(Corporación Universitaria Lasallista, 2012-08-30) Rojas Rodríguez, Jaime Alberto
The history processes known as “conquest” and
“colony” in the New World had a special objective:
Looking and plundering precious metals such as
gold and silver, because these metals could give the
people involved a social status they could not get
otherwise. That search became, at the same time,
a strategy to build the identity of the newcomers.
Their commercial efforts between 1492 and 1720,
in the Atlantic, show that fact.
This research work aims to show, in a reflective
way, this “metal fever” in the New World, especially
concerning silver given the fact that gold rapidly
ran out because of its uneven development.
As Braudel said in 2005, America replaced the
African gold sources but also replaced, in a higher
measure, the German silver mines.
