ENGLISH

A History of Mining in Latin America : From the Colonial Era to the Present

By Brown , Kendall; Johnson , Lyman L.

Book information

Publisher
University of New Mexico Press
Year
2012
ISBN
9780826351074
LCC
HD9537.B53 B76 2012
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
13 MB (13272506 bytes)
Series
Diálogos Series
Pages
282\282
Topic
Business Management
Orientation
portrait
Paginated
yes
Scanned
no
Time added
2015-07-27 10:24:22
Mines and mineral resources Latin America History

Description

For twenty-five years, Kendall Brown studied Potosí, Spanish America's greatest silver producer and perhaps the world's most famous mining district. He read about the flood of silver that flowed from its Cerro Rico and learned of the toil of its miners. Potosí symbolized fabulous wealth and unbelievable suffering. New World bullion stimulated the formation of the first world economy but at the same time it had profound consequences for labor, as mine operators and refiners resorted to extreme forms of coercion to secure workers. In many cases the environment also suffered devastating harm. All of this occurred in the name of wealth for individual entrepreneurs, companies, and the ruling states. Yet the question remains of how much economic development mining managed to produce in Latin America and what were its social and ecological consequences. Brown's focus on the legendary mines at Potosí and comparison of its operations to those of other mines in Latin America is a well-written and accessible study that is the first to span the colonial era to the present. Part of the Diálogos Series of Latin American Studies

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