“And so at the rumor of the rich deposits of mercury . . . in the years 1570 and 1571, they started construction of the town of Huancavelica de Opresa in a pleasant valley at the foot of the range. It contains 400 Spanish residents, as well as many temporary shops of dealers in merchandise and groceries, heads of trading houses, and transients, for the town has a lively commerce . . . Up on the range there are 3,000 or 4,000 Indians working in the mine . . . The ore was very rich black flint . . . and when they have filled their little sacks, the poor fellows, loaded with ore, climb up those ladders or rigging, some like masts and others like cables, and so trying and distressing that a man empty-handed can hardly get up them.” Antonio Vasquez de Espinosa, Compendium and Description of the West

What impact did the products of mines described in the passage, along with metals extracted from other mines, have on Spain and the rest of the world?
a. It enabled the Spanish navy to defeat the English navy in 1588.
b. It resulted in inflation and worldwide devaluation of silver.
c. It caused gold to become the new form of worldwide currency.
d. It allowed many South Americans to move to Europe.