Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History
Potosi Silver and the Birth of Global Capitalism
Episode 100 of The Rise of Colonialism turns to the mountain that reshaped the world: Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia. We trace how Spanish silver mining, powered by the forced mita labor system, flooded global markets and bankrolled the Spanish Empire for centuries. Lucas and Luna explore the human cost—indigenous Quechua and Aymara workers enduring brutal conditions in the 'mouth of hell'—and the environmental devastation from mercury amalgamation using cinnabar from Huancavelica. They connect the dots to the Manila Galleons that carried Mexican silver to China, sparking inflation…
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