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That'd be pretty cool, but I don't think this is something Cornell would do unless the book ever became a massive seller -- in short, ain't happening haha.
Hi, by any chance did early american colonists used the "real de a ocho" the coin used in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico)? And i'm talking about the coins made in Mexico City
Is it true that an eighth of a coin was called a bit? I was told a quarter used to be called "2 bits" and that's why an incompetent person is called a "2 bit" (for example, a 2 bit mechanic or 2 bit lawyer).
Yes! A "bitt" or "bit" was a Spanish real. The Spanish real was 1/8 the size of a Spanish dollar, also known as the piece-of-eight. The piece-of-eight (or Spanish dollar) was called such because it contained the silver content of eight reals. Thus, a single real (or bit) was 1/8 of a dollar.
Professor Barth: You said that the colonies imported a large number of Spanish dollars from the sugar islands through trade. Where did the sugar islands get the Spanish dollars from? Also, were the sugar islands Spanish territories?
Hey Ed, great question. The Caribbean islands attracted silver coin from the Spanish via three sources: [1] privateering/piracy; [2] the slave trade; [3] the trade of manufactured goods. The first source, privateering, is self-explanatory. The second, the slave trade, was a major source of income. Spain did not have any forts or trading stations off the coast of West Africa, so the Spanish had to purchase their slaves from the English. The Royal African Company (a British company) exported slaves across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Then, from the Caribbean, slaves were exported to Spanish America in exchange for coin (the Spanish then used slave labor in the mines). The third source, the trade in manufactured goods, was also very significant. British merchants stationed in Port Royal, Jamaica routinely sold English-made manufactured goods (textiles, furniture, wrought iron, etc) to Spanish America for coin.
As for the last question, all four of the major Atlantic powers possessed sugar islands in the Caribbean. The French, English, Spanish, and Dutch. Jamaica started out as a Spanish colony, but Cromwell seized it in 1655. Cuba remained Spanish until the 1890s. The French had a number of very valuable islands (Martinique, Saint-Domingue, and others); the Dutch had St. Eustatius.
@@ProfessorBarth Thank you very much for your reply, Prof. Barth. Does this mean that the Spanish silver dollars were minted in Central and South America and then, through trade, many of them ended up in the Thirteen British Colonies? If so, do you know where in the Americas these Spanish dollars were minted?
Yes sir. There was a mint in Mexico City and another mint in Lima, Peru. In the 1640s a major scandal erupted when it was discovered that the mint in Peru was secretly issuing debased silver dollars. After the discovery, merchants had to distinguish in trade between Mexican pieces of eight and Peruvian pieces of eight.
