How did silver prove to be a boon for Europe in the seventeenth century
Answers
Answer:
Substantial amounts of silver remained in Europe. The trade was not, by a long shot, all about shipping silver from the Americas to China via Europe, although this was clearly a significant feature.
In the earlier period, there was more silver travelling from the Americas via the Pacific (stopping off at Manila) to China and the rest of East Asian than via Europe and the Cape of Good Hope. By the mid eighteenth century, the Europe/Cape route was far larger.
Although the Chinese Ming dynasty fell in 1644, suspiciously soon after the seclusion of Japan from the outside world in 1635, the fall can’t be blamed on a shortage of silver because the decline was compensated for by increases from the Americas.
Not all the silver going via the Baltic and Levant “routes” makes it to East Asia. Some stays in the Middle East and Russia. In the diagram above this is shown by the ribbons flowing from the Baltic and Levant to South East Asia being only half the width of those flowing from Western Europe to the Baltic and Levant. I’m not entirely happy with this aspect of the diagram, but it’s good enough for now.