As I understand it, some of the silver was siphoned off in trade with China (via the trans-Pacific route to Manila). China needed continuing silver imports because silver was not used there in the form of standardized coinage, but rather in ingots that were weighed and subdivided, with inevitable continuing loss.
It was very surprising to see zero mention of the Manila galleon[0] trade route in the linked article, even if technically the question was about gold rather than silver. The simple answer to the question of what happened to the money was that Spain spent it! The impacts on SE Asia were profound and are still being felt today.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_galleon
Would love to read about the impact on SE Asia that continue until today. Do you have a recommended resource?
It’s a broad subject. You have the existence of the Philippines itself, which is the only majority Christian nation in Asia, and given it passed from Spain to the USA, this influences everything from US force projection in the Pacific to the prevalence of BPO outsourcing to the sectarian conflicts in Mindanao.
More directly from the trade itself and the silver it brought permanently altered the demographics, flora and fauna of the region. Southern Chinese traders migrated in greater numbers throughout the region, new world fruits and vegetables such as sweet potato and pineapple are introduced. Chinese merchants in the region are producing Christian religious art for export back to the old world, giving rise to a unique hybrid artistic style.[0] The region as a whole becomes more attractive for the Dutch and the British, which had its own set of downstream consequences …
I’m sorry I don’t have a single source that pulls this all together, you would probably need to pick an area and start reading!
[0] https://artsandculture.google.com/story/ivories-from-macau-a...
The book 1493 by charles c mann is an interesting read about this
I've not heard the inevitable loss as a culprit for Chinese demand. IIRC it had to do with a failed paper money system triggering inflation followed by a reversion to silver for exchange plus a growing population and market forces from the new supply from the new world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_silver_trade_from_the_1...