuable gold and silver to Asia but receives nothing of worth in return and the assertion that most of the gold and silver was sent there to never leave again. Through this passage, the author illustrates how silver precipitated a trade imbalance between Europe and Asia, as Europeans often traded their silver in return for impractical luxury goods and

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