What was the significance of the silver trade in the early modern era of world history in Chapter 14?
|
Abstract Conversion of China's monetary and fiscal systems to a silver standard led to a doubling in the value of silver in China vis-à-vis the rest of the world by the early sixteenth century. Heightened profit opportunities induced an unprecedented surge in silver production in Spanish America and in Japan. Destined ultimately for China, tens of thousands of tons of silver passed through Europe via long-distance maritime and overland trade routes. Fifty tons of silver annually also reached China via the Pacific Ocean after the founding of the Spanish city of Manila in 1571. Japan exported huge quantities of silver to China until the late seventeenth century. New American crops were also introduced to Chinese agriculture via the Manila galleons, contributing to a doubling or more of Chinese population in the eighteenth century. Silver demand grew along with China's population, which in turn led to a fifty percent silver price premium in China. Largely in response to buoyant demand, more Mexican silver was produced during the eighteenth century than had been produced by all of Spanish America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries combined. Subsequently, during the second half of the eighteenth century, a "tea and opium cycle" propelled British fortunes in Asia. Economic, environmental, and demographic histories must not be viewed as independent phenomena. It is a mistake to view societies around the world as independent of or weakly connected to global forces. All heavily populated continents have been deeply connected since the sixteenth century. Show Journal Information Devoted to historical analysis from a global point of view, the Journal of World History features a range of comparative and cross-cultural scholarship and encourages research on forces that work their influences across cultures and civilizations. Themes examined include large-scale population movements and economic fluctuations; cross-cultural transfers of technology; the spread of infectious diseases; long-distance trade; and the spread of religious faiths, ideas, and ideals. Individual subscription is by membership in the World History Association. Publisher Information Since its establishment in 1947, University of Hawai'i Press has published over 2,000 books and over 900 journal issues. Within the worldwide scholarly community, University of Hawai'i Press is recognized as a leading publisher of books and journals in Asian, Asian American, and Pacific studies. Disciplines covered include the arts, history, language, literature, natural science, philosophy, religion, and the social sciences. The University of Hawai'i Press also serves as a distributor for more than 140 scholarly publishers in North America, Asia, the Pacific, and elsewhere. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. To access this article, please contact JSTOR User Support . We'll provide a PDF copy for your screen reader. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. Get StartedAlready have an account? Log in Monthly Plan
Yearly Plan
Log in through your institution Purchase a PDFPurchase this article for $14.00 USD. Purchase this issue for $24.00 USD. Go to Table of Contents. How does it work?
journal article Born with a "Silver Spoon": The Origin of World Trade in 1571Journal of World History Vol. 6, No. 2 (Fall, 1995) , pp. 201-221 (21 pages) Published By: University of Hawai'i Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/20078638 Read and download Log in through your school or library Alternate access options For independent researchers Read Online Read 100 articles/month free Subscribe to JPASS Unlimited reading + 10 downloads Purchase article $14.00 - Download now and later Abstract Global trade emerged with the founding of Manila in 1571, at which time all important populated continents began to exchange products continuously. The silver market was key to this process. China became the dominant buyer because both its fiscal and monetary systems had converted to a silver standard; the value of silver in China surged to double its worth in the rest of the world. Microeconomic analysis leads to startling conclusions. Both Tokugawa Japan and the Spanish empire were financed by mining profits--profits that would not have existed in the absence of end-customer China. Europeans were physically present in early modern Asia, but the economic impact of China on Western lands was far greater than any European influence on Asia. Journal Information Devoted to historical analysis from a global point of view, the Journal of World History features a range of comparative and cross-cultural scholarship and encourages research on forces that work their influences across cultures and civilizations. Themes examined include large-scale population movements and economic fluctuations; cross-cultural transfers of technology; the spread of infectious diseases; long-distance trade; and the spread of religious faiths, ideas, and ideals. Individual subscription is by membership in the World History Association. Publisher Information Since its establishment in 1947, University of Hawai'i Press has published over 2,000 books and over 900 journal issues. Within the worldwide scholarly community, University of Hawai'i Press is recognized as a leading publisher of books and journals in Asian, Asian American, and Pacific studies. Disciplines covered include the arts, history, language, literature, natural science, philosophy, religion, and the social sciences. The University of Hawai'i Press also serves as a distributor for more than 140 scholarly publishers in North America, Asia, the Pacific, and elsewhere. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. What was the significance of the silver trade in the early modern era of world history?The silver trade was the first direct and sustained link between the Americas and Asia, and it initiated a web of Pacific commerce that grew steadily over the centuries. It transformed Spain and Japan, the two states that controlled the principal new sources of silver.
What was the significance of the silver trade in the early modern era of world history quizlet?What was the significance of the silver trade in the early modern era of world history? The high demand for silver resulted in much of it ending up in China and some Asia by the numerous trading routes. Silver was used to sell Chinese goods and to pay for Asian goods by the French, British, and Dutch.
What caused the silver trade?China and the demand for silver
China had a high demand for silver due to its shift from paper money to coins in the early period of the Ming dynasty. The Ming paper currency eventually failed due to self-imposed inflation along with an inability to stop the production of counterfeit bills.
Was the silver trade the first global trade?The silver trade was the first global trade network and it dominated for thousands of years. Unlike the trade during the southernization time period, the silver trade included the newly discovered Americas. The main silver trade occurred between Asia and Europe with silver coming from all over the world.
|
