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Begin New Search Topic Currency Author Christopher McKenna

1. Discounting Gold: Money and Banking in Gold Rush California

Author:
Jonathan Tiemann and Christopher McKenna
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxford Centre for Global History
Abstract:
Two momentous events early in 1848 completely and abruptly transformed California. On 24 January, James Marshall found gold in a millrace he was building for John Sutter at Coloma, on the South Fork of the American River. Nine days later, on 2 February, the United States and Mexico concluded the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending nearly two years of hostilities. Under the Treaty, Mexico ceded much of the present south-western United States to the US for monetary consideration. An American occupation government had ruled most of California since mid-1846, but neither the American military governor nor the earlier Mexican governors had held firm political control over the remote, sparsely populated territory. 1 Now, the problem was fully in the hands of the Americans.
Topic:
Economics, History, Monetary Policy, Capitalism, Currency, and Banking
Political Geography:
United States

2. Mansa Musa I of Mali: Gold, Salt, and Storytelling in Medieval West Africa

Author:
Christopher McKenna and Charlie Harris
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxford Centre for Global History
Abstract:
In 1312, the reigning emperor of Mali – Mansa Abubakari Keita II – sent 200 manned boats and 100 support boats containing supplies to sail until they found the edge of the Atlantic. After a long excursion, one boat returned. Its captain bore only a horror story about the whirlpool that had swallowed his comrades. Unimpressed (and perhaps obsessed) the emperor chose to make the expedition himself – this time with a retinue of 3,000 ships. He chose his deputy, Musa – a member of the court with no blood relation to the king – to act as ruler in his absence. The deliberate appointment, untainted by the hereditary rule that has produced so many poor monarchs, is likely a testament to the character and abilities of Musa.
Topic:
History, Natural Resources, Capitalism, Currency, Trade, and Atlantic World
Political Geography:
West Africa and Mali

3. The Birth Of The Modern Chinese Banking Industry: Ri Sheng Chang

Author:
Vivid Lam, Oenone Kubie, and Christopher McKenna
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxford Centre for Global History
Abstract:
Pingyao (平遥) is a remote place for a tourist attraction. Located in the centre of Shanxi province, it is some 380 miles from Beijing and further from Shanghai or Hong Kong where the tourists tend to congregate. Yet, despite the isolation, come they do to Pingyao. The nearest airport to Pingyao is in Tiayuan, over one hundred kilometres away, so most visitors arrive by coach or by train; along the poorly paved streets and past the decaying houses until they arrive in the middle of the city. Here the tourists disembark from their coaches and their trains and find themselves transported to the days of the Qing dynasty emperors, surrounded by imperial architecture. The tourists wander slowly towards West Street. This is the home of the most popular attraction: the headquarters of Ri Sheng Chang (日昇), a late Qing company which revolutionised Chinese banking, now a museum and an increasingly busy tourist attraction. This is the story of how it came to be and how the little city in a small province in China rose to prominence, became the financial centre of the world’s largest economy, fell to obscurity and, now, rises again.
Topic:
Tourism, Capitalism, Currency, Industry, and Banking
Political Geography:
China and Asia