How to Use Reading 1: The Spanish Treasure Fleet System Much of
Spain's exploration of the Americas centered on the desire to
find gold and silver. These precious metals were valuable
because they were used to make coins, which were the basis of
most of Europe's monetary systems. The basic Spanish silver coin
was the 8-reales piece or "piece of eight", which came to be
called a peso. Because of its high silver content, pesos were
widely accepted in Europe. This was important because Spain had
virtually no industry of its own and had to buy manufactured
goods from other European nations. In this way, the silver and
gold Spain mined in the Americas made its way throughout Europe
and impacted the global economy. The colonies that Spain founded
in the New World became the world's largest sources of precious
metals. Spain quickly established a policy whereby colonists in
the Americas could only trade with Spanish merchant ships. Since
early colonists depended on Spanish merchants for basic
necessities including fo