Silver Trade Dbq Essay

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.

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.

Economic changes occurred partly due to the newly formed nation-states of Spain, Portugal, France, and England. Trade at that time was limited and expensive, so the Europeans began looking for new trade routes to Asia. What they found was an altogether new place that opened up many new opportunities for food sources, money, and slave labor. A motivator for exploration was “defined primarily in terms of silver and gold and secondarily in terms of raw materials.” Another factor to consider was the population explosion that came about after the Black Plague wiped out around 30 million Europeans producing “economic disruption.” Spain was seeking gold to finance further expeditions abroad and their own war with the Muslims on the home front. Britain was seeking new trade markets for their wool with the collapse of their wool market at home. Another mitigating economic factor was the rising prices created by the flood of American silver into the European market. This caused rates to double on many goods, which benefited the farmers and the merchants, but the majority of people suffered because their wages did not rise proportionately. This increased the number of people living on the fringes of society and “thus built up pressure to immigrate to the Americas.”

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 .

A major effect of the global flow of silver is the economic dependency required.In Document 5, Xu Dunqui Ming purposefully explains the growing of heavy silver use in his city’s economics in 1610, leading to silver becoming the required and standard payment for cloth dying and other services, along with silver now a necesity in their lives.Wth this new standard payment of silver in China, where it is unaccessible in their own environment, they depend on Europe and Spain to in exhange for China’s goods pay in silver to make it readily available for China’s inhabitants. In

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.

This document is reliable as it is a scholar whose primary purpose should be to observe and record. The Portuguese also took advantage of this Silver Trade integration. Ralph Fitch was aware of this stance of the Portuguese by recording in his account of travels in the East Indies during the year 1599. He claims, “…more than 600,000 cons of Japanese Silver… the Portuguese bring from China gold, perfume, silk, copper, porcelain, and many other luxury goods.” (Document 4) This quote by Fitch reveals that the Europeans, or in this case the Portuguese, were frequently trading with China for goods that they did not frequently obtain before this time. Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, a Spanish priest in the 1620’s exclaimed, “…silver taken secretly from these mines to Spain, paying no 20 percent tax or registry fee, and to other countries outside Spain including the Philippines and China.” (Document 6) This quote means that there was silver that was being spread throughout the

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

This empowering economic effect of silver trade described in documents 4,7, and 8. Written by a British merchant wanting to join in

c. The Chinese population and commerce continued to expand under the Qing dynasty, fueled by new crops from the , new silver and copper mines, and silver acquired through trade with countries.

Silver, the monopoly of the old world changed many things. In China, there was such a lust for silver that they now began interacting with Europe. Spain began venturing to the Americas in search for silver. Doc. 3, 5, and 6 talks about how China was hurting their own economy by hording the silver and they didn’t give it back out to their people, Doc. 2 and 4 explains Asian trade and how it changed China, Doc. 7 and 8 talks about how China benefited from the silver trade the most. Doc. 3, 5, and 6 talks about how China was hurting their own economy by hording the silver and they didn’t give it back out to their people.

As many European countries began to establish themselves in global trade, they brought with them the new resource of silver. Being the primary producers of the valuable commodity, they became very involved in global trade thus improving their economies. As the Mongol Yuan dynasty fell, China’s economy also faced many negative repercussions including the overuse of paper money. When the Ming conquered the Yuan, they inherited the currency issue and began to require that all taxes and fees be paid in silver. The growth of the flow of silver between the 16th and 18th centuries caused social and economic impacts in many regions by creating economic opportunities in European countries, both weakening and strengthening them, and increasing social

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