Potosi Silver Triggers Price Revolution

In the 16th century, Spain tapped a massive mountain of rich silver ore at Potosí in present-day Bolivia and shipped vast quantities of that bullion back to Europe. As New World silver flooded into Spain and then across Western Europe, the money supply surged, prices and inflation rose sharply in what historians call the Price Revolution, and the real value of Spanish currency eroded. Combined with the high costs of imperial wars, this inflation and mounting debt pushed the Spanish monarchy into repeated bankruptcies by the end of the century.

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