Introduction : gold in world history -- Primitive times and the ancient world -- Some observations on the middle ages -- The conjuncture and price movements, 1450-1500 -- African gold and Genoese-Iberian discoveries -- Portugal, Spain and the gold trade -- The Spanish discovery of Caribbean gold -- The conjuncture of 1450-1530 -- The beginnings of the price revolution -- THe price revolution and the channels of trade -- Bullion and Portuguese commerce -- The gold and silver of the Americas -- Innovations in the New World -- Potosí -- Huancavelica and the distribution of American silver -- Gold and silver in Castile -- The Spanish debate on precious metals -- The price revolution in France -- French monetary theory -- The price revolution in Italy -- Bullion in the European and colonial economies, 1500-1800 -- The monetary role of the Bank of Amsterdam -- The establishment of the Bank of England -- English expansion and Brazilian gold -- Monetary stabilisation and economic change in Spain -- From Colbert to law -- The 18th century conjuncture -- Bullion and the ancien regime -- Banking and credit in France, 1726-1790 -- Banking and credit in England, 1726-1790 -- Mexican silver and the European conjuncture -- Money in the French Revolution -- Monetary problems in England, 1797-1819 -- The 19th century conjuncture -- The relationship between prices and the output of gold -- In search of a global but not one-sided explanation.