Of Coins and Treasure

Author(s):  
John Kenneth Galbraith ◽  
James K. Galbraith

This chapter discusses the history of coins made of precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper. Some 4,000 years ago, there had been agreement on the use of silver, copper, or gold for purposes of exchange. Metal was made into coins of predetermined weight, an innovation attributed by Herodotus to the kings of Lydia, presumably in the latter part of the eighth century BC. The chapter considers how coinage after the Lydians evolved into a major art form. It also examines how the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the ensuing conquest and development of Spanish America affected the European continent. Finally, it looks at the ways that the American treasure enhanced profits, stimulated commerce and industry, and enlarged the opportunity of all who saw money as a way of making money, with a focus on the rise of banks as a means of regulating and limiting abuse of currency.

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-270
Author(s):  
K. N. Chaudhuri

The discovery of large quantities of gold and silver in the New World following the voyage of Christopher Columbus had a major impact on the subsequent history of the world economy. These two precious metals together with copper were regarded as the standard and measure of value in all societies throughout history. The sudden increase in the supply of gold and silver greatly increased the capacity of individual countries such as Spain and Portugal to finance wars and imports of consumer goods. The new Spanish coin, the real of eight, became an international currency for settling trade balances, and large quantities of these coins were exported to the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and China to purchase oriental commodities such as silk piece goods, cotton textiles, industrial raw material such as indigo, and various kinds of spices, later followed by tea, coffee, and porcelain. The trade in New World gold and silver depended on the development of new and adequate mining techniques in Mexico and Peru to extract the ore and refine the metal. South German mining engineers greatly contributed to the transplantation of European technology to the Americas, and the Spanish-American silver mines utilised the new mercury amalgamation method to extract refined silver from the raw ores. Although the techniques used in Mexico and Peru were not particularly advanced by contemporary European standards, the American mine owners remained in business for more than three hundred years, and the supply of American silver came to be the foundation of the newly rising Indian Ocean world economy in the 17th and 18th centuries.


2012 ◽  
Vol 602-604 ◽  
pp. 2031-2033
Author(s):  
Hong Yun Guo ◽  
Kai Fang Xie ◽  
Hua Wu Liu

Enamel jewelry is carefully manufactured using glaze and gold, silver, copper and other precious metals. The processing technologies refer to multidisciplinary knowledge, such as painting, engraving, padding, inlaying, metallurgy and glass melting. The history of enamel was reviewed and the current challenges of enamel jewelry industry were investigated. The key challenges of the enamel jewelry industry are listed as follows: the counterfeit products dominate the enamel market, high performance enamel glaze is currently unviable, the industry standards have not been proposed, and the manufacturing technique is too complicated to be implemented by machine at this stage.


Author(s):  
Arezou Azad

Covering the period from 709 to 871, this chapter traces the initial conversion of Afghanistan from Zoroastrianism and Buddhism to Islam. Highlighting the differential developments in four regions of Afghanistan, it discusses the very earliest history of Afghan Islam both as a religion and as a political system in the form of a caliphate.  The chapter draws on under-utilized sources, such as fourth to eighth century Bactrian documents from Tukharistan and medieval Arabic and Persian histories of Balkh, Herat and Sistan. In so doing, it offers a paradigm shift in the way early Islam is understood by arguing that it did not arrive in Afghanistan as a finished product, but instead grew out of Afghanistan’s multi-religious context. Through fusions with Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, early Abrahamic traditions, and local cult practices, the Islam that resulted was less an Arab Islam that was imported wholesale than a patchwork of various cultural practices.


1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Hans Levy

The focus of this paper is on the oldest international Jewish organization founded in 1843, B’nai B’rith. The paper presents a chronicle of B’nai B’rith in Continental Europe after the Second World War and the history of the organization in Scandinavia. In the 1970's the Order of B'nai B'rith became B'nai B'rith international. B'nai B'rith worked for Jewish unity and was supportive of the state of Israel.


Transfers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-130
Author(s):  
Mariana C. Françozo

Located at the old harbor of the city of Genoa, the modern Galata Museo del Mare was inaugurated as part of the commemoration of Genoa as the 2004 European Capital of Culture. Only twelve years later, the museum proudly welcomes 200,000 visitors annually into its twenty-eight galleries, organized in an impressive exhibition space of 10,000 square meters, showcasing 4,300 objects. While the aim of the museum is to tell the maritime history of Genoa—ranging from Christopher Columbus to an open-air space showcasing the story of the Genoese shipyard—it is the exhibition on migration to and from Italy that will truly impress the visitor.


Author(s):  
Bill T. Arnold

Deuteronomy appears to share numerous thematic and phraseological connections with the book of Hosea from the eighth century bce. Investigation of these connections during the early twentieth century settled upon a scholarly consensus, which has broken down in more recent work. Related to this question is the possibility of northern origins of Deuteronomy—as a whole, or more likely, in an early proto-Deuteronomy legal core. This chapter surveys the history of the investigation leading up to the current impasse and offers a reexamination of the problem from the standpoint of one passage in Hosea.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Lanner ◽  
Fabian Gstöttenmayer ◽  
Manuel Curto ◽  
Benoît Geslin ◽  
Katharina Huchler ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Invasive species are increasingly driving biodiversity decline, and knowledge of colonization dynamics, including both drivers and dispersal modes, are important to prevent future invasions. The bee species Megachile sculpturalis (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), native to East-Asia, was first recognized in Southeast-France in 2008, and has since spread throughout much of Europe. The spread is very fast, and colonization may result from multiple fronts. Result To track the history of this invasion, codominant markers were genotyped using Illumina sequencing and the invasion history and degree of connectivity between populations across the European invasion axis were investigated. Distinctive genetic clusters were detected with east–west differentiations in Middle-Europe. Conclusion We hypothesize that the observed cluster formation resulted from multiple, independent introductions of the species to the European continent. This study draws a first picture of an early invasion stage of this wild bee and forms a foundation for further investigations, including studies of the species in their native Asian range and in the invaded range in North America.


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