Compare And Contrast The Social And Economic Effects Of Silver Dbq

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 1500 to 1750 Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan led the world in silver

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,

During the rule of Justinian (527-565 CE) this empire was expanded to the greatest size that it would ever reach. Because it was so big, Justinian assigned two capitals for the empire, and as this happened, there was transfer of goods and technologies through both capitals. Because the empire was so big and the amount of merchandise and money that was managed through the empire was so broad, Justinian implemented the use of banking, which changed completely the way people earned money, saved their money, and traded goods to get money from them to bank it. As this happened in the Byzantine Empire, China fell into a cultural exchange of goods, technologies, and ideas that came from the Silk Roads. It was during the Tang and Song dynasties that this trade was at its peak. At the time, besides receiving goods from Europe and other neighbors through the complex routes of trading, the Chinese developed their own technologies for their own exportation. Among these technologies there was large metallurgical production, invention of gunpowder, naval technologies, rapid and cheap printing, and porcelain. These technologies enhanced even more trade for China and due to this, paper money was invented for the purpose of controlling trade; the same thing that occurred with the Byzantine Empire and banking. Even though China invented more technologies than the Byzantine Empire, both became major trade hotspots in their own way and invented systems to

The silver trade has left many good uses in the trade, social rank, and also having the countries envy. Like in Documents 1, 2 and 4. In document 1, Ye Chunji explains that once you have the some of the silver currency, you can have the whole market in your hands, which is larger than a man who is rich and have thousands but won’t be better enough than the silver. Also in document 2, Tomas de Mercado explains that If they never would have the silver, the Asians wouldn’t have paid out for them. Lastly, In document 4, a british merchant, Ralph Fitch, explains that he wishes that our government should exchange like the Japanese with the Portuguese, and the Portuguese with the Chinese.

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

Silver DBQ The economic and social effects of the global flow of silver from mid 16th century to early 18th century were as follows, the Spaniard economy was hurt by it, economy's became more monetized, class distinctions, and changes the mindset of European consumers. Around this time, the Ming Dynasty demanded that all taxes be paid in silver. This led to an increase demand for silver and merchants began to refuse other forms of payment.

Xu Dunqiu Ming writes in a newspaper in Hangzhou during 1610 that Ming China converted from an cashless economy to a currency-based market economy. Consumers must go through the moneylender in order to buy things (Doc 5). This less-flexible means of trade harmed lower classes the most because of less accessiblity to this precious metal while it benefitted the moneylender by giving them even more business. Therefore, the trade made the poor ever poorer and the rich richer, increasing the divide between the two classes. Ming writes from a rather neutral point of view and does not use judgemental phrases or descriptions, which contributes to his credibility.

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.

Wang Xijue, an official in the Ming Dynasty Court, said that the Chinese government required that taxes and tariffs be paid in silver (Document 3). Xijue mentions how China’s silver policy adversely affected grain prices which affected the poor peasant farmers the most. Furthermore, Ye Chungji, a Chinese county official, stated how China’s policy of requiring domestic taxes to be paid in silver may explain order limiting wedding expenses (Document 1). Chunji, as a county official through China’s merit-based civil service system, uses the word “frugal” which justified the limitation on wedding expenses by noting it was in keeping with the Confucian value of frugality. This just proves how paying in silver affected the traditional Chinese culture. Due to this, the traditional Confucian social order was threatened. To add on, Xu Dunqui Ming writes in an essay that seems directed at the general public, of the unfairness of dye shops in the commercial city of Hangzhou and explains Ming China’s conversion from a barter economy to a currency-based market economy as customers now “receive a bill, which must paid with silver obtained from a moneylender” (Document 5). This only silver means of exchange likely harmed lower classes the most by plunging them even further into debt by forcing them to borrow from a money lender to get silver and explains the decline of traditional Chinese society and economy. Furthermore, the increased flow of silver brought inflation in China. He Qiaoyuan, a Ming court official, reported to the emperor that the trade ban should be lifted because of the inflated price of Chinese products in the Philippines by commenting on large supply of Spanish silver in the Philippines that led to massive inflation of 100 to 200 percent for silk yarn (Document 7). However, Qiaoyuan’s motives in his report is suspicious because repealing the ban on

The great silver trade is considered to be the world 's first true global trade system. This trade had many positive benefits on those who participated in it. The people who benefited the most from this trade was the chinese (doc. 2, 4, and 8). The Spanish scholar Tomas Mercado wrote that “silver currency flowed out [of Spain] [...] in Chinese ships coming to get silver for China” (Doc. 2). The silver of the silver trade didn’t come from China however that’s where most of it ended up (doc. 2, 4, OD 1). Ralph Fitch, a British merchant, stated that the portuguese “have a ship that goes to Japan every year and brings back more than 600,000 coins’ worth of Japanese silver. The Portuguese use this Japanese silver to their great advantage in China” (doc. 4). In “Maritime Silk Road” by Li Qingxin, he discusses how most of the world 's silver

China did not need much trade items from other countries, until the Ming Dynasty’s system of paper currency buckled. “This again is one of the signs of early modernity: that they managed to find a medium of exchange that was extraordinarily cheap to produce” (“The Silver Trade”). After this point, silver became China’s currency; silver was used for salaries and taxes. This led to a high demand for silver in China. The problem was that China had to import the 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.

There is a reason countries trade, countries cannot achieve total economic self-sufficiency, most countries need goods and services that other countries have. As a result, countries must trade to get all the goods and services they need. Trade is the exchange of an item for another, nowadays we trade by exchanging money for items. Countries have different distributions of resources, and countries have comparative advantages in the production of certain goods and services, therefore they specialize in the production of that good or service. For example, Canada has to trade with Ecuador or Brazil for coffee beans because of the different climates it’s much easier for countries with a temperate climate to grow coffee beans, therefore Canada exchanges money or other goods or services for the coffee beans. Another scenario is the different allocation of resources such as China and Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia has a comparative advantage in the production of oil, so it would be more efficient for China to buy their oil off Saudi Arabia in exchange for money or goods and services. Countries can also specialize in labor intensive industries, for example India have relatively cheap labor, thus other countries open plants in India to make use of the cheap labor. Such as Coca-Cola, an American company opened plants in India to exploit the cheap labor. Even if a country has an absolute advantage in all products it would still gain from trading because if they specialize they’d be more