Dbq Silvers Global Flow Analysis

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 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

From 1570 to 1750, silver was mainly mined in Spanish colonial America and Japan. They traded their silver and gold for Chinese luxuries and about 30% of all the silver exported by the Spanish Americas ended up in China. Having required that all taxes and trade fees be paid in silver, China’s economy was soon backed by silver. Though it may seem like this only affected China, this caused a great impact on the whole world both socially and economically because, like it said in document 1, even the poorest men had silver in China, but in Spain, prices of precious Asian luxuries increased, and, due to the widespread distribution of silver, the value of silver decreased (document 2), which harmed Spain’s economy greatly. This also affected Britain

An increase in the flow of silver during the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century initiated economic and social effects in all areas linked by trade building more economic opportunities and also distinguished social divisions. The documents are written by people from either the British, Chinese, or Spanish all in different social classes. The negative social effects on the lower ranked classes caused an unequal distribution of silver which can be seen in documents 1, 3, 5, and 6. The economic effect of increased prices of traded goods can be seen in documents 2 and 7. Lastly, the economic effect of merchant’s travels caused competition among countries which can be seen in documents 4 and 8. It would have be helpful to read

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.

The global silver trade between 1550 and 1800 was facilitated by many factors. The crash of China’s paper currency due to a lack of silver reserves was a major factor in silver trade. The crash led to a high demand for silver in China. China began trading luxury and merchant goods with countries such as Spain, China, Japan, and Portugal in exchange for silver. Spain, Japan, and Portugal relied very heavily on their agriculture and merchant good trade to keep a steady economy.

Throughout the widespread of cultural diffusion, silver discovered in Mesoamerica was obtained and imported to Europe leading to economies based on money allowing more trade to be available. The New World produced around 85% of the world’s silver. This

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.

Many valuable goods for centuries were traded through out all of the world. In between the mid-16th century and early 18th century, silver became a very valuable item that had effected the world and changed it economically and socially. Economically, in documents 4 and 7 it explains how silver flowed and the business of silver itself. Socially, even though in business silver was just business, it brought greed, shown in documents 1,6, and 8 to the people and government and lead to suffering to the people as stated in documents 2,3, and 5. Documents 4 and 7 both show how silver was traded and how silver, and the price, flowed through out the world.

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

Coming into the 4th Era, the Church held a prominent role in society. Many rulers legitimized their power through the approval of the pope. However, the church was seriously reformed under the criticism of Martin Luther in that, while other theologies like protestantism began to take hold, the catholic church’s role decreased. As secular perspectives began to intensify, both art and wealth shifted toward the furthuring of the human being rather than the glorification of religious deities. As such, interest in commodities from Asia grew as European entities traveled west with the hopes of reaching East Asia.

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay

That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay (i.e.; when Jurgis sprained his ankle and had to recuperate at home for 3 months). The final insult to the workers was that even if they were always on time, worked hard and maintained their health they could lose their job due to the

The global flow of silver from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century had vast effects both socially and economically around the world. By this time an interregional trade network had been clearly established and world trade was booming. When China, a prominent trade nation, accepted silver as its currency and would only exchange for it, the importance of silver increased. This new rapid scramble for silver proved to be both beneficial and disastrous. While countries which were lucky geographically in their supply of raw silver could now trade prominently with China, demand created an increase of labor and social unrest. Reliance on silver both helped and hindered economies and societies, bringing