Mining was crucial for the development of nineteenth-century Peru. Silver mining in particular was a key to both the export sector and the creation of an internal market and national development. "The Bewitchment of Silver" is an inquiry into the impact of that mineral on a national economy in a country at the periphery of nineteenth-century capitalism.
Jose Deustua argues that developing countries must be understood in terms of achieving domestic development as well as in their role in generating foreign exchange and in linking themselves to the world economy. Focusing on various sectors...