Mining, the Andean perspective. Past and present of mining activities in the Andes

GIL MONTERO, RAQUEL

Obergurgl

Workshop; Global change in mountain environments: insights and challenges; 2011

Innsbruck Universität

Mining was one of the most important activities in the New World. It began, as did the history of indigenous labour in the Andes, almost immediately after the arrival of the Spaniards and their conquests in the early 1530s,  when they started to exploit old mining centres belonging to the former rulers, the Incas, and to look for new ones. In the Andes, the indigenous populations were the principal labour force because of their number and because silver mining, the most significant colonial economic activity in the region, took place in the arid upland territories they inhabited. Silver mining required a complex organization, and supplies of food, wood, salt, clothes, and other goods had to be brought in over vast distances. In this talk, I will speak briefly about three themes: water, population and migration in the history of mining in the Andes. History enables us to think on what is really new among old activities: I will go through some themes and questions made for the past that are still important for the present; questions on labour, supplies, market, know how, technology and the relationship between them.