The country is too rich, and it is also a curse

One

Spain is the world's first empire that never sets, with a land area of 31.5 million square kilometers at its peak, and in the process of overseas colonization, Spanish colonists used crude means to plunder wealth that had never been seen in human history.

According to statistics, between 1521 and 1544, an average of 2900 kilograms of gold and 30700 kilograms of silver were shipped back to Spain from the Americas every year.

With the development of the Potosí silver mine in Bolivia, silver production in the Americas increased rapidly, so that between 1545 and 1560, an average of 5,500 kilograms of gold and 240,000 kilograms of silver were shipped to Spain each year.

If only silver is converted, it is equivalent to 7.68 million taels of the Ming Dynasty, and the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty is only a few million taels.

In other words, the Spanish colonists opened mines in the Americas, which exceeded the annual tax paid by 60 million people in the Ming Dynasty.

And that's not all.

As a result of increased mining efforts by Spanish colonists, a total of 25,000 tons of silver were shipped back from 1561 to 1600, an average of 625,000 kilograms per year.

It is simply a day when people sit at home, money comes from heaven, and the Spanish people count money to hand cramps, don't live too cool.

The life fantasized by modern young people has long been experienced by spaniards.

Because going to the Americas to pan for gold can become rich overnight, many Spaniards can't stand loneliness and have taken boats to the Americas to find opportunities.

Even the high-powered Governor of Jamaica could not resist the temptation of gold and silver, and directly abandoned his official duties and went to the American continent to pan for gold.

Wanli is only an official for wealth, if he can get rich overnight, what kind of official will he be?

For a hundred years, gold and silver were like a blessing from God, intoxicating the Spaniards, from kings to commoners, from officials to adventurers, all of whom were crazy.

By the end of the 16th century, 83% of the world's precious metals belonged to Spain, and it was possible to buy anything you wanted around the world.

In Spain, anything is possible.

Two

Spain's wealth is a double-edged sword.

At the beginning of the Great Voyage, the gold and silver shipped back from the Americas became the circulating currency in the Spanish market, which really stimulated the economic explosion at home and abroad.

For example, Sevierville originally had the foundation of the textile industry, and gradually became a worsted wool center stimulated by gold and silver, with 16,000 wool spinning factories and 130,000 workers, driving local employment and promoting the improvement of consumption levels.

The newly opened American colonies were deserted, and the colonists had to buy anything they needed at home.

As a result, the American colonies indirectly sent a large number of orders to domestic handicraft workshops, which directly increased the total Spanish-American trade in the early 16th century by 8 times.

It was a very good positive cycle, and if it could be sustained, the Spanish Empire of the Rising Sun would last a long time, and there might be nothing to do with Britain.

But the problem is that Spain's wealth comes too easily.

Since you can make a lot of money by crossing the sea to mine, how can those Spaniards who want to make a fortune feel at ease working in the workshop? It is possible that the workers' hard work for a lifetime is not as much as the gold diggers who earn more in a year.

The huge income gap, as well as the cost performance and rewards, tells the Spaniards:

"Support the brave, starve the timid, go to the Americas to speculate, you see the missiles next door are not as good as selling tea eggs."

As a result, countless Spaniards abandoned their families and ran to the Americas to pan for gold.

The Spanish government did not feel that there was anything wrong with the people going to the Americas to pan for gold. Because of the steady flow of wealth into Spain, the government felt that the cycle of investment in industry and commerce was too long and the profits were too low to be taken seriously.

Thus, under the dual choice of the people and the government, after Spain's industry and commerce reached a certain scale, there was no further progress.

It's not that Spain doesn't want to suffer, it's that the money is too fast to open a mine.

But the people have a demand for goods.

Without the progress of industry and commerce in Spain and the inability to produce a rich supply of goods to the market, the Spaniards had to take precious metals such as gold and silver and buy goods from England, France and the Netherlands.

As a result, gold and silver stayed in Spain for a short time and flowed to countries with slightly developed industry and commerce, such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands, which not only prospered the market economies of those countries, but also allowed capitalists and workers to earn money.

In this way, Spain, which engages in the virtual economy, is actually making wedding clothes for countries with real economies.

Without the support of the real economy such as industry and commerce, the gold and silver shipped back to Spain from the Americas became an unsupported currency, causing inflation in Spain for decades.

Between 1501 and 1562, prices in Spain rose by an average of 2.8% per year, so that cumulatively, in that era of underdeveloped productivity, the two generations living in Spain faced almost completely different living conditions.

People at that time said that the price rise was so violent that the great nobles and missionaries could not live on income and had to mortgage their property to barely survive.

This is true of the high-income classes, not to mention the poor.

In the high pressure of inflation, poor men are reduced to beggars and vagrants in large numbers, while poor women become prostitutes and make a living by selling their bodies.

Therefore, under the blooming flowers of gold and silver in the Americas, Spain is actually a tragic situation of fiery cooking oil.

Over time, inflation dealt a devastating blow to Spanish industry and commerce, which was already underdeveloped.

Because the price increase caused by the increase in the price of raw materials and the increase in the price of labor, which further causes the cost of handicraft manufactured goods to rise, then the price of entering the market will inevitably rise.

As a result, Spanish domestic products are not in demand.

In fact, if we imagine the environment we bring into Spain, we will understand.

On the one hand, there are poor quality but expensive domestic goods, on the other hand are imported goods with good quality and low price, if you are a Spaniard in the 16th century, I am afraid that you will not have the patriotism to support domestic products, but choose imports with higher cost performance.

Commodities cannot be sold without profit, there is no profit, no production can continue, and after decades of inflation, Spanish industry and commerce are basically exhausted.

Then there is a question, Spain's gold and silver have also entered Britain and France, and those countries have no inflation?

Actually, there are.

Productivity growth in England and France is certainly unlikely to exceed the rate at which Spain spends money, and an increase in domestic currency is an inevitable consequence.

However, the progressive industry and commerce of britain and France and other countries can offset some of the harm of Spanish gold and silver, while on the other hand, Britain and France in northern Europe, Spanish inflation to spread, it takes a certain amount of time.

In fact, prices in France only tripled after prices rose in Spain many years later, and prices in England did not rise until the 1650s when they tripled.

From start to finish, it took almost a hundred years.

This hundred years is the time difference between the fate of the country, enough for the Spanish industry and commerce to hit the streets, while the Industry and Commerce of England and France have grown.

By the end of the 16th century, the goods sold by Spain to the American colonies were basically purchased from Britain and France, and even domestic consumer goods were imported from abroad.

The Spanish Empire, once rich, was so poor that it had nothing but money.

Three

Spain is firmly on the road to decline, does the government know it?

Of course I know.

So why didn't the Spanish government reform it?

Because can't change.

Almost all the adventurers who set sail to explore the New World were financed by the king and nobles of Spain. Since they made venture capital, the benefits of exploring the New World were naturally shared by kings and nobles.

In this process, the kings and nobles of Spain exchanged power for wealth, and then used wealth to consolidate power, forming a complete closed loop of gold power.

Moreover, the nobles, with 2% of the population, controlled more than 95% of the land, chose representatives on their own land, entered parliament to represent their own interests, raised their hands to vote on the tax exemption policy, and resolutely opposed the policy that was detrimental to their own interests.

The kings and nobles thus became the absolute class of power in Spain, monopolizing almost every aspect of Spain.

If they want to protect their position, they will not support industry and commerce, so as not to appear an independent class of merchants to challenge them.

If they want to enjoy life, they must open the door to the country and allow foreign goods to enter Spain at very low conditions.

All in all, kings and nobles were reluctant to change the status quo.

For this class of absolute power, now is the best time, nothing needs to be changed, it is best to continue forever, and the children and grandchildren are endless.

Wealth from the Americas once prospered Spain, but wealth was also a curse on Spain, forever trapping Spain in medieval circles and unable to jump out.

When Spain's sources of wealth plummeted, or even interrupted forever, the so-called Empire that never set would come to sunset.

Of course, this happened.

One aspect of this is robbery from pirates.

As early as the beginning of the great voyage, Britain, France, the Netherlands and other countries were very envious, because they did not have the strength to confront Spain, they organized pirates to rob Spain's treasure ships.

Especially in Britain, Queen Elizabeth personally paid for the pirate Drake to go to sea to rob. On one occasion, Drake grabbed £4.7 million worth of gold and silver, and upon her return, Queen Elizabeth came to the ship to award Drake knighthood and received a dividend of £260,000.

With the Queen's personal demonstration, The English nobles and pirates went to sea to participate in the robbery of Spain.

In queen Elizabeth's time, hundreds of pirate ships went to sea basically every year, bringing back a total of £12 million worth of wealth, and britain was also known as a pirate country.

The gold and silver looted by the British pirates was the gold and silver lost by Spain, and with the robbery of French and Dutch pirates, the wealth that Spain could transport back to China was greatly reduced.

On the other hand, Spain is expensive.

Probably because wealth came too easily, the kings and nobles of Spain were a bit fluttery, and they sent troops to fight at the slightest disagreement with the surrounding countries, and participated in almost all the wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Fighting a war costs money, including weapons and equipment, the manufacture of warships, post-war pensions, etc., all of which require silver spent in vain, and the battlefields in Spain are basically outside the borders of the country, so when food and military supplies are needed, they are often purchased in the places where they fight.

Therefore, Spain repeatedly sent military orders to other countries through war, rather than using war to drive Spain's military industry.

What is the point of such a war?

Winning, the king and the nobles reaped the honor and benefits, and had little to do with the Spanish people. But once you lose, the silver spent in white flowers is given away, purely to buy guilt.

In the late 16th century, King Philip II issued government bonds to continue the war, stipulating that anyone could buy bonds and lend money to the king, paying interest at an interest rate of 5-10%.

Since interest rates were good and the king's credit was also available, Philip II repeatedly issued bonds to borrow money to fight wars, and even borrowed money directly from foreign bankers.

By the time philip II died, he was left with a debt of 100 million Dukat (gold coins).

At this point, Spain was largely scrapped.

Four

In 1576, the Spanish governor in the Philippines wrote to Philip II proposing to send an expeditionary force to conquer China, stating that the cause would be very easy to succeed and would not cost much.

Philip II received the letter and did not comment.

Ten years later, the Governor-General of the Philippines held a general meeting in Manila to discuss in detail the plans for an expedition to China, and after the meeting wrote a memorandum to be sent back to Spain for Philip II's reference.

The invasion plan believed that sending 12,000 Spanish soldiers and recruiting another 5,000 Japanese, plus 4 galleons and 3 or 4 gunners, would be enough to conquer China.

After the conquest of China, Spain set up 58 parishes in China, spread the Christian faith, sent several governors to govern the region, and encouraged Spaniards to immigrate to China, and had mixed descendants with Chinese women, gradually changing the bloodline of Chinese.

Moreover, the plan also said that in the process of conquering China, it was not possible to kill arbitrarily, otherwise no one would do the hard work for Spain in the future.

Looking at this plan to invade China now, it can only be described in one word -- YeLang is arrogant.

Philip II, however, was very satisfied and prepared to organize an expedition to immediately conquer China, the world's largest country.

But things are uncertain.

Before Philip II was ready to go on an expedition to China, he was annihilated by the British in his "Armada" just two years later, gradually losing its position as a sea overlord.

Since then, Spain has become a second-rate country in Europe, and has never been able to restore its former glory, and the gold and silver shipped back in the past hundred years have also become the fuel for the rise of other countries.

It was really full of birds thrown into the forest, and the land was really clean.