I don't mind, but as I said my memory of the details is fuzzy. if I weren't busy dealing with other stuff and wanted to refresh I'd look up something like "Spanish empire decline gold oversupply"
This is a general thing that happens to resource-rich nations - the Dutch Disease, the resource curse. If a country makes too much money pumping stuff out of the ground, it depresses industrial growth. The country gets rich, which means it can buy lots of stuff from everyone else instead of paying its own people to make it (who now expect more pay for less work). Its stronger currency accelerates imports, depresses exports. Over time the country falls behind in economic development while its resource production falls as mines are depleted. Then it ends up as a poor backwater behind its developed neighbors (unless other factors intervene).
However, this story gets oversold a bit. Being resource rich has costs (which break countries if ignored), but it has more benefits. E.g., Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Bahrain/Kuwait have regional and even global significance due to oil wealth, even though they're patches in the desert hampered by ultraconservatism.
The Spanish Empire didn't just spend all its gold and silver on wine and fancy clothes - it bought giant professional armies. It absolutely dominated 16th and 17th century Europe, conquering half of Italy and repeatedly challenging France, the strongest European power, despite having a lower population and starting in a weaker position. It also colonized much of the New World plus the Philippines, making Spanish a world languge. Sure, Britain, France, and the Netherlands preyed on and eventually supplanted Spain (and did so without Inca slaves mining for them), but Spain was the number one world power because of all the wealth it acquired.
How if you don't mind me asking?
I don't mind, but as I said my memory of the details is fuzzy. if I weren't busy dealing with other stuff and wanted to refresh I'd look up something like "Spanish empire decline gold oversupply"
I found this essay after some googling. Seems like it describes what you said. If anybody wants to read more about it.
This is a general thing that happens to resource-rich nations - the Dutch Disease, the resource curse. If a country makes too much money pumping stuff out of the ground, it depresses industrial growth. The country gets rich, which means it can buy lots of stuff from everyone else instead of paying its own people to make it (who now expect more pay for less work). Its stronger currency accelerates imports, depresses exports. Over time the country falls behind in economic development while its resource production falls as mines are depleted. Then it ends up as a poor backwater behind its developed neighbors (unless other factors intervene).
However, this story gets oversold a bit. Being resource rich has costs (which break countries if ignored), but it has more benefits. E.g., Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Bahrain/Kuwait have regional and even global significance due to oil wealth, even though they're patches in the desert hampered by ultraconservatism.
The Spanish Empire didn't just spend all its gold and silver on wine and fancy clothes - it bought giant professional armies. It absolutely dominated 16th and 17th century Europe, conquering half of Italy and repeatedly challenging France, the strongest European power, despite having a lower population and starting in a weaker position. It also colonized much of the New World plus the Philippines, making Spanish a world languge. Sure, Britain, France, and the Netherlands preyed on and eventually supplanted Spain (and did so without Inca slaves mining for them), but Spain was the number one world power because of all the wealth it acquired.