Silver: the heart of the Spanish empire in the Americas
Encomenderos to corregidores
Guamán Poma de Ayala, Nueva coronica y buen gobierno (ca. 1613) Black Legend as recorded by a Peruvian mestizo
Guamán Poma de Ayala’s “six ferocious animals”
“El encomendero y sus mujeres
“The corregidores in order to make themselves rich,
The corregidores considered themselves absolute lords
“The corregidores, the Judge, the Priests and the Spanish Lieutenants
Major silver strikes
1545: Cerro de Potosí, richest silver strike in the early modern world.
Potosí Royal Mint founded 1575
Registered yearly production: Potosí district 1550-1720 (metric tons silver)
Guayras: native silver smelters
Guayras in Cieza de León’s Crónica (1553)
Patio method of amalgamation (blending ore with mercury) at Potosí
Amalgamtion required water: dams and canals (east) central district (north) native residences (south, below cerro)
Upper Peru
Inside the red mountain worked only by yanaconas and mitayos
“The corregidores and Spanish judges cruelly, and without mercy
Double labor structure at Potosí--resembles mines of New Spain except more slaves in New Spain (10-15% of total force)
End
Email: rmccaa@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Home Page: http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/
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