Ap World History Dbq

Around the beginning of the sixteenth centruy, many countires had started to explore farther away and finding new territories. New products like sugar and taobacco began to emerge around the world in many places. Many countries in Europe were gaining power due to the control of colonies in the Americas. Asian countries did not explore as much, but still managed to remain large and powerful for a while. The global flow of silver had economic effects on inflating prices of goods and stimulating econimic policy of mercantilism, and social effects on negative effects on the lower class around the world during the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century.
There were many economic effects due to the global flow of silver. One of these

effects was the inflating of prices of goods which caused products to become more expensive because China had most of the control over silver. China thought they were the most advanced and would export many of their goods, but imported very few. This caused more and more silver to become “stuck” in China. The prices of many goods began to cost much more than they originally had. People had to keep paying a lot of money in order to purchase Asian products. According to Tomás de Mercado, a Spanish scholar, Asian commodities ruined Spain, and Chinese ships kept coming to obtain more silver (Doc. 1). His purpose for writing this document was to show how much silver China was trying to gain.. He was a Spanish scholar and saw the Chinese as people who were only focused on obtaining silver. He said there were so many ships coming to get silver for China, that the land of the Philippines could be paved with the ballast from the ships. Also, in document six, He Qiaoyuan talks about the large supply of Spanish silver in the Philippines that led to massive inflation of 100-200% for silk yarn. Qiaoyuan’s motives in his report to the emperor could be questioned, because repealing the ban on foreign trade would appear to benefit the producers of sugar and fruit in his native province. There was no doubt that the price of goods was increasing. Also another economic effect was how the global flow of silver affected trade. Many countries were using silver as their main form of currency. The silver coins made it easier to trade goods between people. According to Charles D’Avenant, an English scholar, Europe only received luxury goods instead of actually products that they needed (Doc 7).

Some of the items included porcelain and silk, which is more of a want than a need. Charles D’Avenant also mentions that along with receiving luxury good, Europeans were only sending silver and gold back to Asia, which would become buried and never returned. The global flow of silver’s influence on trade between European nations can be seen in D’Avenant’s account of the English being “supplanted in the spice- trade by the Dutch”, in his reference to importing from the East Indies commodities that can then be sold elsewhere across Europe, in his disappointment that gold and silver gets buried permanently in Asia. To the people of Europe, Asian silks and dyed cloth is pleasing to everyone and useful to wear at home. That meant that it should not be recommended to quit the trade between Europe and China because it benefited both countries. In his essay, Xu Dunqiu Ming wrote about how before, buyers would give vegetables and animals in order to purchase a product from a merchant (Doc. 4). But, silver allowed trading and bartering to be simpler because instead of having to trade item for other goods and services, a person can just give a certain amount of silver coins. The historical context of this essay

was before silver coins were introduced, people were bartering with items. It made trade and selling harder because it was difficult to determine how much something was worth. Although this process of selling and trading was difficult, it was the most common way of trading at this time. The influence of coins make trading simplier and allowed sellers to create a bill, which then the buyer would have to pay a certain amount of silver coins. Even though there was an increase in trade for a while, it eventually weakened the Ming Empire and Spanish states. The global flow of silver had many economic effects on trade and the inflation of many proudcts around the world.
While there were many economic effects, there were also many social effects especially dealing with the negative effect on the lower classes. According to document five, Spain’s supplying of global demand for silver meant abusing Amerindian laborers working in mines. Like lower classes in other parts of the world, they did not benefit from the vast wealth silver created. Espinosa’s language, “poor fellows” working in conditions “so trying and distressing”, reflects the tradition of the Spanish clergy’s opposition to abusive labor systems like the mita.