So Spanish mines in the Americas produced over 150,000 tons of silver between the 16th and the 18th centuries, over 80% of the world's supply. Spain became the richest nation in Europe and Spanish silver pesos became the de facto currency. But the Spanish royal family does not appear to have understood inflation, and the huge influx of silver caused skyrocketing inflation, and since they never set tax rates to account for it, they collected the same amount of money 60 years after the discovery of silver, but that money was worth a fraction of what it once had been. And in general, it's not clear that Spain benefited much from the discovery of silver. Rich countries have a way of finding their way into expensive and not totally necessary wars, and Spain was no exception. While empire wasn't the central cause of Spain's many 16th century wars, it sure did fund them. So in 1519, which was a heck of a year for Spain, Charles V united the kingdoms of Spain and Austria by being named head of the Holy Roman Empire, so-called because it was not holy, not Roman, and not an empire.