Published with license by Koninklijke Brill BV | doi:10.1163/22879811-bja10071 © Arturo Giráldez and Analiese Richard, 2024 | ISSN: 2287-965X ( print) 2287-9811 ( online) Asian Review of World Histories 12 (2024) 306–318 brill.com/arwh Articulating the Pacific Economy: Chinese Mercury, American Silver, and Californian Sea Otters Arturo Giráldez Department of Modern Languages and Literature, School of International Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, USA Corresponding Author agiralde@pacific.edu Analiese Richard | ORCID: 0000-0001-6061-7959 Humanities Department, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, Mexico arichard@cua.uam.mx Received 19 April 2024 | Accepted 19 April 2024 | Published online 29 July 2024 Abstract Among Hans Ulrich Vogel’s important contributions to Chinese and world history has been his work on the outsized influence China exercised in the early history of global- ization. In this brief article, we pay tribute to his careful research and deep insights by describing the interconnected circuits of exchange of three commodities – mercury, silver, and sea otter pelts – through which the early Pacific economy was articulated and transformed. Following Professor Vogel’s lead, we explain how the Chinese demand that drove these exchanges fueled competitive economic expansion of European pow- ers in the Pacific, setting in motion political, social, ecological, and economic patterns whose influence endures into the present. Keywords silver – fur trade – mercury – China – New Spain Downloaded from Brill.com 09/16/2024 11:30:56AM via Duke University