University of Vienna, September 25-26, 2025
Co-organized by the ERC SCARCE project and the FWF ESPRIT project “Mining the Earth, Roaming the Globe”
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 reinforcedpolitical 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 pre- modern 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 take place on Thursday 25th-Friday 26th September 2025 at the University of Vienna. We aim to discuss approximately 10 pre-circulated article-length papers over two days, exploring themes such as taxation, mining laws, labor regimes, and knowledge production from the 1300s to the 1700s, with the aim of fostering comparative analysis. Decisions regarding the publication of the papers in a special issue or an edited volume will be made after the workshop.
Further details are included in the attached CfP.