Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Mining enterprise
(943 words)

In the Ore Mountains, the mining fields were enlarged to overcome the 15th-century depression in the mining business; that required additional capital. To raise it, the number of mine shares was raised from 4 first to 32 and then to 128 (Gewerke). Thus a method of risk distribution was found that was suitable for mineral deposits; this separation of capital and labor radically altered the earlier form of shared mine ownership. Mining shares and their divisions became certificates traded by share traders. Thus operational management by shareholder…

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Westermann, Ekkehard, “Mining enterprise”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 29 September 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_024261>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20200128



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