The Silver Trade : The World 's First True Global Trade System

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.

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,

From 120 BCE to the 16th century, trade was a remarkable part of the Eastern Hemisphere. It played a vital role in the kingdoms and city-states that made up all of what the 21st century calls Europe, Asia, and Africa. Trade was critically important in this time period because of the diverse climate that was scattered all across the continent. Due to the climate, every location had different resources that were provided by nature. Without specific resources, specific goods could not be manufactured. Not only that, but since technology was not as advanced as it is now, specific products were not able to exist in areas. The only way to obtain those products was to trade. Two of the many routes that a merchant could use to trade were the Silk Road and the Sea Roads along the Indian Ocean. Of those two roads, the Indian trade route had the most positive impact around the world. It facilitated the trading of mass goods since rather than using animals to transport goods, they used boats. It also provided a type of wind known as Monsoon wind that merchants could benefit from. Finally, the Indian Ocean trade route stretched out at a greater distance than the silk road, which impacted the goods that could be traded. Overall, the Indian Ocean trade route had the best impact in the Eastern Hemisphere and even the world.

1. Trade networks in the post-Classical era has seen a range variety of the established and new networks of people’s exchanges crossing several regions. Extraordinary amount of wealth and growth emerged through cultural exchanges. Advanced transportation, the many different governing policies and business practices led to the widespread connection of networks which also contributed to the cultural, biological and technological spread throughout societies.

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.

    During the Classical Era, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East all existed relatively isolated from each other, with minimal interaction. By the end of the Classical Era, trade routes had developed and connected the regions. This created cultural diffusion and led the world into the Post-Classical ERa. During this era, trade networks impacted civilizations and culture by creating a more tolerant global climate, increasing and improving education, and speeding different religions across the land. These trade routes still impact the world today, often bringing controversy with such effects.

Following the travels of Christopher Columbus and the Conquistadores, the Spanish soon realized that they were as a matter of fact, not off the coast of China. But rather than completely abandon the area due to its lack of gold, silk, and spices, they decided to stay for the abundance of silver. In this, they enslaved and killed entire populations in their quest for this mineral. However, in doing so they practically started a new economic era for the Europeans. The heightened flow of silver from the mid-16th to the early- 18th century resulted in social and economic effects in trade centers around the world by further integrating the Europeans into the global trade market and consequently increasing social divisions in China due to improved

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

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.

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

From the Time period of 1500 to 1700 , Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan led the world in silver production. This effected other countries and as well as Spain and Japan; The Silver flow effected all countries in either a negative social ,empowering economical, or neutral socioeconomic way. Documents 1,5,and 6 show the negative social effects of silver throughout China,Spain, and the West Indies. Documents 2,3,and 6 show the neutral socioeconomic effect neither good nor terrible of silver trade throughout Spain, China ,The West Indies, and The Philippines. Documents 4,7, and 8 show the empowering economic effects, of silver trade throughout Europe and China.

Asia used the silk road to trade silk in order to receive gold and ideas, Europe traded gold in order to receive fragrances, jewels, ivory, sugar and also, sent European pictures and luxury goods. Africa traded rare timbers, gold,ivory,animals and spices. They recieved anything they could because they were so big. Because of all of the items they traded everyone was able to survive because they had a mix of everything. This Impacted Asia and Europe because they gained goods that they needed and distributed goods they didn't need so they were able to thrive.