Silver Trade - DBQ Practice

The silver trade between 1450 and 1750 was the first truly global exchange of a commodity. The Spanish exploited newly “discovered” silver deposits in Potosi (in modern day Bolivia) and forced harsh labor on thousands of Indigenous peoples to extract the silver. The silver was then shipped across the Atlantic back to Spain and then distributed east to Eurasian land empires including the Ottomans, Russians, and Mughals. It was also shipped across the Pacific to Manila, which had been colonized by the Spanish for its proximity to China and Japan. In 2006, the AP World exam included a DBQ on the flow of silver. In this review, Patrick Lasseter will discuss foundational content and how to approach that DBQ.