Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas

Download or read book Mines of Silver and Gold in the Americas written by Peter Bakewell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-02-13 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume focuses on Latin America, since it was mainly there that Europeans (or their colonial descendants) actually engaged in mining in the 16th-19th centuries; elsewhere they traded metals mined by others. The principal metals produced, and in prodigious quantities, were silver, in the Spanish colonies, and gold, mainly in Brazil in the 18th century. These articles analyse the volume and pattern of production and the forms of labour found in mining. Particular attention is given to the technologies of extraction and refining, notably the adoption of the mercury amalgamation process: this had a major impact, driving down silver production costs; because the mercury mines were a royal monopoly, it also handed control to the Spanish crown.