To date, the available sources and the state of research allow us to identify only two mining booms in the early modern period: one in British coal mining in the 18th and 19th centuries and another in silver and copper mining in Central and east-central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The water shortage that affected many mining regions after 1360 led to a noticeably growing shortage of silver and copper for coins, first in western and northern Europe, then also in southern and eastern Europe. This shortage impacted the Levant trade of the Italian maritime republics; begin…