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Which minerals (iron, coal, copper, etc.) are needed in the same country to make it sustainable (medieval age)?

For example: A country is made in the middle of a gigantic island (like a little continent). It's in the medieval age. Which minerals are needed for this country to survive?

Edit:
Exactly, my question is: What minerals are needed for a country to completely support medieval technology?
Age is around 1.000 whitout gunpowder-
Country = Kingdom, empire... The country doesn't need any trade to be sustainable.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ender, I don't know that we have a good answer for this. Humans existed for a long time without metal implements. To clarify are you asking what minerals are needed to sustain a stereotypical medieval country? $\endgroup$
    – James
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 21:02
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    $\begingroup$ @EnderLook Medieval is...really broad for this. Can you narrow the time period a bit? The year 400 is very different from the year 1400. A lot happened. Like, a lot. Gunpowder started to happen by the end of it and was part of warfare. $\endgroup$
    – Erin Thursby
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 21:18
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    $\begingroup$ You'd be surprised what trade can do for an economy. Look at Venice. There's nothing of value there. $\endgroup$
    – sphennings
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 21:36
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    $\begingroup$ You don't need to write "Edit" in front of everything you edit. People can look at the revision history to see what changed with each revision. Every question should read like it was written that way from the start. Just incorporate your edits into the rest of your post as if you were posting the question anew each time you edit it. $\endgroup$
    – Secespitus
    Commented Jun 22, 2017 at 6:08
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    $\begingroup$ It's not a problem to write "Edit", but it's unnecessary and your question looks better if you keep it as one consistent question instead of writing little bits of extra information at the end. $\endgroup$
    – Secespitus
    Commented Jun 22, 2017 at 14:44

1 Answer 1

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Very broadly speaking, to sustain a typical European typically medieval (think William the Conqueror) economy a country would need:

  • Lots and lots of wood. Mineral coal was not used much if at all; by "coal" most people in the Middle Ages understood charcoal. Wood was used both as a fuel and as the most common construction material.

  • Land suitable for agriculture and for animal husbandry.

  • Clay suitable for making ceramics (and of course bricks).

  • Stone suitable for use as a construction material.

  • Lime, with a multitude of uses.

Everything else can be obtained by trade; for example, Italy had a thriving economy by medieval standars although it is has essentially no iron, copper, tin, or silver. To reduce the dependence of trade a country would be fortunate to have:

  • Iron, copper, and tin ores.

  • Antimony and lead ores would be very nice to have.

  • Silver. Some gold would also be quite nice, but it's far from being essential.

  • Some natron (to make glass). Not essential because it was widely available in trade.

  • Salt (unless the country is situated on the sea shore in a warm climate).

Other minerals such as sal ammoniac, saltpeter, various pigments etc. were used in much smaller quantities and were usually obtained by trade.

To have a country not depend on trade at all it needs to be very large and posses a wide variety of minerals and climates; the Roman and the Chinese Empires come to mind, and even those did some cross-border trade. For example, the Romans imported silk and cotton from faraway China and India...

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  • $\begingroup$ Antimony? What you can made with that in medieval age? $\endgroup$
    – Ender Look
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 21:56
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    $\begingroup$ @EnderLook: Pewter. Quite popular. It is in the "nice to have" list. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 22:02
  • $\begingroup$ Interesting, great. (You have already my upvote). I don't give you the accept yet because accept should be used after 24 - 48 hs. $\endgroup$
    – Ender Look
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 22:12
  • $\begingroup$ This could go on and on because of "completely support". People liked to poison themselves with mercury, furthermore sulfur and even phosphorus minerals could be included. Petroleum was also pretty common, I wouldn't call it a mineral though, but it might fit your approach $\endgroup$
    – Raditz_35
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 22:12
  • $\begingroup$ @Raditz_35: The question says "no gunpowder", which makes sulphur non-essential. Mercury is of course nice to have, for example for mining gold... Petroleum was not used unless it happened to be readily available (and in that case it was used to grease axles or other such uses, not as fuel). $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jun 21, 2017 at 22:19

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