Cody Belcher

2/8/2010
World History
Document-Based Question 2006

Even though the economic effects of silver flow from the mid-1500s to

the early 1700s seem to perceived similarly in the different countries, the

social effects are more biased based on the source’s point of view.

Documents 4 and 5 show that silver was the preferred means of pay even

though the sources were from different points-of-views (British and Ming

respectfully), however; documents 2 and 7 show that the Spanish and the

Chinese have different views on their hometown effects.

The documents that are in terms of economy prove to be impartial

such as document 4 which involves an outsider’s view from Britain who is

analyzing the Portuguese’s use of silver for buying the Chinese goods. In

document 5, the Ming writer portrays a blatant statement that in older times,

a simple barter for dyed cloth would suffice but with the since the economy

is becoming more desiring of silver, common shops are starting to

complicate things with solid payments of silver. For the Spanish vantage,

the priest states straight facts saying that according to official records, there

was an incredible amount of silver circulating. A document that would

increase the understanding of the economical effects would be a report from

an official documenter in Manila that has the ratio between the silver going

out versus the amount of goods from China to show who has the advantage

in the trade- to serve something that has a professional view.

 By contrast to the non-opinionated economic effects, the social effects

of the silver circulation differs opinions that represent each nation involved.

Taking a look through the Ming Dynasty’s eyes, they believe that the greed

involved in the silver is corrupting their lives. Interesting enough, all of the

documents that are considered “Social Chinese”, they all are from the Ming

officials. In document one, the Ming official is arguing that if you become too

entrenched in silver, you develop an inevitable lust for the silver and you

need more. He is trying to limit the amount of silver the common man will

get because they will be devoured by said lust. In document 3, also by a

Ming official, he reports that the respectable elders are blaming the

government for the poor amounts of grain. This document is a little less

biased than document 1 because it shows fair representation of the people

to the emperor. The last Ming official document (doc 7) is saying that they

should allow foreign trade because the Spanish are making a profit selling

the Chinese products in the Philippines. His request shows us that they

would rather have money than the country’s pride. For the Spanish,

document 2 is from a scholar. This scholar is complaining about the

government’s spending. He is saying that the government is spending too

much silver for the Asian goods- so much that it is ruining Spain. Lastly,

document 8 is from an English scholar. This scholar is figuratively on the

same boat as the Spaniard. He is announcing that Europe has become too

enticed in the Asian commodities as well. His specific argument is that they
are giving away money for small, petty materials that will be of no use to

Europe in the long run. Also, he says that the money that the government is

putting into this indulgence will never be returned to Europe causing Europe

to be in peril. An additional document that would best suit this is a diary of

an American traveler. Since he is from the outside, he/she would be

impartial to the situation; he would be able to give an accurate analysis of

the social effects from the silver circulation.

Based on the given documents, the economic effects of the silver flow

appear to be evaluated similarly in the accounts from the countries involved,

whereas in the social sense; the viewpoints are skewed depending on the

nationality and position of the source such as a Chinese official.