Silver Trade Dbq Analysis

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

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.

Within the 16th to 18th century silver spread on a global scale. It was led by the Japanese

From 1500 to 1750 silver production was led by Tokugawa Japan and Spanish colonial America around the world. Silver was important and very needed but hard to obtain. In China for example the government only accepted silver as a form of payment for domestic taxes and trade fees. During the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century the effects of silvers global flow was impacting. Socially, the silver flow caused people to suffer while turning others greedy making them unfair with trade. Economically , the global flow made it difficult for people to stay afloat.

The Silver trade (1500-1750), which involved the global trade and exchange in silver, radically changed the global economy with the countries involved. The Silver trade had various direct and indirect social and economic implications with the countries involved, some subtle, while others were radical. More specifically, it put Europe in a dependant and subordinate position to China on an economic level. In terms of China, it was beneficial to the economy of China, while, on a social level, caused more suffering to the lower class.

In documents 4 and 7 it shows how the silver production impacted the economies positively as

Silver had a profound effect on the global economy, for example, silver backed nearly all of China’s economy back in the day and silver quickly became the core of China’s economic life. This is shown in documents 2,3,4,6, and 8 For example, in document 2, a Spanish

From around 1500 to 1750 Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan led the world in silver production. At the begging of the 1570’s the Ming Chinese government required that all domestic taxes and trade fees be paid in silver. The following documents discuss the effects of this imposition by the Chinese. The documents show the effects on the global flow of silver socially because it describes how the silver changed people’s lifestyle and made it more difficult, economically silver created a large flow of goods and products, and also silver has caused economies to fluctuate Documents 1,5 and 6 talk about how silver changed the lifestyle of people and made things a lot more difficult. Document 1 written by Ye Chunji, county official

The Portuguese had used silver from Japan to "bring from China gold, perfume, silk and other luxury goods." (Doc. 4) As a result, The Portuguese used the Japanese silver to their advantage. Since Japan only used silver and China used actual trading goods, the Portuguese bought goods from the Chinese, furthering the flow of silver into China. This meant only luxury goods were coming out of China, not

Tokugawa people of Japan had led the world in silver production in the time period.

From 1500 to 1750 silver production in South America and Japan were at an all time high. Due to this new flow of silver economies began to change in response: economies began to become dependent on silver, and inflation and deflation have been more prevalent in regional economies. Socially the effect of the increase flow of silver has harbored a growing pessimism of silver, specifically, the excess use of silver and production of silver itself. Document 4,5,7 and 8 demonstrates that the increase flow in silver has caused economies to become more dependent of silver. Ralph Fitch in document 4 writes that “The Portuguese use this Japanese silver to their great advantage in China.”

Spain played a major role in the global flow of silver as led the silver production during the time as well as Tokugawa Japan due to its colonies in the America’s, adoption of mercantilism, and

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.

Europe had more trading rights in Southeast Asia unlike in China because in Southeast Asia, they had more places to trade in than in China. China traded more with those who offered tribute than those who didn’t.