A.D. 1252 1257 1295 1328 1344 1474 Gold was minted in Florence, Italy—it practically having gone out of use with the fall of the Roman Empire. Gold first coined in England. The first pieces weighed as much as two silver pennies, and were ordered to pass for 20 pence. Coinage of gold in France first became important, though in 1265 Gold first coined in Germany about this year, the first pieces being Commerical ratio of silver to gold in England was 11.15 to 1; in Germany, 11.12; in France, 11; in Italy, 10. 58; in Spain, 9.82. 1492 Discovery of America by Columbus and the finding of gold in considerable quantity among the natives of the islands he reached. The first silver sent to Europe from the mines of Mexico was obtained from Tasco, discovered by the Spaniards this year. These mines, together with those of Pachuca, are considered the oldest in Mexico, some of them having been long worked by the Aztecs at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. 1522 1532 Conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro. Its mines were soon supplying a large portion of the world's silver. 1545 Discovery of the famous silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia. 1548 First discovery of silver at Guanajuato, Mexico. 1571 The Huancevalica quicksilver mines in Peru first began to produce in noteworthy quantity. This was an important event, as an abundant supply of mercury for the amalgamation of Potosi ore was thus obtained. 1596-1614 Coinage system established in Japan. Gold, silver, and copper were coined. 1666 Mints of England opened to the free coinage of gold and silver in unlimited quantities at the ratio of 15 to 1. 1762 Discovery of the great silver bonanza of Real del Monte, Mexico. 1774 The first gold placer mines in the Ural Mountains were discovered this year. 1785 France ordered a recoinage of her gold and placed the ratio at 15 to 1. This ratio was affirmed by statute of 1803. 1792 1792 April 2, establishment of the United States mint with free and A.D. 1793 Mules and horses were used in Mexico, for the first time, for mixing the pulp, mercury, and chemicals in the patio process, saving 75 per cent in the cost of this branch of working; prior to this time, the operation had been performed entirely by human labor. 1829 Discovery of gold mines in Georgia; first mining excitement in the United States. 1830 Discovery of the placers of the Altai Mountains, Siberia. 1840 Increased production of gold in Russia. 1843 The Augustin process of working silver ores was introduced at the Gottesbelohnung Hütten, near Mansfield, Germany, and later in the year at the Freiberg works. 1848 On January 19, Marshall discovered gold at Coloma, California. Beginning of the gold era. 1849 Discovery of gold in Gold Cañon, Nevada; this eventually led to the discovery of the Comstock lode. 1851 Discovery of gold in Australia by Hargreaves. 1853 Maximum production of gold reached in California-$65,000,000. 1857 Discovery of gold in New Zealand. 1859 The Comstock silver lode, Nevada, was discovered. 1859 Discovery of gold in the Fraser River region, British Columbia. Pike's Peak excitement; discovery of gold placers in Gilpin County, Colorado, in California Gulch, and at Breckenridge. 1868 Discovery of gold in Western Australia, but it was not until 1887 that any diggings of importance were found. 1869 Discovery of the important silver-lead deposits of Eureka, Nevada. The American practice of lead smelting has been developed chiefly from the methods adopted in this district. 1869 Sutro tunnel to open the Comstock lode was commenced October 19. Discovery of the "Big Bonanza" in the Consolidated California and Virginia mines on the Comstock lode. 1873 1874 A year of great excitement on the Comstock lode, the "Big Bonanza" beginning to yield largely, while another bonanza was discovered in the Ophir mine. 1878 Great excitement at Leadville, Colorado, where many new discoveries were made. 1884 Discovery of gold in DeKaap district of the Transvaal, South Africa. 1885-90 Numerous discoveries of gold in South Africa, West Australia, and Colorado. 1891 The perfecting of the cyanide process. This greatly reduced the cost of extracting ores, making possible the continued working of old mines and of many low-grade deposits. It is mainly responsible for the enormous increase of gold production in the present generation. 1897 Klondike gold fields discovered. 43. THE BEGINNINGS OF EUROPEAN MONETARY HISTORY' By W. A. SHAW The monetary history of Europe begins in the thirteenth century, and in the Italian peninsula. Its starting-point is the era of the reintroduction of gold into the coinages of the Western nations, and is definitely marked for us by the minting of the gold florin of Florence in 1252. For all practical purposes gold had gone out of use since the seventh century, and after the submersion of the Roman Empire; and the currencies of the nations of mediaeval Europe rested on a silver basis entirely. The explanation of the reintroduction and recoinage of gold is to be found in the history of the Crusades and of the commercial growth of the petty independent states which sprang from the political confusion of Italy. No sooner had they achieved each their little autonomous existence than they threw themselves with feverish activity into the development of trade with the East. Florence and Venice, Pisa and Genoa, led the way and reaped the fruits; and it was in her most flourishing time, when she had conquered her rivals, Pisa and Siena, and was enjoying a prosperous peace and active trade, that Florence, at the instance of the chief of her merchants, resolved on the coining of the gold florin. The mere idea of such a gold coinage could only be derived from the East, from Byzantium. But it is a curious fact that the importation of it should be due in the first place to the Crusades. Frederick II of Italy was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1212. Sixteen years later he headed the Fifth Crusade, and the gold coin (Augustale) which he issued sometime between his return from that crusade and his death probably commemorates his wish to rival the appearance of opulence of the Eastern court. This Sicilian coin is the direct ancestor of the florin of Florence, and to it would fitly belong the honor of leading in a new era, were it not that the superior beauty gave it universal currency and reputation and extinguished the memory of its predecessor. Two conditions were essential to bringing about so momentous a revolution as this, however little the mind of contemporaries may have known it as such. In the first place, the foreign trade of the Italian republics must have become so extensive as to demand a currency medium of higher denomination than silver; and secondly, that trade must have developed in such directions as to tap gold-using I 1 Adapted from The History of Currency, pp. 1-14. (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1896.) or gold-bearing regions in order to supply the Italian mints. It is a curious fact that both these conditions were realized through the instrumentality of the Crusades. The quickening effect of these vast movements on the trade of the Mediterranean is well known, but their influence in the second direction has not hitherto been pointed out. In the Fourth Crusade Venice lent the force which captured Byzantium (1203), and when, by her arms, Baldwin, Count of Flanders, had been seated on the Eastern throne, Venice reaped her reward in three-eighths of the territories of the Eastern Empire. She received Peloponnesus and a chain of islands in the Aegean, and by the hold she had on Constantinople secured the virtual control of the Black Sea. In its turn the control of the Black Sea brought with it the monopoly of the overland trade with India. At one and the same moment, therefore, Venice acquired possession of a huge treasure of gold wrested from the conquered city, and of the then only gold-yielding districts-the Crimea and of an intercolonial trade, demanding a more enhanced currency medium. The result of such a combination of circumstances was irresistible. During the continuance of the "Latin Empire" at Byzantium, Venice and her sister-state were practically the only merchants of Europe. The characteristics of this early period are perfectly well defined, and repeat themselves with almost faithful and exact similarity of recurrence in the several states comprising the Europe of that date. In brief, such characteristics were those of (1) a period of commercial expanse, necessitating an increasing currency and advancing prices; (2) a period of stationary production of the precious metals, necessitating a struggle among the various states for the possession of those metals; (3) a period of endless change in the ratio between gold and silver, necessitating the continual revision of the rate of exchange. Broadly speaking, those characteristics fall into two classes, according as they relate to (1) the natural movement of prices, i.e., having regard merely to the supply of the precious metals; (2) to the unnatural struggle for the metals themselves-for the material for currency -due to international rivalry and bad or crafty legislation. With regard to the former of these, the period was distinctly one of insufficient and relatively diminishing production of the metals. During these two centuries, 1300-1500, the main sources of the derivation of gold were the Eastern trade and the finds on the eastern shores and northern interior of Africa. The chief supply of silver came from the mines in Germany. These latter in Hungary, Transylvania, Saxony, and Bohemia were of such importance and activity, in the fifteenth century and toward the time of the discovery of America, as partially to keep pace with the general trade expanse of the time, thereby helping to arrest a fall of prices that would have been absolutely disastrous to the civilization of Europe. 44. PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD SINCE THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA' From Annual Report of Director of the Mint, 1914, p. 268. |