The globalized trade of silver from the sixteenth to eighteenth century (time period 4) that had encompassed the entire world had a diverse range of social and economic changes such as; Spain and China’s economies had been negatively impacted (documents 2, 3, and 5), benefited countries that had dominated the trade (documents 4, 7, and 8), and changed the lives of Chinese Peasants and indigenous Native Americans forced to work in the mines (documents 1, and 6). The globalized trade of silver had a negative Impact on the economies of Spain and China, as seen in documents 2, 3, and 5. Document 2 if from the point of view of a Spanish scholar in the year 1571. The document shows that although it had attracted Asian goods, and Spanish silver flowed from Spain to China, and the high price of mining silver had ruined Spain. Document is from the point of view of a Ming Court Official, in …show more content…
Document 4 is from the point of view of a British merchant in the year 1599. He claims that Portuguese had used the silver trade to their advantage by trading with Japan for silver, and then using the silver they had gotten from Japan to buy goods from China. Document 7 is from the point of view on Ming dynasty official in the year 1630 trying to repeal the ban the emperor put on foreign trade. He claims that Europeans highly desire Chinese goods, that they will pay high values of silver for it (literally mountains of silver), and that unlike Asian merchants who barter, Spanish merchants directly pay in silver. Lastly, document 8 is from the point of view of an English scholar in the year 1697. The scholar claims that Europe gains nothing of real use from Asia, while Asia gains silver, yet it is still advisable for England to not quite this trade route, because another European nation will profit off of