Abstract
In the early modern period, the world economy gravitated around the expansion of long-distance commerce. Together with navigation improvements, silver was the prime commodity which moved the sails of such trade. The disparate availability and the particular demand for silver across the globe determined the participation of producers, consumers, and intermediaries in a growing global economy. American endowments of silver are a known feature of this process; however, the fact that the supply of silver was in the form of specie is a less known aspect of the integration of the global economy. This chapter surveys the production and export of silver specie out of Spanish America, its intermediation by Europeans, and the reexport to Asia. It describes how the sheer volume produced and the quality and consistency of the coin provided familiarity with, and reliability to, the Spanish American peso which made it current in most world markets. By the eighteenth century, it has become a currency standard for the international economy which grew together with the production and coinage of silver. Implications varied according to the institutional settings to deal with specie and foreign exchange in each intervening economy of that trade. Generalized warfare in late eighteenth-century Europe brought down governance in Spanish America and coinage fragmented along with the political fragmentation of the empire. The emergence of new sovereign republics and the end of minting as known meant the cessation of the silver standard that had contributed to the early modern globalization.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bakewell P (1984) Miners of the Red Mountain. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Barragán R (2017) Working silver for the world: mining labour and popular economy in Colonial Potosi. Hisp Am Hist Rev 97(2):193–222
Barret W (1990) World bullion flows, 1450–1990. In: Tracy J (ed) The rise of merchant empires: long-distance trade in the early modern world, 1350–1750. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 224–254
Bernal A (1992) La financiacion de la Carrera de Indias (1492–1824) Dinero y credito en el comercio colonial espanol con America. Fundacion El Monte, Sevilla
Bonalian M (2010) El Pacifico Hispanoamericano Political Comercial y trafico asiatico entre las Filipinas, Mexico y Peru 1680–1784. Historia. PhD, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico
Cespedes del Castillo G (1996) La Produccion. In: Las Cecas Indianas en 1536–1825. Fabrica Manual de Moneda y Timbre, Madrid, pp 247–271
Chaudhuri K (1968) Treasure and trade balance: the East India Company’s export trade, 1660–1720. Econ Hist Rev 21(3):480–502
Chaudhuri K (1975) The economic and monetary problem of European trade with Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. J Eur Econ Hist 4(2):323
Cheong W (1978) Mandarins and merchants: Jardine & Mathesson & Co a China Agency of the early nineteenth century Curzon 1978. Curzon, London
Clapham J (1941) The private business of the Bank of England, 1744–1800. Econ Hist Rev 11(1):77–89
Clapham J (1958) The Bank of England, a history. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Coatsworth J (2006) Political economy and economic organization. In: Bulmer Thomas V, Coatsworth J, Cortes Conde R (eds) The Cambridge economic history of Latin America, vol 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 237–274
Conduitt J (1730/1935) Observations upon the present state of our gold and silver coins, 1730, from an original manuscript formerly in the possession of the late Dr Jonathan Swift. In: Shaw W (ed) Select tracts and documents illustrative of English monetary history, 1626–1730. T. Becket, London, pp 210–244
Crosby A (1972) The Columbian exchange: biological and cultural consequences of 1492. Greenwood Publishing, Westport
Cuenca Esteban J (2008) Statistics of Spain’s colonial trade, 1747–1820: new estimates and comparisons with Great Britain. Rev Hist Econ xxvi(3):323–354
De Paula Perez, F. (2016). La Casa de Moneda de Sevilla, su historia. Sevilla, Universidad de Sevilla
De Vries J (2009) The limits of globalization in the early modern world. Econ Hist Rev 63(3):710
De Vries J (2015) Understanding Eurasian trade in the era of the trading companies. In: Berg M et al (eds) Goods from the East, 1600–1800: trading Eurasia. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 7–39
Dermigny L (1955) La France à la fin de l'ancien régime: une carte monétaire. Ann Hist Sci Soc 10(4):480–493
Dermigny L (1960) Cargaisons indinennes: Solier et Cie, 1781–1793. SEVPEN, Paris
Dermigny L (1964) La Chine et l’Occident; le commerce à Canton au XVIIIe siècle, 1719–1833. SEVPEN, Paris
Flandreau M et al (2009) Monetary geography before the industrial revolution. Camb J Reg Econ Soc 2:149–171
Flynn DO (1982) Fiscal crisis and the decline of Spain (Castile). J Econ Hist 42:139–148
Flynn D, Giráldez A (2002) Cycles of silver: global economic unity through the mid-eighteenth century. J World Hist 13(2):391–427
Garcia Baquero Gonzalez A (1996) Las remesas de metales preciosos americanos en el siglo XVIII: Una aritmetica controvertida. Hispania 56:203
Garner R (1985) Price trends in eighteenth-century Mexico. Hisp Am Hist Rev 65(2):279–325
Garner R (1995) En torno al debate sobre la inflacion en Mexico durante el siglo xviii. In: Riquer J, Grosso J, Yuste C (eds) Circuitos mercantiles y mercados en Latino America, siglos xviii y xix. Inst JLM Mora UNAM, Mexico, pp 161–178
Gordon Hayes H (1933) Bimetallism before and after 1834. Am Econ Rev 23(4):677–679
Grafe R, Irigoin A (2012) A stakeholder empire: the political economy of Spanish imperial rule in America. Econ Hist Rev 65(2):609–651
Habib I (1982) Monetary system and prices. In: Raychaudhuri T, Habib I (eds) The Cambridge economic history of India. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Habib I (1995) “The Eighteenth Century In Indian Economic History.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 56: 358–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44158638.
Hamilton EJ (1929) Imports of gold and silver into Spain, 1503–1660. Q J Econ 43(3):436–472
Hellyer R (2009) Defining engagement. Japan and Global Contexts, 1640–1868. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Hersh J, Voth H (2009) Sweet diversity: colonial goods and the rise of European living standards after 1492. Discussion paper CEPR. Centre for Economic Policy Research, London
Hotson A, Mills T (2015) London’s market for bullion and specie in the 18th century: the roles of the London Mint and the Bank of England in the stabilization of prices. In: Allen M, Coffman D (eds) Money, prices and wages; Essays in honour of Prof. Nicholas Mayhew. Palgrave, Basingstoke, pp 217–227
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1718–1736, 1746–1811 (1812–13), 1811–19) An account of the market prices of standard gold in bars, foreign (ie Portugal) gold in coin, standard silver in bars and Spanish dollars or pillar pieces of eighth with the courses of exchange with Hamburg, Lisbon and Paris, extracted from Castaign’s and Lloyd’s lists first quotation every month. Parliamentary Papers. London House of Commons
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers (1810) Report together with minutes with evidence, and accounts from the Select Committee on the High Price of Bullion House of Commons, London
Humboldt A (1811/1808) Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain. I. Riley, New York
Innes R (1980) The door ajar: Japan’s foreign trade in the seventeenth century. History. PhD, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Irigoin M (2009a) The end of the silver era: the consequences of the breakdown of the Spanish silver peso standard in China and the US, 1780s–1850s. J World Hist 20(2):207–243
Irigoin M (2009b) Gresham on horseback. The monetary roots of Spanish America political fragmentation in the nineteenth century. Econ Hist Rev 62(3):551–575
Irigoin A (2013) A trojan horse in Daoguang China? Explaining the flows of silver in and out of China. LSE economic history working papers 173/13. London School of Economics, Department of Economic History, London
Irigoin A (forthcoming) The new world and the global silver economy. In: Riello G, Roy T (eds) Global economic history. Bloomsbury, London, pp 271–286
Karaman K et al (2018) Money and monetary stability in Europe, 1300–1914. CEPR, London
Kelly E (1976) Spanish dollar and silver tokens, an account of the issues of the Bank of England, 1797–1816. Spink & Son Ltd., London
Kleeberg J (1995) America’s silver dollars. American Numismatic Society, New York
Kobayashi A (2017) Price fluctuations and growth patterns in Singapore’s trade, 1831–19. Aust Econ Hist Rev 57(1):108–129
Kobayashi A (2018) International bimetallism and silver absorption in Singapore, 1840–73. Econ Hist Rev (forthcoming) 1–23
Lane K (2015) Corrupción y Dominación Colonial: El Gran Fraude a la Casa de la Moneda de Potosí en 1649. Bol Inst Hist Argent Am Dr Emilio Ravignani 3ra Serie(43):94–130
Laughlin J (1896) The history of bimetallism in the United States. Appleton, New York
Lespagnol A (1992/1997) Messieurs de Saint-Malo: une elite negociante au temps de Louis XIV. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, Rennes
Lin M. h (2006) China upside down : currency, society, and ideologies, 1808–1856. Cambridge, Ma, Harvard University Asia Center
Lockyer C (1711) An account of the trade in India. Samuel Crouch, London
Maddison A (2007) Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 AD: essays in macro-economic history. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Martin D (1968) Bimetallism in the United States before 1850. J Polit Econ 76(3):428–442
Mayhew N (2012) Silver in England 1600–1800: coinage outputs and bullion exports from the records of the London Tower Mint and the London Company of Goldsmiths. In: Munro J (ed) Money in pre-industrial world: bullion, debasements and coin substitutes. Pickering and Chatto, London, pp 97–108
Michener R, Wright R (2006) Development of the US monetary union. Finan Hist Rev 13(1):19–41
Morineau M (1986) Incroyables gazettes et fabuleux métaux: Les retours des trésors américains d'après les gazettes hollandaises, 16e-18e siècles. Les Editions de la MSH, Paris
Morineau M (1996) Rejoindre to A. Garcia Baquero “Las Remesas de metales preciosos Americanos en el siglo XVIII: una aritmetica controvertida”. Hispania 56:263–266
Morse H (1919) British trade in China. J R Soc Arts 68(3497–8):17–28, 34–44
Morse H (1922) The provision of funds for the East India Company’s trade at Canton during the eighteenth century. J R Asiat Soc 54(2):227–255
Motomura A (1997) New data on minting, seigniorage, and the money supply in Spain (Castile), 1597–1643. Explor Econ Hist 34:331–367
Munro J (2012) https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/ResearchData.html. Silver mining 2017
North M (1991) Bullion transfer from Western Europe to the Baltic and Asia, 1550–1750: a comparison. Money, coins and commerce: essays in the monetary history of Asia and Europe. E. Van Cauwenberghe. Leuven, Leuven University Press: 185–196.
O’Brien P, Palma N (2018) Danger to the old lady of Threadneedle street? the bank restriction act and the regime shift to paper money, 1797–1821. Eur Rev Econ History. Economics Discussion Papers- Univ of Manchester 1808(June)
O’Rourke K, Williamson J (2002) After Columbus: explaining Europe’s overseas trade boom, 1500–1800. J Econ Hist 62(2):417–456
Officer L (1983) Dollar-Sterling mint parity and exchange rates, 1791–1834. J Econ Hist 43(3): 579–616
Palma N (2015) Harbingers of modernity: monetary injections and European economic growth, 1492–1790. Economic History. London, London School of Economics PhD.
Parker G (1974) The emergence of modern finance in Europe, 1500–1730. In: Cipolla C (ed) The Fontana economic history of Europe, vol ii, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. pp 527–594
Pomeranz K (2000) The great divergence, China, Europe and the making of the modern world economy. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Quinn S (1996) Gold, silver and the glorious revolution. Arbitrage between bills of exchange and bullion. Econ Hist Rev 49:473–490
Sardá Dexeus J (1948) La política monetaria y las fluctuaciones de la economía española en el siglo XIX. Instituto de Economia Sancho de Moncada, Madrid
Seybert A (1818) Statistical annals embracing views of the population, commerce, navigation of the United States of America. T. Dobson & Son, Philadelphia
Silberling N (1919) British financial experience 1790–1830. Rev Econ Stat 1(10):282–297. https://www.fraserstlouisfedorg/files/docs/meltzer/silbri19.pdf. Accessed 26 June 2017
Smith A (1776/2007) An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations S. Soares. MEtalibri, Amsterdam/Sao Paulo
Soetbeer A (1879) Edelmetall-Produktion Und WerthverhäLtniss Zwischen Gold and Silber Seit Der Entdeckung Amerika’s Bis Zur Gegenwart. Perthes, Gotha
Tandeter E (1993) Coercion and market: silver mining in colonial Potosí, 1692–1826. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Tashiro K (1991) Exports of gold and silver during the early Tokugawa Era, 1600–1750. In: Van Cauwenberghe E (ed) Money, coins and commerce: essays in the monetary history of Asia and Europe. Leuven University Press, Leuven, pp 75–94
TePaske J, Brown K (2010) A new world of gold and silver. Brill, Leiden
Van der Wee H (2012) The Amsterdam Wiseelbank’s innovations in the monetary sphere: the role of ‘Bank money’. In: Munro J (ed) Money in pre-industrial world: bullion, debasements and coin substitutes. Pickering and Chatto, London, pp 87–95
Von Glahn R (1996) Fountain of fortune: money and monetary policy in China, 1000–1700. University of California Press, Berkeley
Von Glahn R (2012) Cycles of silver in Chinese monetary history. In: So BKL (ed) The economy of lower Yangzi Delta in late imperial China. Routledge, London, pp 17–71
Acknowledgments
The research presented in this chapter has been kindly funded by the Leverhulme Research Fellowship RF-2017-570\3.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Source: N. Palma (2015) Harbingers of Modernity: Monetary Injections and European Economic Growth, 1492–1790, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, London School of Economics, Fig. 2, p. 63. I thank Nuno Palma for allowing the reproduction of the updated version of his map
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Irigoin, A. (2019). Rise and Demise of the Global Silver Standard. In: Battilossi, S., Cassis, Y., Yago, K. (eds) Handbook of the History of Money and Currency. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0622-7_13-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0622-7_13-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0622-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0622-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Rise and Demise of the Global Silver Standard- Published:
- 31 October 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0622-7_13-2
-
Original
Rise and Demise of the Global Silver Standard- Published:
- 09 August 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0622-7_13-1