Silver Trade Dbq Analysis

The silver trade led to the increase of tension between social classes, the monetization of the Chinese economy, and opposition to bans on foreign trade due to the demand for luxury goods. The demand for luxury Asian goods was also predominant in India. Europeans would also trade along the Indian Ocean for Indian spices and cloth. This fits into the growth of a mercantilist economy as European nations would compete against each other for the supply of silver in the Americas, similar to how Europeans countries tried to dominate trade in the Indian Ocean with government backed joint-stock companies such as the East India Company and trading posts. Tension between the rich and the poor was futher progressed by the silver trade since the rich landowners and merchants were the ones that were profiting and increasing their posession of silver. In document 1, there was even a order issued that limited how much people could spend on weddings in the Ming dynasty. When poor peasants saw upper class people spending an excessive amount of silver, they would resent them. This social tension could have led to issues and even rebellion so an order was issued. Document 3 is a report to the emperor in the Ming dyansty. Farmers in the …show more content…
The silver trade served as a supply of silver that was being imported into China. While this was very profitable, the silver went to the government by taxes or to the merchants that were selling Asian goods. Poor peasants suffered because they were seeing little of the silver coming into China and the monetization of the economy would further cripple them as they didn't have the silver needed to live in such an economy. The privileged that were rich with silver wouldn't spent all of it. This led to inflation, decreasing the value of Asian goods. Since the entire Chinese economy revolved around silver, this would result in the collapse of the Ming