Silver has always been around but it wasn't until the 1500's to the mid 1700's that the world began to use this item as a means of currency. Leading in the production of this element was the Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan. There were many drastic effects caused from the new practice of imbursement. Documents 2, 4, and 6 display the effects upon the European economy. The Chinese economy was also impacted as exhibited in documents 5 and 7. Documents 1, 4, and 8 tell of the greed and obsession of luxury meanwhile documents 3 and 6 explain the suffering some endured. The European economy was effected in both negative and positive ways. In document 2, a Spanish scholar explains how the high prices practically …show more content…
From the registered mines alone there was 326,000,000 silver coins taken out. There was also a great amount that was secretly taken out to Spain without the tax or registry fees. In document 4, Portugal's economy advanced. When they travel from China to Japan, they carried the goods they received from China such as white silk, gold, perfume, and even porcelain. They traded all of these merchandises just for silver. More than 600,000 pieces of silver coins were taken from each of their annual trip to Japan. The Portuguese then went back to China with the silver to purchase even more luxury products. They knew how to circulate the silver with the goods to get more than they had before, achieving the main goal of trade. The Chinese have also had their share of economic expansion throughout the global flow of silver. Written originally as an essay about the changing time of China, document 5 describes the inflation on services. Such service was that of dying cloth. In the past when dye shops allotted customers to obtain several dozen pieces of dyed cloth before charge, they later …show more content…
For the more wealthier countries and people thereof, there was a severe greed and obsession for luxury. Document 1 states how some of lesser wealth could have only one bar of silver and still manage to have some to spear meanwhile a wealthy person could have a thousandfold of silver but still end up with nothing. This shows how the rich spend so much that they cannot control themselves and are just greedy. Through document 4 it is evident that the Portuguese were very grasping. Through their efforts to obtain more silver they also had a deep desire for the opulence of the Chinese silks, gold, perfumes, and other high end products. The Europeans bought nothing that they needed as described in document 8. Instead they invested in items of little importance to them only for the pleasure of having it. As said, they drew nothing of solid use only those that provided luxury or perishables. They hungered so much for it that they were willing to give large quantities of gold and silver because of their cupidity. They wasted their affluence on a grandeur lifestyle rather than investing it in things of
expanded its conquests of gold, silver, and diamonds thus creating the fleet. The fleet not
...ld be sent to the governor and treasurer". In other words, they ensured that the amount of gold returning back to Spain was correct. Based primarily on profiting from the gold mines, these colonies were largely created to plunder (Document 1).
Chapter 6 represents the third image. The main issue in this chapter was financial crisis with the Jesuits. Mainly the Jesuits thought that they would make great profit off of Macao and sell silver between china and japan. The only problem with this was the fact that in japan silver was plentiful and in china it was scarce. For example, Spence explains, “…in china silver was the dominant metal of exchange, was scarce, and was in constant demand, whereas in japan silver was less popular as
goods for silver and then pay the state’s taxes. For cultural changes, public art and heroic tales
It all started in the early 1400s, when Prince Henry the Navigator ‘launched the country’s efforts’. Henry was said to be the leader of the charge because of how he took initiative and was determined to conquer gold, exotic goods, and the realm of Prestor John. The reason for these goals was a result of “caravans of North Africans often trekking far south across the Sahara Desert to the Senegal River, and bartered for gold with the men who dug and panned it”, which intrigued him into exploring the Northwest coast of Africa. He represented Portugal and their ultimate aspiration was to reach the Spice Islands in order to trade with other countries since they would later on be rich. During his expedition to the Indies, he made rest stops
Trade is an important factor of the prosperity of one’s society. For instance, silk and porcelain were eminent products of the Silk Road trade network for it aided China’s economy. China was the dominant country, unlike Europe, whose economy never fluctuated. However, the global flow of silver, produced by Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan, during the mid-16th century to the early 18th century affected social and economic aspects of many regions connected with the trade. As a result of the production of silver, European integration in the globalization of world trade increased, as did the economy and social divisions of China. Not only did it affect economies and societies throughout the world, but it also affected a region internationally.
Russell-Wood, A. J. R. Portuguese empire, 1415-1808 a world on the move. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP, 1998. Print.
middle of paper ... ... In conclusion, Japan tried to isolate themselves, and China tried to compete with them, using their land, and excess population. Documents one through ten were all about China, and documents eleven through sixteen were about Japan. Documents one, two, three, and seven talked about whether China was prepared for the European countries, and documents five, six, and nine talked about whether or not China compared to the European countries.
Not every day you are going to stare at a penny and think that it’s very poor that is cost so much. We refuse to think that pennies are not important, however, we’ve done many things to harm it eventually. For example, “But we are paying a privilege of squirreling them away in drawers and on dressers. ”(Sommer, 3) In other words, we pay the price of making these coins so we are able to hide them, keep them, lose them, anything with them, only do really do that much with them? As stated, we tend to lose them and hide them in places we might even not expect where it might be.
In the year of 1492, the Queen and King of Spain developed thoughts of strengthening their power and seeking new sources of wealth. This being stated the Queen and King had agreed on financing Christopher Columbus’s expedition, hoping it would bring the kingdom wealth (Ellis 2004). On October 12 Columbus had discovered a new location, due to this discovery; Latin America had been colonized by the Spanish conquistadors sent by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Overall, Latin America had been colonized for the sake of seeking wealth (Ellis 2004). Obtaining gold was the simple way of gaining wealth. Gold was the resource that attracted Spaniards to the Island of Hispaniola, because it was also King Ferdinand's interest (De la Riva 2003 ). Thus it ended up becoming the ultimate goal of the Christian Spaniards sent to Hispaniola to acquire gold and swell themselves in riches. (Las Casas 1552).Trading was also the key to getting wealthy; the more resources available for trade the more wealth will be gained. Resources in the New World attracted the Spanish conquistadors to Latin America; it was also what he...
... well. They also developed crops and farming techniques from the neighboring cultures. They could trade and obtain goods like rice, cotton and sugar from India, oranges, lemons and other citrus fruits from China, as well as, sorghum from Africa.
People in ancient times developed the concept of money around the year 2500 B.C. Some historians argue that it may have been even earlier. The first form of ?money? was silver in Mesopotamia. Silver functioned just like the money we use today. It had a standard, it was weighed in shekels so that one could determine the value of the silver in relation to its weight. Today, the way we determine the value of our money is by looking at the number in the corners of a bill. Like our money today, silver was easily portable compared to goods like milk and grain.
There was the occasionally belief on behalf of the public that banks would not be able to, or outright refuse to honor their banknotes. This fear, if held by enough of a community, could lead to a run on the banks. In a single day, demands for exchange of banknotes for gold and silver would be made by a majority of the people if there was doubt concerning the ability of a bank to redeem its notes. This problem would be compounded when this fear spread to other banks. Runs on a single bank would escalate and spread from one bank to another causing financial panic (http://www.dallasfed.org).
The Europeans needed to acquire profitable and cheap labor somehow. They knew that workers in foreign lands would be perfect. Not only were cheap laborers needed, but also profitable and cheap land. Goods such as tea, oranges, coffee, bananas, and chocolate were at high demand. The easiest way to acquire all of their desi...
With the king and queen being royalty to their subjects in the kingdom their wealth had given them everything