Silver and the first global trade

La plata y el comercio global

1545–1800. The silver of Potosí (from 1545) and of Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico made Spain's empire the world's great producer of money.

What happened

The silver of Potosí (from 1545) and of Zacatecas and Guanajuato in Mexico made Spain's empire the world's great producer of money. Refined with mercury and dug by draft labour under the mita, it was minted into pesos de a ocho, the 'pieces of eight', and shipped in convoys from Veracruz, Cartagena and Portobelo that gathered at Havana before crossing to Seville, and later Cádiz. The Crown took a fifth. From 1565 the Manila galleon carried silver west across the Pacific to buy Chinese silk and porcelain, so that American silver circulated from Peru to Peking. Prices in Spain rose steeply in the sixteenth century, and much of the silver passed on to bankers and to Spain's European wars. Pirates and privateers from England, France and the Netherlands hunted the fleets.

Events along the way

• 1545: Silver is found at Potosí
• 1565–1815: The Manila galleon
• c. 16 November 1519: Havana is founded
• 1585–28 January 1596: Drake raids the Spanish Caribbean
• 7 June 1762–1763: The British take Havana
• c. 1765–1788: The Bourbon reforms

Sources

1. The Silver of the Conquistadors — World History Encyclopedia
2. Spanish Treasure Fleets — World History Encyclopedia
3. Manila Galleon — World History Encyclopedia