In some respects this is a replay of the problems of the late Roman Empire. Trade (to the tune of 1 billion sesterces) flowed across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean from Egypt to Yemen, East Africa, India, and through Indian middlemen to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and China during the first and second centuries CE. The Empire taxed the trade at 25%, which raised almost as much revenue as Egypt produced domestically (between the tariff and domestic output, Egypt was half of the imperial budget!). The problem was that the Romans didn't make much that India or China wanted, so a lot of bullion left the empire each year - about 100 million sesterces of it. As long as the mines in Iberia could keep up with demand, this wasn't felt in the empire; but as the mines failed, the empire was drained of bullion. Monetary devaluation and political instability followed. No subsidies for client tribes means trouble on the frontiers. Debased currency leads to unrest among the elites. Add a plague or two and the time of troubles begins.
But the time of troubles wasn't only a Roman thing. Look to the east in Persia, India, and China, and one sees similar turmoil. When your best customer goes bankrupt, your trade goes with it. No more influx of silver and gold from the west produces troubles further east.
I commend unto you Raoul McLaughlin's book The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean. The economic information is there. The broad overgeneralization about consequences is mine.
Schemnitz, nowadays Banská Stiavnica in Slovakia, formerly in Upper Hungary is located where the map says “Hungary”. Simply put, the miners spoke German, the nobility Hungarian, and the general population Slovak, hence multiple names for the same place. It is interesting that the “seven Hungarian mining towns” were at times close to the border with the Ottoman Empire but, given their immense value, well defended and never conquered (hilly terrain also helped).
The construction of damns for water power, the huge output of waste from the shafts and massive deforestation (all that wood needed as building material and fuel), profoundly transformed the landscape.
The resulting desolation was well described even by contemporary sources. The educated eye can still see the marks left behind when looking at the seemingly pristine forests and hills of the Carpatians. What is left after these once prosperous mining towns fell into oblivion are real hidden gems of baroque architecture, well renovated thanks to EU funds, and German place names related to the mining industry, such as “Halde” (soil heap) or Schacht (mining shaft).
Will the oil wells of Iraq and Saudi Arabia fare the same fate 500 years from now ?
You could add a whole section about how this quest for silver contributed to the spread of Catholicism in central and South America. That shaped the world in ways we barely recognize.
I vividly remember a documentary where Romans were already employing (slave-powered) wheels in their Iberian silver mines, however I don’t recall whether this was to pump water or lift ore and materials.
Yes! Central Europeans didn't invent many of these technologies. They perfected most of them though in a way that made water pumping possible, which wasn't before.
Fascinating article. All the AI do-ups of the old diagrams felt like a big ol' distraction to me, and the original diagram was perfectly comprehensible, but I truly enjoy reading your insights.
Very interesting, as always. I'm interested in your take on crypto, which you mention inevitably successful in the opening. In particular, in how crypto could achieve value without a reference to fiat currencies? And (limited to bitcoin) how to avoid the equivalent of the bullion famine when the systems rules prohibit generation above a fixed threshold?
I wonder how much overlap there was between alchemy and these metallurgical discoveries.
We now tend to think of alchemy as a pseudoscience, or at least a dead end, since its goal of transmuting other elements into gold was unachievable without a particle accelerator.
But is it likely that the people discovering these new silver refining processes were alchemists conducting experiments? Or more likely provincial metalworkers conducting experiments without any alchemical metaphysics in mind?
At the very least, I imagine that all these useful metallurgical discoveries fueled the motivation for further experiments and for alchemical theories that they hoped would have predictive power.
I always learn a lot from your articles and I greatly appreciate that. This time I really appreciate you calling out what’s AI and what’s not. It’s refreshing to see that you guided the reader into knowing what’s generated content and what has a historical source.
But the mercury had to be brought to the Americas from Europe. There were only two mercury mines: Almadén in Spain and Idria in what is now Slovenia (where I stumbled upon this during my summer vacations). Another fascinating story worth a post...
The whole idea of mining or metalworking with lead, mercury, or arsenic gives me the heebie jeebies. How sick were these people? How sick were the people who drank the water downstream from them? No wonder Hephaestus and other legendary metalworkers were often depicted as limping or otherwise off.
What a master class you could teach in geopolitical history! Great job, Tomas.
Thank you!
Fascinating, excellent info!
In some respects this is a replay of the problems of the late Roman Empire. Trade (to the tune of 1 billion sesterces) flowed across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean from Egypt to Yemen, East Africa, India, and through Indian middlemen to Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and China during the first and second centuries CE. The Empire taxed the trade at 25%, which raised almost as much revenue as Egypt produced domestically (between the tariff and domestic output, Egypt was half of the imperial budget!). The problem was that the Romans didn't make much that India or China wanted, so a lot of bullion left the empire each year - about 100 million sesterces of it. As long as the mines in Iberia could keep up with demand, this wasn't felt in the empire; but as the mines failed, the empire was drained of bullion. Monetary devaluation and political instability followed. No subsidies for client tribes means trouble on the frontiers. Debased currency leads to unrest among the elites. Add a plague or two and the time of troubles begins.
But the time of troubles wasn't only a Roman thing. Look to the east in Persia, India, and China, and one sees similar turmoil. When your best customer goes bankrupt, your trade goes with it. No more influx of silver and gold from the west produces troubles further east.
I didn't know some of these things. Fascinating, thanks!
I commend unto you Raoul McLaughlin's book The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean. The economic information is there. The broad overgeneralization about consequences is mine.
Hello Tomas,
Schemnitz, nowadays Banská Stiavnica in Slovakia, formerly in Upper Hungary is located where the map says “Hungary”. Simply put, the miners spoke German, the nobility Hungarian, and the general population Slovak, hence multiple names for the same place. It is interesting that the “seven Hungarian mining towns” were at times close to the border with the Ottoman Empire but, given their immense value, well defended and never conquered (hilly terrain also helped).
The construction of damns for water power, the huge output of waste from the shafts and massive deforestation (all that wood needed as building material and fuel), profoundly transformed the landscape.
The resulting desolation was well described even by contemporary sources. The educated eye can still see the marks left behind when looking at the seemingly pristine forests and hills of the Carpatians. What is left after these once prosperous mining towns fell into oblivion are real hidden gems of baroque architecture, well renovated thanks to EU funds, and German place names related to the mining industry, such as “Halde” (soil heap) or Schacht (mining shaft).
Will the oil wells of Iraq and Saudi Arabia fare the same fate 500 years from now ?
What a fascinating take. I want to see pictures!
And very very good point on Saudi Arabia. I have a draft on that topic. Maybe I should dust it off...
You could add a whole section about how this quest for silver contributed to the spread of Catholicism in central and South America. That shaped the world in ways we barely recognize.
Ah very good point. What do you know about this?
Excelent article!! Can't wait for the following parts to the series 👌👏
I vividly remember a documentary where Romans were already employing (slave-powered) wheels in their Iberian silver mines, however I don’t recall whether this was to pump water or lift ore and materials.
Yes! Central Europeans didn't invent many of these technologies. They perfected most of them though in a way that made water pumping possible, which wasn't before.
Then of course liquation
Fascinating article. All the AI do-ups of the old diagrams felt like a big ol' distraction to me, and the original diagram was perfectly comprehensible, but I truly enjoy reading your insights.
Thank you for your feedback! I wonder if this sentiment is shared by others.
Very interesting, as always. I'm interested in your take on crypto, which you mention inevitably successful in the opening. In particular, in how crypto could achieve value without a reference to fiat currencies? And (limited to bitcoin) how to avoid the equivalent of the bullion famine when the systems rules prohibit generation above a fixed threshold?
This goes at the heart of the upcoming article(s)!
Silver is the next gold, I'm told. Excellent article as per usual.
You mean right now?
Yes, it is recommended to invest in silver, not in gold @ this moment.
Tomas, your missing link to mine in Hungry is Banska Stiavnica, town in recent Slovakia. http://www.prvybanickyspolok.sk/content/historia/historia-banictva/banictvo-v-banskej-stiavnici
Updated thanks!
I wonder how much overlap there was between alchemy and these metallurgical discoveries.
We now tend to think of alchemy as a pseudoscience, or at least a dead end, since its goal of transmuting other elements into gold was unachievable without a particle accelerator.
But is it likely that the people discovering these new silver refining processes were alchemists conducting experiments? Or more likely provincial metalworkers conducting experiments without any alchemical metaphysics in mind?
At the very least, I imagine that all these useful metallurgical discoveries fueled the motivation for further experiments and for alchemical theories that they hoped would have predictive power.
I always learn a lot from your articles and I greatly appreciate that. This time I really appreciate you calling out what’s AI and what’s not. It’s refreshing to see that you guided the reader into knowing what’s generated content and what has a historical source.
Great article. I think the use of AI to make old woodcutting illustrations clearer is so cool.
I love these articles! I wish I had been taught like this already in school.
But the mercury had to be brought to the Americas from Europe. There were only two mercury mines: Almadén in Spain and Idria in what is now Slovenia (where I stumbled upon this during my summer vacations). Another fascinating story worth a post...
The whole idea of mining or metalworking with lead, mercury, or arsenic gives me the heebie jeebies. How sick were these people? How sick were the people who drank the water downstream from them? No wonder Hephaestus and other legendary metalworkers were often depicted as limping or otherwise off.