Capitalism as it corrupts the volatile republics of South America, which were established with the demise of the Spanish Empire, forms the basis of a social criticism in Nostromo that encompasses a host of social concerns. Conrad's first extended venture into the political world, Nostromo captures a spirit of political upheaval and revolution. Conrad explores the effects of counterrevolution, national policy, political corruption, and armed insurgency on the lives of the wealthy hidalgos, the new economic imperialists, the workers and the poor, and the assorted Europeans caught up in the coastal town of Sulaco, famed for its San Tome silver mine in the Republic of Costaguana. The effects of progress in the shape of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, the reopening of the silver mine by Charles Gould against his late father's wishes, and the work-in-progress of the National Central Railway destined to link Sulaco with...