The Spanish Coin That Ruled the World Before the Dollar

For almost three hundred years, one coin was trusted from Boston to Canton: the Spanish piece of eight, or Spanish dollar. The silver mountain of Potosí and the forced labour behind it, the milled coin with the Pillars of Hercules, the Manila galleons and Chinese chop marks, pirates and 'two bits', and how the United States based its own dollar on the Spanish one. Chapters: 0:00 A coin everyone wanted 0:33 Eight reales 1:07 The mountain of silver 2:14 A coin you could trust 3:22 Across the oceans 4:43 Pieces of eight 5:18 The American dollar 6:15 Around the world 6:46 The end of an empire, not of a coin 7:23 The lesson Sources: Wikipedia, "Spanish dollar": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish... Wikipedia, "Potosí": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potos%C... Wikipedia, "Mit'a" (forced labour in the mines): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mit%27a Wikipedia, "Manila galleon": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_... Wikipedia, "Battle in the Bay of Matanzas" (Piet Heyn, 1628): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_... Wikipedia, "Plus ultra (motto)": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus_ul...) Wikipedia, "Coinage Act of 1792": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage... Wikipedia, "Holey dollar": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holey_d... Wikipedia, "Dollar sign" (origin theories): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_... The origin of the dollar sign is debated; the two theories in the video are among those most often given. Narration: AI voice (Chatterbox). Illustrations: AI-generated in an engraving style, not historical images. Research, script and editing by the channel. Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Thinking Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Dreamer" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...