Ming China Dbq Analysis

The flow of silver from Japan and Latin American colonies to Europe and Asia led to massive wealth that would eventually cause problems such as inflation and trade imbalance in the economies of Spain and Ming China, as well as negatively affecting other nations.

Spain was one of the major producers of silver. It controlled the mines in Latin America where silver was produced, and traded it around the world but especially to China. The Chinese economy required silver, and they traded many commodities in return for it .From the abundance of silver, and subsequent trade, Spain grew massively wealthy and powerful. The glut of silver into Spain’s economy allowed the arts and sciences to develop, but also led to high inflation. The Spanish also

Since he was likely writing to a Spanish audience interested in learning about the colonies, he had to be fairly honest, but was still biased to support the mines as a revenue source for Spain, being Spanish himself. To expand on the production of silver, we need a document about the mines from someone who was at the mines, preferably a worker.

The majority of silver produced in Latin America and Japan went to China. (Documents 2,4,6, and 7) Documents 1, 3, 5, and 7 discuss the impact of the silver trade on Ming China. Silver was very important to the Ming, because taxes had to paid in silver bars. Earier, taxes in China could be paid in a variety of goods and labor, but the Ming changed their policy to accept only silver. Ming China was self-sufficient, and the silver was the only thing they lacked, while Europe wanted many Chinese goods. This created a trade imbalance in China’s favor, but they still struggled with a rapidly increasing demand for more silver to sustain their large economy. Like Spain, the Ming also invested too much silver into expensive areas, here defense, and had rapid inflation. Ye Chunji was a court official who in Document 1, offers

Spanish silver pesos became the default currency, and Europe grew richer through the increased trade brought by the Spanish. Europe was dragged into Spain’s wars, and suffered when inflation rose. The Philippines were a Spanish colony close to China that grew incredibly rich. The people of the Philippines were middle men who brought back silver from Japan, and traded it with China for luxury goods, making a large profit. In Document 4, Ralph Fitch discusses the huge amount of silver traded through the Philippines in his travel account. As he is a merchant, and his job depends on trade, he is probably biased trying to emphasize its profitability to potential investors. In Document 8, Charles D’Avenant also discusses the benefits of the silver trade, in this case with his own native England. Many nations throughout Europe desired more than ever Asian goods, and D’Avenant describes the heavy trade imbalance that resulted. D’Avenant is arguing in favor of trade with Asia. As he is a scholar, and likely well to do, he would support the importation of luxury goods he personally enjoyed.

We need a document written by a Japanese person, detailing the production of silver in their nation as well as the economic impact it had. Japan was a major producer of silver, and to truly understand the silver trade from a global perspective, we need to see how Japan’s economy was affected.