Learn about medieval weapons


 

Teach The Age Of Discovery With Coins

Everyone who has been to school has, at someweight and purity, a debasement aggravated by
point, learned about the Age of Discovery.the growth of long distance trade. Coins
It's been a favorite of high school historysailed away in Dutch trading ships to the
teachers from time immemorial (probably backEast, never to return. Coinage was stretched
to  the  Age  of...  Discovery.)to the limit. The desire to trade spurred 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
a  dry  and  daunting  task.It was the Spanish who provided the most of
the solution. The greatest infusion of
It  needn't  be.circulating coin came from 15th century
Spanish discoveries in the New World, which
Teachers, one way to put some "juice" intohappened as a byproduct of Spain's search for
this topic would be to consult one of youra  shorter  trading  route  to  Asia.
in-house coin collectors. If you are lucky
enough to have any budding numismatists inAnd this suggests another coin-assisted way
your classes, ask them for a report on theto present the Age of Discovery... sunken
role  of  coinage  in  the  Age of Discovery.treasure  coins.
Now realize that beginning coin collectorsMany of us have been fascinated with stories
may know nothing more about this topic thanof lost treasure, especially in recent years
anyone else in class, but when they realizeas technology for undersea archeology and
the importance of coins to this subject theytreasure salvage has developed. (Collectors
often  perk  up.of US coins often become aware of treasure
coins when they learn more about the coinage
In  case you don't know, here are the basics:of the colonies - most of which was Spanish
silver.)
The Middle Ages in Europe were on the wane as
the earliest travelers returned from the FarThe classic treasure tale involves a early
East (think, Marco Polo) with odd and curiousSpanish or Dutch vessel, sunk in a storm with
brick-a-brack, and... spices. Spices becameall hands, loaded to the gunwales with coins
valued, and enthusiasm for them grew asof silver and gold. Some of the largest finds
Europeans learned to liven up their cookinghave been from ships that sailed during the
by using them. Equally compelling was howlatter years of the Age of Discovery. The
spices could extend the life of food thatlong risky voyages of the "plate fleets",
was, shall we say, past its prime. This wasmoving silver and gold coins from the
perhaps an early application of "perceptionAmericas to Europe, and then on trading ships
is  reality"  thinking.from Europe to the Far East, are well
documented in the records of the early marine
The spice trade was also an early spur toinsurance  firms.
post-medieval European economies. To trade
with the Far East, where the spices cameHolding in your hands a rough silver Spanish
from, required money. Money, in those days,American 8 reale coin from the Mexico City
was coins. To this day, there is an abidingmint, struck in the 1600s and lost in a
fondness in the East for precious metals,howling hurricane off the Florida coast will
especially  silver.tend to bring history to life. Likewise a
large Dutch "silver rider" coin made from
But Europeans had few coins to trade withSpanish silver, lost on an unlucky merchant
other than the small, silver, hammer struckship will have an equally colorful tale to
pennies so prevalent in the Middle Ages.tell.
Medieval coinage had trended downward in



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