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One way...
Near Lima, Drake captured a Spanish ship laden with 25,000 pesos of Peruvian gold, amounting in value to 37,000 ducats of Spanish money (about £7m by modern standards). Drake also discovered news of another ship, Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, which was sailing west towards Manila. It would come to be called the Cacafuego. Drake gave chase and eventually captured the treasure ship which proved their most profitable capture. Aboard Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, Drake found 80 lb (36 kg) of gold, a golden crucifix, jewels, 13 chests full of royals of plate and 26 tons of silver.
...or the other (pdf)
IMPACT OF GOLD AND SILVER IMPORTS ● Increased purchasing power of Spain ● Expansion of demand for goods and services ● Expansion of international trade (gold and silver were accepted all over the world as a means of payment) ● Stimulation of industry throughout Europe (in particular northern Netherlands, England, and France, which competed for Spanish custom) ● Innovations in industries in northern Netherlands, England, and France, leading to rapid development of these countries.
Of course, with the relative decline in the purchasing power of gold and silver from 1500 through 1650, export goods could buy more silver than before. But that silver would have to be gotten out of the hands of the merchants who received it, who had to use something to pay those who sold them the goods which they exported. "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
This resulted in the very nice, for the "East India Companies," situation where they sold the spice in Europe at a 1,000% to 4,000% percent mark-up over cost (purchase, shipping, etc.,) took some of the money and shipped it to, e.g., Bandam, where they paid themselves for the nutmegs they, effectively, stole from the growers.
Part of the money was used to purchase tea, porcelain, lacquer ware, and other products from the Chinese merchants who arrived at Bandam to purchase nutmegs. (For instance) Of those goods, porcelain was the most lucrative; the upper crust went bananas over porcelain ware and would pay through the nose to acquire examples, an exact example of Veblen's conspicuous consumption for exactly the reasons he presented.
One reason the trading companies were able to do this because the European economy was on the up and up and able to support increased manufacturing of goods beyond local demand since the large trading companies could fill their ships with European manufactured goods and sell them in their colonies because the locals there weren't permitted to produce, as they had before, for their local market.
With European manufactured goods being shipped overseas and the steady increase of the amount of silver sloshing around in Europe due to the silver mining the Hartz mountains, the silver strike near Joachimsthal in Bohemia, and the silver flowing from the Spanish mines in the Latin and South Americas the total amount of silver being bid against a much slower rise in available goods led to a slow decline of the former versus the latter.
The supply of gold increased at a much slower rate and, thus, shared in the general price (in silver) rise. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
But So that silver would have to be was gotten out of the hands of the merchants who received it those who could afford the imported luxury goods, by the BEIC who had to use something used some of the silver to pay for mercenaries in India and elsewhere and used other goods from other places or used English exportsto pay those who sold them the goods which they exported imported from the spice islands or elsewhere..
I didn't 'Go There' to reduce the length of my comment.
Same old thing repeated endlessly. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
and the rest is history.
The unbelievable profits the BEIC reaped from India was the trigger and sustaining force for the British Empire allowing, among other things, the Brits to conquer more territories with equally lucrative resources. As an example, ONE 10,990 square kilometer (4,243 sq mi) Caribbean island - Jamaica - returned more yearly profit than ALL of their North American colonies put together.
The trade in, what we would call basic commodities, was the Oil Wealth of their time. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
basic commodities...
But the BEIC got a leg up after the Dutch became involved in their long struggle with Louis 14th and the English got past the Civil War and Protectorate period. Charles II's Queen Consort, Catherine of Braganza's dowry included the port cities of Tangiers and Bombay and good relations were maintained with the Mughal Emperors from 1612 until the mid 18th century. "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
For example, the political leadership of England during most of this period was Monarchy supported by and supported land-based Aristocracy. While the great merchants gained power during this period they never achieved Decision Making power. An example of this, was a continuous un-met demand by the merchants for the King to do something about pirates infesting the English Channel. It was only when the mayor of London fitted out a fleet, out of his own pocket, that piracy faded. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
There's a reason why it's "sailing the Seven Seas" rather than "sailing to the Seven Seas" ~ there was a lot of money to be made plying the waters of the Andaman, Java, Banda, Molucca, Celebes, Sulu and South China Seas. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
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