In about 1200 B.C., the center of silver production shifted to Greece’s Laurium mines, where it continued to feed the region’s burgeoning empires. In about 100 A.D., Spain became the capital of silver production. The Spanish mines were the major supplier for the Roman Empire and an essential trading component along the Asian spice routes.
With the Moorish invasion of Spain, the practice of silver mining migrated to a broader range of countries, most of them in Central Europe. Several major silver mine discoveries occurred between 750 and 1200 A.D., including the Germany and Eastern Europe.
The 500-year period from 1000 and 1500 A.D. was one of significant growth thanks to an increased number of mines as well as improvements in production and technology.
However, no single event in the history of silver rivals the importance of the discovery of the New World in 1492. This momentous finding and the years that followed reinvented the role of silver throughout the world.