Early Circulation of American Silver

Timeline

1. 1501–1505Island of Hispaniola · Caribbean SeaColonists discovered and test-mined silver deposits on Hispaniola and elsewhere, using indigenous and early-imported African slave labor. Crude silver was smelted into ingots and shipped as the first precious-metal cargoes from the New World to Spain; volumes were small but validated the commercial potential of American silver mines.
2. 1506–1510Seville · SpainSpain's Casa de Contratación enforced mandatory registration, assaying, and collection of the royal fifth-tax on silver from the Americas, with Seville the sole legal port of import. By around 1510, reports of larger silver mines in Mexico and elsewhere heralded a far larger transatlantic silver flow to come.