Silver paid for East India Company purchases in India, where it could also buy gold relatively cheaply. English policymakers wanted available silver to flow toward the trade they considered most economically beneficial. Colonial transactions with other European countries carried silver elsewhere and frustrated that aim. Reporting requirements offered a way to monitor these movements, although merchants could still misreport their dealings and evade the restrictions. The effort to control silver helped drive more centralized oversight of imperial trade.
Notable Point · 1:24:35-1:26:50
Why England wanted to control the movement of silver
East India Company demand for silver helped explain efforts to monitor colonial commerce and keep specie flowing toward Asian trade.