History 3597F: Spain's Silver Empire: A Social History of Mines, Trade and Cities in the Spanish American Colonies

Course Description

     The initial years of the conquest rendered vast amounts of gold for the Spanish conquistadores and their king. However it soon became obvious that the new lands hid not only gold but enormous amounts of silver. The first silver discoveries, dating from 1530, initiated a period of colonization and expansion unequaled in western history and laid the bases for the economic development of Spanish America. Soon silver began to guide political decisions, determine the location of urban centres and influenced local commerce and transoceanic trading routes. It also affected legislation and racial distinctions and shaped the socio-economic pyramid.

            This course will explore the social implications of silver mining for Spanish American  workers, mine owners, merchants, noble families and government officials. In doing so, students will examine primary and secondary sources and learn about the main historiographical debates of this fascinating period.

            This third-year course is designed to help students develop their research, analytic and writing skills as well as their ability to work as a team and to speak in public. In order to achieve these goals the course will include lectures, discussions on weekly readings, written assignments and a final presentation and discussion of a chosen topic.

Required Texts

Mark A. Burkholder and Lyman L. Johnson, Colonial Latin America, 7th ed.,  (New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2010).

Edith Boorstein Couturier, The Silver King: The Remarkable Life of the Count of Regla in Colonial Mexico (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico, 2003).

Evaluation

Class Discussion              30%

1st Short paper               10%

2nd Short paper              15%

Historiographical Paper    30%

Team Presentation            15%

 

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