What is it about?
This article concerns the global trade in copper ore in the mid-nineteenth century. It demonstrates how the coal-fired smelting methods adopted in the British Isles had global ramifications. Because of the demand for copper ore in Britain, the British Industrial Revolution impacted upon some unexpected places: Chile, Cuba, South Australia, Namaqualand in South Africa, and Andalucia.
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Why is it important?
This is an exercise in global history that addresses some of the key paradigms deployed in that area in recent years: Pomeranz's concept of the 'Great Divergence', for example, or James Belich's notion of the 'Settler Revolution'.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A world of copper: globalizing the Industrial Revolution, 1830–70, Journal of Global History, February 2015, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s1740022814000345.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Copper Ore: An Unlikely Global Commodity
Here's a short accompanying piece in the online journal 'Commodity Histories'.
El Cobre: Cuban Ore and the Globalization of Swansea Copper, 1830-1870
This is a detailed examination of El Cobre, Cuba, one of the major nodes of the World of Copper. The full text appears in Welsh History Review, 27: 1 (2014), 112-31
World of Welsh Copper
This website, run from Swansea University, offers a range of content on Welsh copper and the modern regeneration of the Lower Swansea Valley, once the world centre of copper production.
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
