A Silver Bank: The Potosi's Renaissance and the heterogeneous world of its producers in the Eighteenth Century

TY - CHAP

T1 - A Silver Bank

T2 - The Potosi's Renaissance and the heterogeneous world of its producers in the Eighteenth Century

AU - Barragán R., Rossana

N1 - Verwachte verschijningsdatum 1e kwartaal 2023

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - A "Silver Bank" refers to the institution that purchased silver from the producers, but also, metaphorically, to the mountain of Potosí and its economic, social and political dynamics. The documentation of the Bank or related to it, constitute a privileged window to rethink the renaissance of mining in the 18th century.The Bank emerged in the context of the previous demands of the azogueros, the chartered companies and the early Bourbon reforms. It reveals the "renaissance" of Potosí but also the heterogeneous world of production. The Bank made visible diverse actors that otherwise would have gone largely unnoticed like. The article analyzes all of them although it privileges the small and medium-sized producers. The quantitative reports of silver sold to the Bank, the diverse accounts of the k'ajchas and trapiches (independent producers), visits to artisanal mills, reports from miners and stewards, and books of daily purchases allows an approach to them. Last, but not least, I propose to rethink in the reasons and causes of the recovery of Potosí in the eighteenth century, that need to be linked to the Bourbon policies and the drive of heterogeneous sectors.

AB - A "Silver Bank" refers to the institution that purchased silver from the producers, but also, metaphorically, to the mountain of Potosí and its economic, social and political dynamics. The documentation of the Bank or related to it, constitute a privileged window to rethink the renaissance of mining in the 18th century.The Bank emerged in the context of the previous demands of the azogueros, the chartered companies and the early Bourbon reforms. It reveals the "renaissance" of Potosí but also the heterogeneous world of production. The Bank made visible diverse actors that otherwise would have gone largely unnoticed like. The article analyzes all of them although it privileges the small and medium-sized producers. The quantitative reports of silver sold to the Bank, the diverse accounts of the k'ajchas and trapiches (independent producers), visits to artisanal mills, reports from miners and stewards, and books of daily purchases allows an approach to them. Last, but not least, I propose to rethink in the reasons and causes of the recovery of Potosí in the eighteenth century, that need to be linked to the Bourbon policies and the drive of heterogeneous sectors.

KW - History

KW - Mining

KW - Companies

KW - Labour

KW - Trade

KW - Empires

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-90-04-52867-3

SP - 314

EP - 356

BT - Potosi and the World (1550-1850)

PB - Brill, Leiden Boston

ER -