The global silver between the Americas,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and China from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries was a spillover of the
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian exchange, also known as the Columbian interchange, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the New World (the Americas) in ...
which had a profound effect on the world economy. Many scholars consider the
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...
trade to mark the beginning of a genuinely
global economy, with one historian noting that silver "went round the world and made the world go round." Although global, much of that silver ended up in the hands of the Chinese, as they accepted it as a form of currency. In addition to the global economic changes the silver trade engendered, it also put into motion a wide array of political transformations in the early modern era. "New World mines", concluded several prominent historians, "supported the Spanish empire", acting as a linchpin of the Spanish economy.
Spaniards at the time of the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
discovered vast amounts of silver, much of which was from the
Potosí
Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...
silver mines, to fuel their trade economy. Potosí's deposits were rich and Spanish American silver mines were the world's cheapest sources of it. The Spanish acquired the silver, minting it into the ''
peso de ocho'' to then use it as a means of purchase; that currency was so widespread that even the United States accepted it as valid until the
Coinage Act of 1857
The Coinage Act of 1857 (Act of Feb. 21, 1857, Chap. 56, 34th Cong., Sess. III, 11 Stat. 163) was an act of the United States Congress which ended the status of foreign coins as legal tender, repealing all acts "authorizing the currency of foreig ...
. As the Spanish need for silver increased, new innovations for more efficient extraction of silver were developed, such as the amalgamation method of using
mercury to extract silver from ore.
In the two centuries that followed the discovery of Potosí in 1545, the Spanish silver mines in the Americas produced 40,000 tons of silver. Altogether, more than 150,000 tons of silver were shipped from Potosí by the end of the 18th century. From 1500 to 1800, Bolivia and Mexico produced about 80%
of the world's silver with 30% of it eventually ending up in China. In the late 16th and early 17th century, Japan was also exporting heavily into China and the foreign trade at large.
As has been demonstrated, China dominated silver imports. The market value of silver in the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
territory was double its value elsewhere, which provided great
arbitrage
In economics and finance, arbitrage (, ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets; striking a combination of matching deals to capitalise on the difference, the profit being the difference between the ...
profit for the Europeans and Japanese.
The abundance of silver in China made it easy for the country to mint it into coinage. That process was so widespread that local Chinese government officials would demand
taxes to be paid in silver to the point that silver eventually backed all of China's economy.
Silver in the Americas
![Philip V Coin silver, 8 Reales Mexico](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Philip_V_Coin_silver%2C_8_Reales_Mexico.jpg)
A major drive of the
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions ...
during the late 15th and 16th centuries was the discovery, production, and trading of precious metals at a time when there was a severe shortage of them. The Spanish, along with other European nations, likewise had a great desire for Chinese goods such as
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
and
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
.
Conversely, the Europeans did not have any goods or commodities which China desired, so they traded their newly mined silver from the Americas which was badly needed in China at the time due to long running silver shortages, in order to make up for their trade deficit.
The two most important mining colonies of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
were Bolivia and Mexico, who were estimated to have provided one-hundred thousand tons of silver from the mid 16th Century to the end of the colonial period in 1824.
The richest and most productive mine in the Americas was that of
Potosí
Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...
then located within the
Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from ...
, in what is now modern day Bolivia.
The richest camp in Mexico was in the city of
Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
, coordinates =
, coor_pinpoint =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type ...
, then a part of the
Viceroyalty of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
. However, the production of this mine was far less than that of Potosi.
Mining processes in the Americas
Relatively simple mining and processing techniques of the Incas and other indigenous people dominated American
silver mining
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
for the early part of the 16th century.
However, mining in the Americas became reliant on
mercury amalgamation after it was developed and popularized in the mid-16th century. Mercury amalgamation dramatically increased the volume of silver production in the Americas, giving way to silver's central role in American economies and the burgeoning global economy. From 1575 to 1590, the use of amalgamation multiplied the output of Potosí, the most prominent Andean silver mine, by six. The presence of mercury at
Huancavelica
Huancavelica () or Wankawillka in Quechua is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the department of Huancavelica and according to the 2017 census had a population of 49,570 people. The city was established on August 5, 1572 by the Viceroy ...
coupled with the abundance of cheap labor supplied by the rotational labor system
mita made this intense production possible. Mercury amalgamation was invented by a Spaniard in central Mexico in the 1550s.
Historians dispute what individual was the first to invent the process, however most agree that it was a Spaniard. Mercury was the one of the highest costs of production for the Americas, since much of it had to be shipped
from
Almadén
Almadén () is a town and municipality in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real, within the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 3 ...
in Spain. The ratio of mercury to silver produced was about two to one.
Furthermore, German miners introduced the
stamp mill and
lead smelting
Plants for the production of lead are generally referred to as lead smelters. Primary lead production begins with sintering. Concentrated lead ore is fed into a sintering machine with iron, silica, limestone fluxes, coke, soda ash, pyrite, zinc, ...
in the 1530s.
Gunpowder was often used to blast large holes to create the mine shafts, although there were not many deep shafts.
Potosí had the most ore, however it was lower quality than that of Mexico.
Mining production in the Americas largely depended on native
Amerindian
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
labor in both Mexico and Bolivia.
In Mexico, many of the natives worked as wage laborers by the middle of the 17th Century.
However, the labor system known as the still existed in some places.
Silver production in Mexico was relatively cheap when compared to that of Bolivia, and the general trend of Mexican labor systems was that towards waged labor.
In Bolivia's mines, the
mit'a system was a dominant form of native labor subjection, although waged laborers worked on the mines as well.
Natives under the mit'a system were paid much less, and this was necessary for the production of silver to continue in Bolivia where costs were relatively high.
First paper money
The world's first
paper money
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
("
flying money Flying cash (), or ''Feipiao'', was a type of paper negotiable instrument used during China's Tang dynasty invented by merchants but adopted by the state. Its name came from their ability to transfer cash across vast distances without physically tr ...
") was invented by the Chinese and they needed some commodity to back it. Traditional coins were useful, but the amount of coins needed for large purchases could be bulky and dangerous to transport. That problem was solved when the Chinese created small pieces of paper with pictures of the coin printed on them. By the nature of their geography, China had no real amount of precious metals of their own to back the paper money they invented. Because the Spaniards didn't find gold but did find copious amounts of silver in Bolivia and Mexico, the Spaniards and the rest of Europe used this silver to purchase the commodities of choice from China, solving both of their problems.
Global flow of silver
The ultimate destination for much of the silver produced in the Americas and Japan was China.
Silver from the Americas flowed mostly across the Atlantic and made its way to the Far East. A popular route was around the Cape of Good Hope into the east, and sometimes it came over land.
Major outposts for the silver trade were located in Southeast Asian countries, such as the
Spanish Philippines
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
.
The city of Manila served as a primary outpost of the exchange of goods between the Americas, Japan, India, Indonesia and China.
However, there is a large amount of silver that was transported across the vast
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
directly from the Americas as well, via the famed
Manila Galleons
fil, Galyon ng Maynila
, english_name = Manila Galleon
, duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years)
, venue = Between Manila and Acapulco
, location = New Spain (Spanish Empire) ...
.
There are not many records of the amount of silver which crossed the Pacific due to it being discouraged by the
Spanish monarchy
, coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg
, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
, so estimates highly vary.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, a large amount of silver also remained in the Americas, accumulated through the business of local merchants. Royal officials in various parts of Spanish America often protected the activities of local merchants and enacted protectionist policies that encouraged local monopolies. This meant that royal officials were not solely interested in accumulating silver for Spain's economy, but rather, they also had a vested interest in developing the economies of their specific localities. Additionally, much of the silver that was eventually exported still circulated extensively in the Americas before finding its way to port cities for export. For example, the , a regular remittance of silver from the mines of Potosí to Buenos Aires by way of mule trains, did not merely result in the transport of silver. Instead, those transporting the would also use their access to silver to conduct their own deals along the road, thus regularly injecting silver into the areas along the route of the . Even when this exchanged silver eventually ended up in Buenos Aires or another port city where it was exported, it facilitated numerous transactions within the Americas before it got there.
Silver also found its way across other parts of the world as well. India and Europe both received a fair amount of silver.
This silver was often locally traded for other commodities, such as gold or crops. In India, silver flowed from the south to the north, and gold flowed the opposite way.
Often silver and gold were manufactured into jewelry or hoarded as treasure.
China and the demand for silver
China was the ultimate destination in which silver would flow towards. In exchange, the Chinese traded their popular goods such as
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
and
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
. China had a high demand for silver due to
its shift from paper money to coins in the early period of the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
.
The
Ming paper currency eventually failed due to self-imposed inflation along with an inability to stop the production of counterfeit bills. The Ming attempted to produce
copper coin
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish- ...
s as a new form of currency, but production was inconsistent.
Hence silver became of high value because it was a valid currency that could be processed abroad. The bimetallic ratio of silver to gold was about two to one, which meant that European and Japanese merchants made a large amount of profit. In the 1640s, the bimetallic ratios in China converged with the rest of the world, before experiencing another population boom.
The
new population boom was a product of the introduction of New World crops into China, mainly sweet potatoes, which could be more easily grown.
By this time, the silver mines in Japan were largely depleted and the New World became China's primary source for silver.
Initially, Japan served as China's primary source for silver in the 16th Century.
In exchange for silver, China would provide Japan with silk and gold.
Japan and China did not directly trade with each other, due to political tensions.
This meant that European entities and countries, such as the Dutch and Portuguese served as a middle man between the two countries.
China's silver dominance
In the famed ''
The Wealth of Nations
''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', generally referred to by its shortened title ''The Wealth of Nations'', is the ''magnum opus'' of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1 ...
,''
Adam Smith
Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——— ...
noted the sheer force and great reach of the global silver trade. He was impressed by its market value but more intrigued with the way this single item of commerce brought together new and old worlds i.e. the Americas and China. Although China acted as the cog running the wheel of global trade, Japan's huge contribution of silver exports to China were critical to the world economy and China's liquidity and success with the commodity. Historians posit Europeans would have been left out of world trade, and China may have fallen prey to conquest by settlers of the Americas, if not for Japanese silver mining. Silver was paramount to East Asia's introduction into the global trade market.
Under the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
and
Qing empires, China hoarded silver to boost its economy and increase its trading power.
Many historians argue that silver was responsible for the birth of global economics and trade. According to this view, global trade commenced in 1571 when
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
was founded and became the first trading post linking America and Asia due to the expansive and profitable silver trade. Scholars find the amount of silver traveling from Manila to China was approximately three million
peso
The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the Dollar sign, same sign, "$", as many currencies na ...
s or 94,000 kilograms in the early 1600s.
The rarity of silver production was seen as an opportunity for China to control the currency's value and support its own national currency. Silver was one of the only accepted trade items from Europeans and its value in China was astronomical compared to rest of the world.
Between 1600 and 1800 China received 100 tons of silver on average per year. A large populace near the
Lower Yangtze
The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan reg ...
averaged a hundreds of
s of silver per household in the late 16th century.
Later on, the sudden ban on Spanish silver imports to China imposed by the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
after defeating the Ming in 1644, along with a long period of economic stagnation and recession due to famines and bad financial policies back in Spain, simultaneously combined with devastating losses sustained towards the end of the
Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
, all precipitated the significant decline of the Spanish Empire in the second half of the 17th century, and its eclipse by
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, and, later,
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
.
Silver even played a large role when defending
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
's attempted take over of
Joseon Korea
Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...
. The Ming Ministry of War sent approximately 140,000 liang of silver to its soldiers and required provinces to provide silver as tax for the war effort as well. In the sixteenth century, the
daimyos of Southwest Japan hoped for unhinged global trade but were stopped due to Ming China trade policies. Still, Japan became a player in the global economy via frequent
Wokou
''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.[Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...]
and China as Japan now had Chinese goods to offer the Portuguese who had silver mines of their own. Founder of the Ming China dynasty,
Hongwu
Hongwu () (23 January 1368 – 5 February 1399) was the era name of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dynasty of China. Hongwu was also the Ming dynasty's first era name.
Comparison table
Other eras contemporaneous with Hongwu
* C ...
, actually sought to eliminate silver from the market due to his fear of inflation which he previously experienced in the
Yuan dynasty. His attempt involved imposing harsh limits on silver mining to stop its flow into the market and subsequently replaced it with baochao or paper money. However, the currency never popularized and silver proved its mainstay as a global currency.
Opium imports
Despite some restrictions, silver continued to drive trade through its popularity in Europe. This, combined with a high British demand for
Chinese tea
Tea is a beverage made from the leaves of tea plants (''Camellia sinensis'') and boiled water. Tea leaves are processed using traditional Chinese methods. Chinese tea is consumed throughout the day, including during meals, as a substitute for p ...
, created chronic trade deficits for European governments, which were forced to risk silver deficits to supply merchants in Asia.
As supplies of silver decreased in Europe, Europeans had less ability to purchase highly coveted Chinese goods. Merchants were no longer able to sustain the China trade through profits made by selling Chinese goods in the West and were forced to take bullion out of circulation in Europe to buy goods in China.
In the late 18th century, British merchants from the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
began to introduce Indian opium to Chinese markets. The demand for opium rose rapidly and was so profitable that Chinese opium dealers began to seek out more suppliers of the drug, thus inaugurating the opium trade; one merchant declared that Opium "is like gold. It can sell any time."
From 1804 to 1820, a period when the Qing dynasty needed to finance the suppression of the
White Lotus Rebellion
The White Lotus Rebellion (, 1794–1804) was a rebellion initiated by followers of the White Lotus movement during the Qing dynasty of China. Motivated by millenarian Buddhists who promised the immediate return of the Buddha, it erupted out of s ...
, Chinese merchants were soon exporting silver to pay for opium rather than Europeans paying for Chinese goods with the precious metal.
The Qing imperial court debated whether and how to end the opium trade, eventually settling on regulations on consumption. That measure, however, resulted in an increase in drug smuggling by Europeans and Chinese traders. In 1810, the Daoguang Emperor issued an edict concerning the matter, declaring, "Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law." Following a debate at court in 1836 on whether to legalize the drug or crack down on its use, the emperor decided on the latter. An upright official, Commissioner
Lin Zexu
Lin Zexu (30 August 1785 – 22 November 1850), courtesy name Yuanfu, was a Chinese political philosopher and politician. He was the head of states (Viceroy), Governor General, scholar-official, and under the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing dynas ...
led the campaign against opium as a kind of "
drug czar Drug czar is an informal name for the person who directs drug-control policies in various areas. The term follows the informal use of the term ''czar'' in U.S. politics. The 'drug czar' title first appeared in a 1982 news story by United Press Int ...
." The British, offended by the seizure of their property in opium, sent a large naval expedition to China to end the restrictive conditions under which they had long traded with that country. Thus began the first Opium War, in which Britain's industrialized military might was proven in China's rout. The
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties.
In the ...
, which ended the war in 1842 largely on British terms, imposed numerous restrictions on Chinese sovereignty and opened five ports to European traders.
See also
*
Silver mining
Silver mining is the extraction of silver from minerals, starting with mining. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires elaborate technologies. In 2008, ca.25,900 metric tons were consumed ...
*
Bullionism
Bullionism is an economic theory that defines wealth by the amount of precious metals owned. Bullionism is an early or primitive form of mercantilism.{{Citation needed, date=October 2018 It was derived, during the 16th century, from the observation ...
*
Price revolution
The Price Revolution, sometimes known as the Spanish Price Revolution, was a series of economic events that occurred between the second half of the 15th century and the first half of the 17th century, and most specifically linked to the high rate o ...
*
Economic history of China before 1912
The economic history of China covers thousands of years and the region has undergone alternating cycles of prosperity and decline. China, for the last two millennia, was one of the world's largest and most advanced economies. Economic historian ...
*
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
*
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
*
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
*
Trade dollar (United States coin)
References
Further reading
* Atwell, William S. "Notes on silver, foreign trade, and the late Ming economy." ''Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i'' 3.8 (1977): 1-33
excerpt* Bohorquez, Jesús. "Linking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans: Asian textiles, Spanish silver, global capital, and the financing of the Portuguese–Brazilian slave trade (c. 1760–1808)." ''Journal of Global History'' 15.1 (2020): 19–38
online* Derks, Hans. ''History of the Opium Problem: The Assault on the East, ca. 1600-1950'' (Brill, 2012)
* Flynn, Dennis O., and Arturo Giráldez. "Born with a 'silver spoon': The origin of world trade in 1571." ''Journal of World History'' (1995): 201–221
onlineals
online* Flynn, Dennis O., and Arturo Giráldez. "Cycles of silver: global economic unity through the mid-eighteenth century." ''Journal of World History'' (2002): 391–427
online* Flynn, Dennis, and Arturo Giraldez. "Latin American Silver and the Early Globalization of World Trade." in ''National Identities and Sociopolitical Changes in Latin America'' (2013): 140–159.
* Giráldez, Dennis O. Flynn-Arturo. "Silver and Ottoman monetary history in global perspective." ''Journal of European Economic History'' (2002): 9
online
* Gordon, Peter. ''The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565-1815'' (Penguin 2017), 100p
excerpt* Hung, Ho-fung. "Imperial China and capitalist Europe in the eighteenth-century global economy." ''Review (Fernand Braudel Center)'' 24#4 (2001): 473–513
online* Irigoin, Alejandra. "The end of a silver era: the consequences of the breakdown of the Spanish peso standard in China and the United States, 1780s–1850s." ''Journal of World History'' 20.2 (2009): 207–244
excerpt* Irigoin, Alejandra. "Rise and demise of the global silver standard." in ''Handbook of the History of Money and Currency'' (2020): 383–410.
* Marsilio, Claudio. "The Genoese and Portuguese Financial Operators' Control of the Spanish Silver Market (1627-1657)." ''Journal of European Economic History'' 41.3 (2012): 69+.
* Matthee, Rudolph P. ''The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
* Schiltz, Michael. ''Accounting for the Fall of Silver: Hedging Currency Risk in Long-Distance Trade with Asia, 1870-1913'' (Oxford University Press, 2020)
* Stein, Stanley J., and Barbara H. Stein. ''Silver, trade, and war: Spain and America in the making of early modern Europe'' (JHU Press, 2000)
excerpt* TePaske, John J. ''A new world of gold and silver''. Brill, 2010.
* TePaske, John J. ''The Royal Treasuries of the Spanish Empire in America, 2 vol (1982
vol1 onlineals
vol 2 online* Xiantang, Li. "The Paradoxical Effect of Silver in the Economies of Ming and Qing China: On the New Myth Created by the 'Global Economic View' of Andre Gunder Frank and Kenneth Pomeranz." ''Chinese Studies in History'' 45.1 (2011): 84-99. https://doi.org/10.2753/CSH0009-4633450105
* Xu, Jin. ''Empire of Silver: A New Monetary History of China'' (Yale University Press, 2021)
excerpt* Zhuang, Guotu. ''Tea, silver, opium and war : the international tea trade and Western commercial expansion into China in 1740-1840'' (Xiamen University Press, 1993) {{ISBN, 756150862X}
World Cat
Early Modern economics
Silver
Globalization