DBQ: Silver And The Global Economy

Silver and the Global Economy During the 16th to 18th centuries silver was of vast importance to trading networks all around the world. From 1500 to 1750 Spanish America and Tokugawa Japan dominated the world production in silver. Silver was so influential that the Ming government in China required all taxes to be paid in silver. Silver had many economic and social effects because it expanded trading connections with Asia, caused inflation, and the forced labor class had a hard life in its production. The network of silver flow was very important to all of the players in producing and trading silver. Some of the most important players were colonized Spanish America, Ming China, and the British. Japan was also an important port on the journey …show more content…
This document was especially significant because it was written by Ralph Fitch, who was a British merchant in the late 1500s. Since Ralph himself was a merchant, he was of lower class and saw just how important silver was to the economy of his country when he went out on voyages. Also, the document was written when Spanish colonies and Japan dominated trade so he was able to see firsthand how silver effected the world. Also seen in Document 8, silver was the basis of Asian and European trade. The document shows that Europeans craved luxury goods and spices which Asia was known to trade a lot of. It also says that England found this trade to be very valuable and if they left it their economy would go down. Silver was the primary product used for trade with Asia and this document shows the importance of silver trade. Furthermore, in Document 7, the source discusses the importance of foreign trade despite the emperor wanting to place a ban on it. It discusses the widespread nature …show more content…
As seen in Document 3, the price of grain fell because of the scarcity of silver and this resulted in lower wages for the laboring class. With lower wages on the labor class, less land is put into cultivation and this became a cycle with the lower classes very unhappy. This was also seen in Document 6 as it goes into details of the working conditions. In silver mines, many Indian workers were forced to work with hammers all day and hike miles to produce silver coins. This document also discusses the secret silver that was often taken without paying tax or registration fees. Many coins have been taken out despite the rough life many Indians had to suffer to produce them. The point of view in this document was very interesting seeing as it was written by Antonio Vázquez, a Spanish priest. This is interesting because he seems to sympathize with the poor laborers even though he himself is well off in society. He also seems to be against the mass silver production because of what it is doing to their lives and also is concerned by the sneaking of silver. Finally, in Document 1, it discusses the difference poor and rich have with silver and that the “frugal” man was careful with his because it is so scarce and he had to be. The “extravagant” man can save all of his but it is so rare that there will never be enough. An additional source that would be