Rojas Rodríguez, Jaime Alberto2012-08-302012-08-302012-08-302256-3911http://hdl.handle.net/10567/709The 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.esCorporación Universitaria LasallistaFacultad de Ciencias Sociales y EducaciónHistoria de AméricaConquista de AméricaColonización de AméricaMetales preciososArticle