1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910818791203321

Autore

Vilches Elvira

Titolo

New World gold : cultural anxiety and monetary disorder in early modern Spain / / Elvira Vilches

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago ; ; London, : University of Chicago Press, 2010

ISBN

1-282-58508-8

9786612585081

0-226-85619-4

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (375 p.)

Disciplina

330.946/04

Soggetti

Economics - Spain - History - 16th century

Economics - Spain - History - 17th century

Gold - Spain - History - 16th century

Gold - Spain - History - 17th century

Credit - Spain - History - 16th century

Credit - Spain - History - 17th century

Spain Economic conditions 16th century

Spain Economic conditions 17th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : money, credit, and value -- New world gold -- Selling the Indies : Columbus and the economy of the marvelous -- Gold : a problematic standard -- The new world of money -- Writing about debt -- The Indies, value, and wealth -- Conclusion : a remote and exotic geography.

Sommario/riassunto

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.