Review article

Silver routes in Europe at the beginning of new age and the Fuggers' mining-financial empires

Berislav Šebečić

Abstract

After the discovery of America, major imports of precious metals (gold and silver) and objects made of them caused a "silver fever" in Europe, so the exploitation of already discovered deposits of silver ore was accelerated, as well as the new explorations for the purpose of discovering new ones. Number of miners was considerably increased, so, for instance in the Schwaz region it reached 10,000. Large quantities of ore got dug out, and the obtained silver brought major profits making some families in Europe rich (Fuggers, Zrinski, etc.).

Keywords

silver; routes; mines; mining entrepreneurs; traders; rulers; Europe

Hrčak ID:

5022

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/5022

Publication date:

4.12.2002.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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