From the 1500-1750s, Spanish colonial America and Tokugawa Japan led the

world in silver production. All domestic taxes and trade fees were to be paid in silver for

the Ming Chinese government. This caused social and economic effects on the world.

Peopled suffered because of this new form of payment, trade took its place in the

economy, and many governments became greedy with the silver.

The governments became greedy with the silver and wanted to keep it all for

themselves. In doc. 3, Chinese government didn’t disburse much silver to its people, yet

they required the people to pay heavy taxes.There was no money to pay for grain or to

even harvest it, therefore less land was put into cultivation and agriculture pummeled. In

doc. 6, the Europeans worked …show more content…
They

recognized the problem and are trying to find the solution. A document based off of a

lower class citizen could help see both sides of how the people suffered and get a better

perspective of how the government made them suffer.

In documents 2, 4, and 8 discusses the trade that developed because of the silver.

In doc. 2, trade between Spain and Asia began. High prices requiring silver ruined Spain

as the prices attracted Asian merchandise. Each country would use each other to advance

and benefit themselves in the best way possible with the commodities being traded. In

doc. 4, Portuguese would go to Japan and stock up on 600,000 coins worth of Japanese

silver and then travel to China and buy luxury goods. In this case Portugal was benefiting

from this trade and Japan was getting the boot. In doc. 8, The money in Asia wasn't being

circulated. Europe was sending Asia gold and silver and in return were receiving goods

that weren't worth the trade. Charles D'Avenant was conflicted with the debate because

Europe wasn't pleased with the goods they received, however, they couldn't stop the