Global silver trade from the 16th to 18th centuries which China desired, so they traded silver to make up for their trade deficit. The two most important mining colonies of the Spanish Empire were Peru and Mexico, who were estimated to have provided one-hundred thousand tons of silver from the mid 16th Century to the end of the colonial period. The richest, and most productive mine in the Americas was that of Potosí in what is modern day Bolivia. The richest camp in Mexico was in the city of Zacatecas, however the production of this mine was far less than that of Potosi. More simplistic native mining techniques dominated
The empire on which the sun never sets The empire on which the sun never sets The phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets" has been used with variations to describe certain global empires that were so extensive that there was always at least one part of their territory that was in daylight. It was originally coined for the Spanish Empire, mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. In more recent times, it was used for the British Empire, mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, the British Empire reached a territorial size larger than that of any other empire in history.