Pacific Silver Flow System

Timeline

1. c. 1540–1550New Spain and Peru silver-mining regions · Andes–Mexico silver beltLarge-scale mining at Potosí, Zacatecas, and elsewhere, with the Spanish crown capturing silver through the quinto tax and trade monopolies, laid the material foundation for transoceanic export.
2. 1551–1560Manila–Guangzhou–Yuegang route · East AsiaIn the 1550s American silver flooded East Asia via Portuguese-Spanish trade routes and smuggling networks, with China's southeastern merchants exchanging silk and porcelain for silver; the Pacific silver corridor expanded rapidly in both institution and practice, mutually reinforcing the Ming's monetization of taxes and corvée.
3. 1565–1700Acapulco–Manila · AcapulcoUrdaneta opened the regular Manila–Acapulco route, and the Spanish colonial authorities managed trans-Pacific circulation through chartered trade and silver quotas, forming an institutionalized silver corridor lasting nearly two centuries.