Project Description

If you have heard Dr. Tiemann talk about his long-term research project in the economic history of California and the Pacific Basin, you’re probably aware that much of his analysis concerns the relationship between commerce and money. His general conclusion is that privileging money over commerce inverts the relationship between the two. Commerce, not money, is primary, and money arises in whatever form is available, or suitable, or simply convenient, to support it. What follows is a brief history, and economic analysis, of the voyages of Captain Robert Gray in the Columbia Rediviva. Gray was the first American sea captain to perform a circumnavigation. On his second voyage, he also became the first to bring a sailing ship into the estuary of the Columbia River, which he named for his ship.