“experiment in global history by way of a luxury commodity” (2)

Colour of Paradise segues from Marcy Norton’s work of understanding that the Euro centric historical perspective is being adjusted through social scientists and historians willing to rework the landscape of global perspective. Lane’s geological perspective lays out a more in depth look at Latin America with a blast of a surprise of world trade connections for an equally surprising thesis that centers Asian consumption as the demand for geological gems and materials.

The commodity web for emeralds and silver overshadows our previous studies in cocaine, silver and Christian demands. A well balanced outlook of the web is displayed in the deep archival material and extensive bibliography exposed by Lane to extend his thesis of his “experiment in global history by way of a luxury commodity” (7). This difference is a worthwhile endeavor to connect Latin American history to more than Europe.

The Moghul , Islamic and Asian exchange centers as the cause of demand show more than a chain of commodities, rather this book with close attention clearly sets out a messy historical web of trade from the 1500’s to the present. The history of the “global gem trade migrated” (xi) with mercantile groups that catered to European ships and “land-based Asian traders” (xii) Silk road?

Against the sacred gift, and royal element of consumerism is the mineworkers in South America who have endured and died from hardships, horrible work conditions and natural disasters and diseases. Despite these conditions, workers at times, unlike other commodities we have studied manage to secret away and barter stones. (76-83). The demise of indigenous people is well substantiated by using Friede, and a close reading of mine and tax records that have survived, an example of Lane’s outstanding scholarship.

The complexity of commodity webs (89) with exchanges of slaves, other gems, as well as indigo, hides, tobacco and cocoa had some direct links to the larger picture drawn by Lane. Within this context the religious aspects of the Spanish Inquisition emerge in an economic perspective.

While the world shifts were slow, the “European states shifted almost daily in the 17th century” (117)  which led to “wild swing of supply and demand for all sorts of commodities” (118). This experimental perspective, along with the finding in 2000 that emeralds from Mughal empires were from the New World and his expansion to Afghanistan and the Pacific makes for a beautiful, well constructed history of a global commodity web.