Colonial Latin America was famed for the precious metals plundered by the conquistadores and the gold and silver extracted from its mines. Historians and economists have attempted to determine the amount of bullion produced and its impact on the colonies themselves and the emerging early-modern world economy. Using official tax and mintage records, this book provides decade-by-decade and often annual data on the amount of gold and silver officially refined and coined in the treasury and mint districts of Spanish and Portuguese America. It also places American bullion output within the context of global production and addresses the issue of contraband production and bullion smuggling. The book is thus an invaluable source for evaluating the rise of the early-modern economy.

The discovery of the New World was initially a cause for celebration. But the vast amounts of gold that Columbus and other explorers claimed from these lands altered Spanish society. The influx of such wealth contributed to the expansion of the Spanish empire, but also it raised doubts and insecurities about the meaning and function of money, the ideals of court and civility, and the structure of commerce and credit. New World Gold shows that, far from being a stabilizing force, the flow of gold from the Americas created anxieties among Spaniards and shaped a host of distinct behaviors, cultural practices, and intellectual pursuits on both sides of the Atlantic. Elvira Vilches examines economic treatises, stories of travel and conquest, moralist writings, fiction, poetry, and drama to reveal that New World gold ultimately became a problematic source of power that destabilized Spain’s sense of trust, truth, and worth. These cultural anxieties, she argues, rendered the discovery of gold paradoxically disastrous for Spanish society. Combining economic thought, social history, and literary theory in trans-Atlantic contexts, New World Gold unveils the dark side of Spain’s Golden Age.

"Throughout the ages, many things have been used as currency: livestock, grains, spices, shells, beads, and now paper. But only two things have ever been money: gold and silver. When paper money becomes too abundant, and thus loses its value, man always turns back to precious metals. During these times there is always an enormous wealth transfer, and it is within your power to transfer that wealth away from you or toward you." --Michael Maloney, precious metals investment expert and historian; founder and principal, Gold & Silver, Inc. The Advanced Guide to Investing Gold and Silver tells readers: The essential history of economic cycles that make gold and silver the ultimate monetary standard. How the U.S. government is driving inflation by diluting our money supply and weakening our purchasing power Why precious metals are one of the most profitable, easiest, and safest investments you can make Where, when, and how to invest your money and realize maximum returns, no matter what the economy's state Essential advice on avoiding the middleman and taking control of your financial destiny by making your investments directly.

We Americans are never taught anything about gold and silver through our education system. That's why many gold dealers are able to easily rip off unsuspecting buyers of gold and silver.Financial advisors and journalists aren't giving you the truth either, as to how gold and silver fit into a properly diversified portfolio. So naturally, people are looking for answers."Buy Gold and Silver Safely" provides those answers by explaining why gold and silver need to be a part of everyone's portfolio, and helping people learn about buying or selling gold and silver... the safe way.

Diversify your portfolio with gold and silver Investing and trading in gold and silver is always a sound idea—and that goes double in a time of unusual market fluctuation. As people look for safe places to diversify their investment risk, you’ll likely see the value of your investment go up where other stocks are vulnerable. Gold and silver saw increases in value of 16% and 15% respectively in 2019—putting them among the top ten most desirable commodities out there—and are projected to experience even more of a bear market as the dollar wobbles in an uncertain post-COVID world. This year, 2020, gold and silver are set up to have their best year of price appreciation over the past 40+ years. Written in an easy-to-follow, no-jargon style by CFP and bestselling author, Paul Mladjenovic, Investing in Gold & Silver For Dummies explains the different complex processes and vehicles for buying gold and silver. You’ll find out the best ways to add these to your portfolio, how to balance risk and reward, and how to adapt time-tested investing plans and strategies to your goals. Identify your goals and form a plan Buy gold and silver safely to diversify your portfolio Use ETFs and options to profit from market ups and downs Understand when a gold and silver investment is legitimate Use technical analysis to time your market entries Whatever your current familiarity with gold and silver, this book gives you the extra expert knowledge you need navigate your gold and silver investment portfolio safely through a bear or bull market.

Here is the long-forgotten story of Begum Hazrat Mahal, queen of Awadh and the soul of the Indian revolt against the British, brought to vivid life by a writer whose own story reads like a novel. Begum was an orphan and a poetess who captured the attentions of King Waiid Ali Shah of Awadh and became his fourth wife. As his wife, she incited and led a popular uprising that would eventually prove to be the first step toward Indian independence. Begum was the very incarnation of resistance: as chief of the army and the government in Lucknow, she fought battles on the field for two years; she was a freedom fighter, a misunderstood mother, and an illicit lover. A remarkable woman who risked everything only to face the greatest betrayal of all. Begum is a fitting subject for Keniz Mourad, whose mother was a Turkish princess and father an Indian Raj. When Mourad's mother moved to Paris in the company of a eunuch and died shortly after, the eunuch entrusted the child to the care of Catholic nuns. The nuns hid Mourad from her father, not wanting the child to be raised Muslim. Mourad only discovered her true identity and her parents' tragic fate in her twenties. Her story is the subject of an autobiographical novel, Regards from the Dead Princess, to be published by Europa in 2015.

From one of the world’s most respected authorities on precious metals investment—a thoroughly researched volume on the investment prospects for silver, the other gold. Gold, outperforming stocks for over a decade, has finally been recognized as a serious asset class to be included in any solid, diversified investment portfolio. Considering present inflationary concerns related to accelerating fiscal crises in Europe, the United States and likely Japan in the years ahead, gold is widely held in the largest professionally-managed portfolios in the world. But silver, which has been moving in the same direction as its sister metal for forty years—and actually outperforming gold over the last ten years—has yet to be taken seriously in the investment world. Widely perceived as an erratic, unpredictable metal best left to speculators, silver has been disdained primarily for its volatility. Taking the long view, as well as a hard look at silver’s investment demerits, Shayne McGuire examines current global financial conditions in order to provide a full and frank assessment of present and future opportunities for investors who may be considering buying silver. Silver is being rediscovered as a viable alternative to gold, and demand for the metal as an investment vehicle has risen sharply over the past few years Though more volatile than gold, silver is highly correlated with the more expensive metal and should continue moving in the same direction (as it has for thousands of years) Widely considered a precious metals expert within the institutional investor community and author of Hard Money: Taking Gold to a Higher Investment Level, McGuire manages a portfolio with over $850 million in precious metals investments While the investment literature is overflowing with books on how to invest in gold, this is the first serious book in decades offering expert insights, advice and guidance on investing in silver

The Average Americans Guide to Buying Gold and Silver takes the novice reader through the many different aspects of purchasing gold and silver, from arguments as to why to buy precious metals, to how and where to find the best deals, what forms of gold and silver are available, and what pitfalls to avoid. The book is written so that anyone interested in buying precious metals could quickly gain the knowledge needed in order to make an informed purchase.

Ignoring gold and silver this year will cost you more than all the dumb financial decisions you can make put together.Ruff's Little Book of Big Fortunes in Gold and Silver is not written for Wall Street, but for Main Street. It is a detailed guide to a once-in-a-lifetime chance for middle-class Americans to get rich investing in one of history's greatest bull markets. Ruff makes a usually arcane subject easy to understand, and even humorous. This bull market will dwarf even the 500% to 1700% profits his readers made in the metals in the 70s, and as usual, Ruff is out in front.As Yogi Berra said, It's d

Mineral wealth from the Americas underwrote and undergirded European colonization of the New World; American gold and silver enriched Spain, funded the slave trade, and spurred Spain's northern European competitors to become Atlantic powers. Building upon works that have narrated this global history of American mining in economic and labor terms, Mining Language is the first book-length study of the technical and scientific vocabularies that miners developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as they engaged with metallic materials. This language-centric focus enables Allison Bigelow to document the crucial intellectual contributions Indigenous and African miners made to the very engine of European colonialism. By carefully parsing the writings of well-known figures such as Cristobal Colon and Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes and lesser-known writers such Alvaro Alonso Barba, a Spanish priest who spent most of his life in the Andes, Bigelow uncovers the ways in which Indigenous and African metallurgists aided or resisted imperial mining endeavors, shaped critical scientific practices, and offered imaginative visions of metalwork. Her creative linguistic and visual analyses of archival fragments, images, and texts in languages as diverse as Spanish and Quechua also allow her to reconstruct the processes that led to the silencing of these voices in European print culture.