The Great Divergence: How Silver Fueled Global Inequality

Trade Routes That Changed Human History Forever — Fexingo History · Oct 25, 2026 · 8m · transcript

We often think of the Silk Road or the Spice Trade as the engines of early globalization, but there was another currency that reshaped the world order in the 16th and 17th centuries: silver. This episode explores how the massive silver deposits discovered at Potosí in modern-day Bolivia and the mines of Zacatecas in Mexico became the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty's economy. We look at the Manila Galleon trade, where Spanish silver flowed across the Pacific to China in exchange for silk and porcelain, effectively linking the Americas to Asia long before direct political contact. Lucas and…