Silver Affects the World
There were many historical importances of the silver trade. The demand for silver in China was the first to drive the foreign trade in the Pacific like Japan and Mexico. In exchange for silver, the Chinese traded silk and porcelain. The world historical importance of the silver trade was that it created a Pacific commerce of trade. It affected economies internationally because it caused a increase in wealth in other countries, for example Japan and Mexico. These are some of the reasons on how silver has affected the history and economy of the world.
First, the reason for China’s demand for silver was started off because of their economy. Initially “China had a paper currency that worked quite well”, but paper currency only works if people believe in the value of it. (China and Europe, 1500–2000 and Beyond: What Is Modern?) When the government encountered a fiscal crisis and people stopped believing in the value of the paper money, the government turned to another way to value money and for a “whole series of reasons that are imperfectly understood, is silver.” (China and Europe, 1500–2000 and Beyond: What Is Modern?) This was the reason for China’s high demand in obtaining silver. Since China needed to change their economic structure from their paper money, they choose the use of coins (silver) for their economy.
The historical importance of the silver trade was that it created a Pacific network of commerce of trade. At the time Spain was mining lots of silver and trading it to China. As seen in the picture of Potosí, were “the furnaces and melting pots, and large piles of silver ore.” (A Collection in Context: The Hispanic Society of America.) The picture depicts that since China’s demand for silver was so high, Potosí used lots of slaves and workers to mine for the silver to trade with the other countries. This picture also depicts that since Spain wanted to trade their silver in exchange for China’s goods it became part of the trading network that traded silver to China. Another large producer of silver was Japan. Since Japan had a large amount of silver “smugglings were commonplace because of the availability Japanese silver” so they decided regulate it by creating “smuggling route through Japan, Korea and China.” (The Role of Japanese Silver in World History.) Since silver was so abundant in Japan the Japanese needed to create these smuggling routes. This is how Japan joined the trade network between the Koreans and the Chinese. In the picture you can see the “Japanese merchants trading silver with the Portuguese on the ship.” This picture supports the historical importance of establishing the Pacific commerce because the Japanese have now developed a trading network with the Portuguese, to eventually trade to China for their products.
The silver trade affected economies internationally because it allowed many countries to become rich off of the trade with China. In Japan the “Tokugawa shoguns grew rich off the trade in silver, which they used to strengthen the state against warlords.”(UNIT 15: Early Global Commodities.) This quote shows that the silver trade with China was very beneficial to the Japanese. They became rich off the trade with China and were able to strengthen their state. Also the Japanese were able to “produce other commodities for export, which then made their way to the Americas, Europe, and West Africa.” This is another quote on how the silver trade benefited Japan. They were able to establish other trade networks with different countries and gain wealth. Since the Potosí Silver Mines were a large success it created the “minting of half a billion Mexican pesos that were then used for currency in China, India, and West Africa.” This affected the Spanish economy because it allowed them to increase their currency from the silver and allowing them to become more wealthy. It also gave the other countries more wealth because China, India, and West Africa were able to use the currency as well.
Silver has affected the world in many ways. It created many global networks to trade
silver for China’s goods. The ways silver has affected history was that it created a Pacific commerce of trade and it affected economies internationally because it caused a increase in wealth in other countries. It caused places like Mexico to mint a half a billion pesos for economic use and established trade networks from Japan to Portugal. These are the ways silver had affected the history and economy, and without it, we could be living in a different world.