“There Is Silver in Potosí!”
BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN BOLIVIA
The year was 1545, just 12 years after Francisco Pizarro conquered the vast Inca Empire. The Spaniards discovered a young Indian surreptitiously extracting silver ore from a secret location in the Andes Mountains of what is now Bolivia. The place was called Potosí. Suddenly, the word was out: “There is silver in Potosí!” Despite the approaching winter, men rushed to establish claims in the area. The ore was unbelievably rich—50 percent pure silver! Within 18 months 14,000 people were living in Potosí.
THE ore deposit was on the side of a mountain that rises 15,380 feet [4,688 m] above sea level. It was a hostile place, almost devoid of vegetation, and well above the tree line. The ultrarich ore was smelted in portable ovens that made use of the wind to fan charcoal to the right temperature. A chronicler of the time described seeing 15,000 ovens operating at one time. At night they looked like a galaxy of stars.
The town at the foot of the mountain was built in chaos with narrow, winding streets to give some protection from the freezing winds. Historian R. C. Padden wrote: “There was neither planning nor regulation, largely, one suspects, because the silver was not expected to last.” But last it did. The mountain, called Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain), turned out to contain one of the largest silver deposits ever found.
Enslavement
The Spaniards endured formidable discomforts in their quest for silver. Often, the food was scarce, the water contaminated, and the mines dangerous. The freezing weather presented a serious problem. Those who tried to warm themselves with charcoal sometimes suffered carbon monoxide poisoning.
Soon the Spanish found a way to minimize their inconvenience. As conquerors, they forced the native Indians into slavery. The Bolivian Times of La Paz stated: “It is said that eight million Indian slaves were consumed,” died, in Potosí’s mines during the colonial period. Cruelty, overwork, and disease caused a horrendous depopulation. No wonder that in 1550 a chronicler called Potosí “the mouth of hell”!
Babylon
By 1572, Potosí was larger than any city in Spain. By 1611, it was said to have 160,000 inhabitants and to be the same size as Paris and London. It was also one of the world’s richest cities. The fashion was to wear silk trimmed with gold and silver lace. Any luxury, it seemed, could be bought for a price: silks from China, hats from England, hose from Naples, perfume from Arabia. Residents adorned their homes with carpets from Persia, furniture from Flanders, paintings from Italy, glass from Venice.
But Potosí was as violent as it was wealthy. Bloody brawls were a daily spectacle in the plazas. Gambling houses and brothels abounded. Potosí came to be known as Babylon.
One of the principal aims of the Spanish conquerors was to establish their Catholic religion in the Americas. How, though, did these professed Christians justify their large-scale profiting from slavery? While some churchmen spoke out against the injustices, others rationalized slavery by claiming that the tyranny of the Spanish was less than the tyranny of the Incas. They claimed that the Indians were inferior and naturally inclined to vice—hence, better off working in the mines. Still others claimed that bringing the Indians to work the mines was a necessary step in converting them to Catholicism.
History shows, however, that the clergymen were among the richest people in Potosí. Historian Mariano Baptista says: “The Church as an institution, and its representatives individually, formed a privileged part of the circle of exploitation” of the Indians. This historian quotes a viceroy who in 1591 complained that the clergy “suck the blood of the Indians with more greed and ambition than laymen.”
Squandered Treasure
Spain had been a poor country, but for a few decades, its riches made it the greatest power on earth. But such a privileged status did not last. Commenting on why its riches failed to give Spain lasting advantages, the book Imperial Spain—1469-1716, by J. H. Elliott, says: “The mines of Potosí brought to the country untold wealth; if money was short today, it would be abundant again tomorrow when the treasure fleet reached Seville. Why plan, why save, why work?”
Potosí’s treasure was squandered; the period was punctuated by royal bankruptcies. According to a saying of the time, the arrivals of treasure fleets were like light summer rains that wet the roof tiles for a moment and then evaporate. Appropriately, a 17th-century observer said of Spain’s decline: “It is not rich, because of all its riches.”
During the 18th century, Potosí declined as the silver ran out, but then it revived as tin became important. Now, tin is not as prominent, although Potosí is still an industrial center for manufacturing and mining. But many tourists visit Potosí to enjoy its colonial charm. They may also notice its highly ornate churches, many of them standing empty in testimony to the declining interest in Catholicism.
Today Potosí stands as a somber reminder of the immense human suffering caused by greed, political intrigue, and religious misguidedness, a reminder of a chapter in the history of Bolivia that started with the call: “There is silver in Potosí!”