MichelleDBQ4

Michelle Tran Per. 4

Global Flow of Silver DBQ The global flow of silver was affecting China by hurting them socially, affecting the English positively, economically, and affecting the Spanish negatively both socially and economically. An additional document that may help analyze the effects of the flow of silver in this period would be from a Chinese merchant conveying how the trade system worked. The first group would be the negative social effects and the positive economic effects from the global flow of silver. In (Doc. 3), it explains that tillers would receive little income are to the price of grain dropping. Since the government now requires silver for taxes, it is harder for the elders and the lower class to buy grain. Therefore, the price of grain is lowered. This affects them socially in that the tillers would not be paid much due to their labors and the amount of grain being produced would lower due to the low price and poor harvests. The source of this document, Wang Xijue, is a court official. His job is to report to the emperor what is happening in his empire, and that is exactly what Wang Xijue did; report to the empire what he saw. Now that everything must be paid in silver now, (Doc. 5) shows how this new change has affected the people socially. People are not able to dye several dozens of cloth anymore like they used to. It was hard for them to obtain silver, so to adapt to this new change, they limited themselves on cloth dying. In (Doc. 1), it explains how frugal people are smart with what they have and know what to limit themselves on. On the other hard, the people with all the silver, tends to be greedy and does not know how to limit themselves on wedding expenses. (Doc. 7) shows the positive effect the global flow of silver had on the economy. Due to their desirable goods, China made lots of profit off of them, gaining lots of silver coins and money. The second group would be the positive economic effect the global flow of silver had on the English. From Ralph Fitch’s, British merchant, point of view, in (Doc. 4), we see that Portugese were prosperous in their trade and they improved economically. They gained many from China and the silver from Japan. Being this document be written by a merchant who actually traveled to the East Indies, it must be accurate that the Portugese were successful in their travels. In (Doc. 8), Europe has gained much from China: dyed cotton cloth, silks, drugs, cotton-yarn, and wool. Even though the send gold and silver that may never return back to them, in China, they still have no choice but to continue their trade with China because everything they gain from China is used in their every day life in Europe. The last group would be how the global flow of silver has affected the Spanish negatively economically and socially. We see than in (Doc. 2), the “high prices ruined Spain.” Their silver currency flowed out to pay for the constructive Asian commodities, affecting the Spanish negatively. In (Doc. 6), the Spanish worked the Indians hard and extensively. They worked nonstop in the mines. They were physically beaten from doing this work, and they didn’t get much in return. This did not help the Spanish develop socially due to the force labor of mining. This document was written from a priest and he probably wrote this because he wanted to show how hard Indians were working for the government and how extensive they worked. Priest are usually honest, and he probably wanted the truth out through his book.