Spain Had All the Silver in the World and Still Went Broke

In the 1590s, the Spanish crown received more silver than any government had ever seen, and yet its king stopped paying his debts four times in one reign. From the mines of Potosí and the forced labour of the mita to the treasure fleets, the price revolution, the Genoese bankers and the Manila galleons that carried the silver to China: this is how too much money weakened the richest monarchy on Earth. Chapters: 0:00 Rich and broke 0:35 A mountain in the Andes 1:55 The treasure fleets 3:02 When money gets cheap 4:20 The king's credit card 5:08 Four times broke 5:56 Was it really bankruptcy? 6:37 Where the silver went 7:24 The lesson Sources: Wikipedia, "Potosí" and "Cerro Rico" (discovery in 1545, size of the city): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potos%C3%AD Wikipedia, "Mit'a" (Toledo's reorganisation of forced labour): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mit%CA%BCa Wikipedia, "Patio process" (mercury amalgamation, Mexico c. 1554, Potosí 1570s): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patio_process Robins & Hagan, "Mercury Production and Use in Colonial Andean Silver Production" (Huancavelica, 1563): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/... Wikipedia, "Spanish treasure fleet": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_trea... Wikipedia, "Battle in the Bay of Matanzas" (Piet Heyn, 1628): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_in_th... John Munro (University of Toronto), "The Price Revolution" (silver imports into Seville, prices): https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/P... Wikipedia, "Price revolution" and "Earl J. Hamilton": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolu... Review of Hamilton, "American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501–1650" (EH.net): https://eh.net/book_reviews/american-treas... Wikipedia, "Martín de Azpilcueta" (1556, quantity theory of money): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_... Drelichman & Voth, "Lending to the Borrower from Hell" (working paper): https://crei.cat/wp-content/uploads/users/... Wikipedia, "Sack of Antwerp" (the Spanish Fury, 1576): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Antwerp Wikipedia, "Manila galleon": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon Wikipedia, "Spanish dollar" (legal tender in the US until 1857): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dollar Silver import figures and price indices are estimates; historians still debate how much of the price revolution was caused by American silver and how much by population growth. 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/by/4.0/ "Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Thinking Music" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Dreamer" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/