The silver trade in the 16th to 18th centuries brought economic and social transformations around the world. The changing flow of silver during this time changed every civilization globally; The Ming empire, the Spanish and Britain were effected both economically and socially. By the early 18th century, the effects of silver trade had both changed the operation of economics and social structure. Additional documents that could have explained and supported these changes; writings from the empire of Tokugawa Japan, the indigineous workers in the Potosi mines, business owners and their change in their payments and reliance on silver for profit, and the agriculturalists that saw the influence of silver on the trade of commodities all over the globe.
In the Ming empire, the changes that they went through economically and socially were very dependent on the silver trade. As silver became a global staple for trade, the want and feeling of luxury that silver brought enabled everyone to be included in the trade(Doc 1). In China, people could use silver extravagantly or in common expenses. This increased the economic base
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Just like the other two empires, Britain was dependent on the trade of goods for silver( Doc. 4). At the beginning of the period their trade was mostly amongst themselves, but by the end they were heavily wanting in the silver trade(Doc 8).
Economically the trade of silver allowed for the shift from trade of goods to goods to goods for silver. This changed the output of silver, and the worth of goods in commodity trade. Socially the individual trade was dependent on not just payment in anyform, but by the end of the period; solely on the trade and payment of bills in silver.
The silver trade changed the economic and social structures in Spain, the Ming empire and in Britain with the english. The period from the 16th to 18th century strongly showed this change of dependence of