Silver I

• Potosi
  • STUPIDLY rich veins of silver
• Who mined it?
  • Indians
  • Mita System
• Where did it go?
  • Spain
  • Phillipines
    • Which is a Spanish colony
    • Ends up going to China
• What did the Spanish do with it?
  • Paid for wars!
  • Quinto
    • 1/5 of all silver goes to the Spanish government
  • Spain is the dominant power in Europe because of their silver
    • Wars with {biggest war being the Spanish Armana)
      • French
      • English
      • Dutch
      • Ottoman Empire

Silver II

• Silver is also discovered in Japan
• China's new tax policy
  • No longer paid in golds
  • Pay in SILVER!

Map of Silver Trade

• Origin
  • S. America
  • Japan
• Intermediaries
  • Phillipines
  • Europe (western Europe)
• Destination
  • China

Impacts of the Silver Trade

• If you have to pay taxes in silver, is it easier or harder to be a rice farmer?
  • Silver tax promotes CASH CROPS
  • To have more efficiency, inductries become high concentrated
  • More cash crops lead to
    • Less forest land
    • Environmental degradation
• Military
  • Fuels wars
  • Spain - Dominant Power
• Inflation
  • Price revolution
  • Everything gets more expensive
• Spain stagnates economically
  • What is better in the long run?
    • Lots of money or productive industries?