Episode 241: Molly Warsh, Pearls & the Nature of the Spanish Empire

by Emily SneffJune 4, 2019

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In 1492, Christopher Columbus’ voyage across the Atlantic linked Europe, the Americas, and the Caribbean. As Columbus’ sponsor, Spain became the first European power to use the peoples, resources, and lands of the Americas and Caribbean as the basis for its Atlantic Empire.

How did this empire function and what wealth was Spain able to extract from these peoples and lands?

Molly Warsh, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and author of American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700, helps us investigate answers to these questions by showing us how Spain attempted to increase its wealth and govern its empire through its American and Caribbean pearl operations.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Molly Warsh, an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, helps us investigate how Spain attempted to increase its wealth and govern its Atlantic empire through its American and Caribbean pearl operations.

Using details from her book, American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire, 1492-1700, Molly reveals details about the instructions King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella gave to Christopher Columbus for his voyage; Information about pearls and Spain’s pearl harvesting operations in the Americas; And the different ways Spain sought to use pearls to impose order on its vast Atlantic empire and why those different regulatory measures ultimately failed.

What You’ll Discover

Christopher Columbus’ voyage to North America
The instructions the Spanish monarchy gave Columbus
The Spanish American pearl craze
How oysters make pearls
The labor of harvesting pearls in early America
The relationship between slavery and pearls
How indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans used pearls
Early American valuations of pearls
Pearls as money
Spanish regulation and taxation of pearls
Pearls and empire
Pearls as a commodity of trade
Spanish pearl harvesting along the California coast
Pearl fishing voyages
English pearl fishing in colonial Virginia
What pearls reveal about the early American past

Meet Ups

Pittsburgh Meet Up, June 15, 2:30pm

Links to People, Places, and Publications

Sponsor Links

Omohundro Institute
Save 40 percent off American Baroque (Use Promo Code 01BFW)

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if the European empires operating in the Atlantic World had found a way to successfully track and tax pearls? How would the history of the Atlantic World and of pearls be different?