Teach The Age Of Discovery With Coins

Everyone who has been to school has, at somedebasement aggravated by the growth of long
point, learned about the Age of Discovery. It'sdistance trade. Coins sailed away in Dutch trading
been a favorite of high school history teachersships to the East, never to return. Coinage was
from time immemorial (probably back to the Agestretched to the limit. The desire to trade spurred
of... Discovery.)a need for money - for finding new deposits of
On its face, the study of what happened insilver and gold to mine.
Europe in the 15th to 17th centuries may seem aIt was the Spanish who provided the most of the
dry and daunting task.solution. The greatest infusion of circulating coin
It needn't be.came from 15th century Spanish discoveries in
Teachers, one way to put some "juice" into thisthe New World, which happened as a byproduct
topic would be to consult one of your in-houseof Spain's search for a shorter trading route to
coin collectors. If you are lucky enough to haveAsia.
any budding numismatists in your classes, askAnd this suggests another coin-assisted way to
them for a report on the role of coinage in thepresent the Age of Discovery... sunken treasure
Age of Discovery.coins.
Now realize that beginning coin collectors mayMany of us have been fascinated with stories of
know nothing more about this topic than anyonelost treasure, especially in recent years as
else in class, but when they realize the importancetechnology for undersea archeology and treasure
of coins to this subject they often perk up.salvage has developed. (Collectors of US coins
In case you don't know, here are the basics:often become aware of treasure coins when
The Middle Ages in Europe were on the wane asthey learn more about the coinage of the colonies
the earliest travelers returned from the Far East- most of which was Spanish silver.)
(think, Marco Polo) with odd and curiousThe classic treasure tale involves a early Spanish
brick-a-brack, and... spices. Spices became valued,or Dutch vessel, sunk in a storm with all hands,
and enthusiasm for them grew as Europeansloaded to the gunwales with coins of silver and
learned to liven up their cooking by using them.gold. Some of the largest finds have been from
Equally compelling was how spices could extendships that sailed during the latter years of the
the life of food that was, shall we say, past itsAge of Discovery. The long risky voyages of the
prime. This was perhaps an early application of"plate fleets", moving silver and gold coins from
"perception is reality" thinking.the Americas to Europe, and then on trading ships
The spice trade was also an early spur tofrom Europe to the Far East, are well
post-medieval European economies. To trade withdocumented in the records of the early marine
the Far East, where the spices came from,insurance firms.
required money. Money, in those days, was coins.Holding in your hands a rough silver Spanish
To this day, there is an abiding fondness in theAmerican 8 reale coin from the Mexico City mint,
East for precious metals, especially silver.struck in the 1600s and lost in a howling hurricane
But Europeans had few coins to trade with otheroff the Florida coast will tend to bring history to
than the small, silver, hammer struck pennies solife. Likewise a large Dutch "silver rider" coin made
prevalent in the Middle Ages. Medieval coinage hadfrom Spanish silver, lost on an unlucky merchant
trended downward in weight and purity, aship will have an equally colorful tale to tell.