Colonial Latin America was famed for the precious metals plundered by the conquistadores and the gold and silver extracted from its mines. Historians and econom

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 al

For most of the last three millennia, the world’s commercial centers have used one or another variant of a gold standard. It should be one of the best underst

In the year 1520 Hernando Cortez conquered the Aztec Empire and captured riches that filled the treasury of King Charles I of Spain to overflowing. Ships laden