Political Economies of Mining in the Early Modern World

Description

Mining played a vital role in premodern economies. The extraction, transformation, and exchange of precious metals – such as silver, gold, and copper – not only established global economic networks but also reinforced political power. Whether viewed from the perspective of territorial rulers, merchant elites, or miners, mining had the capacity to strengthen fiscal control, drive commercial exchange, and upend local economies. While the significance of mining is indisputable, the processes and mechanisms that made it so central to the political economy of diverse regions remain less explored. This workshop aims to move beyond assessments of the impact of silver and gold on monetary policies to examine the institutions, ideas, and practices associated with the extraction of mineral resources across the premodern world. We aim to connect scholars whose expertise spans mining regions that have rarely been considered together in the context of early modern political and economic transformations through comparative and thematic approaches. To achieve this, the workshop will bring together specialists of major mining regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, focusing on the late medieval and early modern periods.

The workshop will also engage local archivists and museum curators who will contribute to a roundtable discussion in the concluding session. We aim to integrate their expertise in managing large collections of mining objects and archives in Central Europe to explore new approaches to writing histories of political economy based on these collections. To encourage collaboration, this workshop will be held just after another international conference hosted by one of Central Europe's largest mining archives, the Slovak Mining Archives in Banská Štiavnica (Slovakia), on September 10-11, on the topic of “Mining and Migration.” For further details please contact Peter Konečný of the Slovenian Mining Archive ([email protected] https://www.minv.sk/?sba). The ERBE Symposuim on Cultural Heritage in Geosciences, Mining and Metallurgy, taking place in Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia on September 22nd – 27th may also be of interest: https://www.erbe-symposium.org/

The workshop is co-organized by Gabriele Marcon and Claire Sabel, as a collaboration between FWF-ESPRIT project “Mining the Earth, Roaming the Globe” (PI: Gabriele Marcon) and ERC project SCARCE (PI: Sebastian Felten).

Period	25 Sept 2025 → 26 Sept 2025
Event type	Seminar/Workshop
Location	Vienna, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International