2006 DBQ – The Global Flow of Silver
D1 – Ye Chungji
Group w/ 3, 5 & 6: disproportionately
negative effect on lower social classes
D2 – Tomas de Mercado
Group w/ 7: economic effect of inflating
prices of trade goods
D3 – Wang Xijue
Group w/ 1, 5 & 6: disproportionately
negative effect on lower social classes
D4 – Ralph Fitch
Group w/ 8: effect of stimulating
economic policy of mercantilism
Analysis – China’s policy of requiring
domestic taxes to be paid in silver may
explain order limiting wedding expenses.
Analysis – Flow of silver currency so
great it led to high prices that “ruined
Spain.”
Analysis – China’s silver policy
adversely affected grain prices; most
people were poor peasant farmers.
POV – Chunji likely would have earned
his position as a county official through
China’s merit-based civil service system,
so it makes sense that he justified the
limitation on wedding expenses by noting
it was in keeping with the Confucian
value of frugality.
POV – Mercado’s credibility could be
questioned due to his overheated
judgments (“high prices ruined Spain”)
and penchant for fanciful descriptions
(paving the streets of Manila with
ballast).
POV – Xijue’s report to the emperor
appears very credible, given its implicit
criticism of the national government’s
silver policy. He no doubt chose his
words carefully to limit his personal risk.
Analysis/POV – The British
merchant’s account of Portuguese trade
practices resulting in “their great
advantage” reveals the mercantilist
rivalries among European countries
competing for East Asian trade
dominance.
AD – Mercado’s description of Chinese
demand for silver lacks precision, so port
records from Manila are needed to more
accurately assess how much silver was
being transferred from the Spanish
colony to China.
AD – 1. Grain receipts from regions
outside Xijue’s home district would
reveal whether the adverse effect was
merely localized or widespread. 2.
Records of just how much silver China
allowed back into the domestic economy
could be used to assess the veracity of
Xijue’s claims about it being scarce.
AD – 1. Documents from Portuguese
traders are needed to confirm the
accuracy of Fitch’s descriptions of their
trade practices and whether they too were
motivated by mercantilist concerns. 2.
None of the documents reveals the
impact of the global flow of silver on
Japan, so documents from there are
needed to see if, for example, the lower
classes were negatively impacted in a
fashion similar to the way they were in
China and South America.
D5 – Xu Dunqui Ming
Group w/ 1, 3 & 6: disproportionately
negative effect on lower social classes
D6 – Antonio Vasquez de Espinosa
Group w/ 1, 3 & 5: disproportionately
negative effect on lower social classes
D7 – He Qiaoyuan
Group w/ 2: economic effect of inflating
prices of trade goods
D8 – Charles D’Avenant
Group w/ 8: effect of stimulating
economic policy of mercantilism
Analysis – Account details Ming China’s
conversion from a barter economy to a
currency-based market economy. This
less-flexible means of exchange likely
harmed lower classes the most.
Analysis – Spain’s supplying of global
demand for silver meant abusing
Amerindian laborers working in mines.
Like lower classes in other parts of the
world, they did not benefit from the vast
wealth silver created.
Analysis – Large supply of Spanish
silver in the Philippines led to massive
inflation of 100-200% for silk yarn.
Analysis/POV – The global flow of
silver’s influence on the mercantilist
tendencies of European nations can be
seen in D’Avenant’s account of the
English being “supplanted in the spicetrade by the Dutch” … in his reference to
importing from the East Indies
commodities that can then be sold
elsewhere across Europe … in his
disappointment that gold and silver gets
buried permanently in Asia.
AD – 1. Documents from other county
officials in China are needed to assess
how widespread this policy was across
the country. 2. Financial documentation
of wedding expenses before and after
Chunji’s order would capture the extent
of the effect on peasant families.
POV – Ming’s account has a matter-offact tone, unmarred by overtly
judgmental phrases or descriptions,
which lends confidence to its
trustworthiness.
AD – 1. A document from a dye shop
owner could be used to assess the
accuracy of Ming’s account of their
business practices. 2. Similar reports
from other commercial cities – and from
more rural towns – could be used to
analyze China’s changing economy from
a national perspective.
POV – Espinosa’s language (“poor
fellows” working in conditions “so trying
and distressing”) reflects the tradition of
the Spanish clergy’s opposition to abusive
labor systems like the mita.
AD – 1. The accounts in the Spanish
royal records referenced by Espinosa are
needed to confirm the veracity of his
account. 2. Log books from ship captains
who participated in smuggling silver
might allow for a more precise estimate
of the total amount of silver shipped
globally.
POV – Qiaoyuan’s motives in his report
to the emperor could be questioned,
because repealing the ban on foreign
trade would appear to benefit the
producers of sugar and fruit in his native
province.
AD – Correspondence between Qiaoyuan
and the sugar and fruit merchants from
his native province might reveal evidence
of bribery or some other economic
benefit for the court official, in return for
taking his position on the trade ban.
AD – Economic records are needed for
countries like England and the
Netherlands to assess whether the global
flow of silver had a negative effect on the
lower classes in those countries or
contributed to inflation in their domestic
economies.