The Flow of Spanish Treasure
Walton gives the following figures in pesos. For the 300-year period the Peso or Piece of Eight had about 25 grams of silver, about the same as the German Thaler, Dutch rijksdaalder or the US Silver dollar. A single galleon might carry 2 million pesos. Of the estimated 4 billion pesos produced during the period 2.5 billion was shipped to Europe, of which 500 million was shipped around Africa to Asia. Of the remaining 1.5 billion 650 million went directly to Asia from Acapulco and 850 million remained in the Western Hemisphere. Little of the wealth stayed in Spain. Of the 11 million arriving in 1590, 2 million went to France for imports, 6 million to Italy for imports and military expenses, of which 2.5 went up the Spanish road to the low countries and 1 million to the Ottoman Empire. 1.5 million was shipped from Portugal to Asia. Of the 2 million pesos reaching the Dutch Republic in that year, 75% went to the Baltic for naval stores and 25% went to Asia. The income of the Spanish crown from all sources was about 2.5 million pesos in 1550, 14 million in the 1590s, about 15 million in 1760 and 30 million in 1780. In 1665 the debts of the Spanish crown were 30 million pesos short-term and 300 million long-term. Most of the New World production was silver but Columbia produced mostly gold. After about 1730 Brazil began producing gold. The following table gives the estimated legal production and necessarily excludes smuggling which was increasingly important after 1600. The crown legally took one fifth at the source and obtained more through other taxes.
| From | To | 1550 | 1600 | 1700 | 1790 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peru | Havana | 1,650,000 | 8,000,000 | 4,500,000 | small |
| Columbia | Havana | 500,000 | 1,500,000 | 1,500,000 | 2,000,000 |
| Mexico | Havana | 850,000 | 1,500,000 | 3,000,000 | 18,000,000 |
| Havana | Spain | 3,000,000 | 11,000,000 | 9,000,000 | 20,000,000 |
| Europe | Asia | 2,000,000 | 1,500,000 | 4,500,000 | 7,000,000 |
| Peru | Acapulco | - | 3,500,000 | ? | ? |
| Acapulco | Philippines | - | 5,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
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