From silver to platinum: science and Hispanic sovereignty in the 18th century

Author(s)

Patricia dos Santos de Carvalho

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Franca. 2021-06-22.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Franca
• Defense date: 2021-06-11
• Advisor: Denise Aparecida Soares de Moura

Abstract

Platinum was a consecrated metal and handled by the La Tolita-Tumaco peoples, indigenous to America in the manufacture of masks and paraphernalia. Due to the rigidity of this metal, these people developed techniques such as embossing lamination, welding and assembly [joining and adjustment technique]. After the Europeans' contact with platinum through the Spanish Antonio de Ulloa in 1735 and the publication of the official announcement of this contact in 1748, Europe returned to the new metal and several scholars studied before a platinum to study it with the aim of achieving develop a method for the purification and handling of the metal. Many techniques have been developed and almost all converge on a common point: the use of methods created by the Native Americans. As European science incorporated this metal, it took advantage of the use of indigenous platinum handling technicians and translated its uses into an old regime society, as this research project understands, in view of the strong interest of Bourbon reforms in new metals, especially those found with gold and that contributed to its counterfeiting, as is the case with platinum. To achieve the proposed objectives, sources of two natures, written and of material culture, were researched, such as some images of masks and ornaments of the La TolitaTumaco peoples made in gold and platinum, as well as the works Relación histórico del viage a la América Meridional ... [1748], by Antonio de Ulloa; from Guillermo Bowles' Introduction to Natural History and Physical Geography of Spain [1775], by Guillermo Bowles, the letter Several articles on a new semimetal, called platinum [1750] by William Brownring, in addition to bibliographic sources that dealt with studies carried out by Pierre -François Chabaneau and Joseph Louis Proust, since the original works are not available online. From the group analysis of sources we can conclude about the American ethnographic weight in the development of mineralogy in the 18th century. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/03707-4 - From silver to platinum: Spanish science and sovereignty in the 8th century
• Grantee: Patricia dos Santos de Carvalho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master