An interesting thread on the light side - the human cost of Spanish colonial coins

STLNATS

The human cost of silver mining in the "new world"



https://forums.collectors.c......4770&enterthread=y

techwriter

Yes, an interesting thread. There was some question about the 8 million lives lost; don't have a dog in that hunt but did a little research and found this:

"During colonial times an estimated eight million Inca slaves died in the process of the silver extraction. "

The complete article reference from a site called: culturalsurvival.org

PotosiMines link

worldcoinguy

I really do not think that you literally interpret this as 8 million died in the mines. The Spanish brutality of this era is well known and inarguable. I suspect that the number is the correct magnitude, but isn’t it more likely that the tremendous loss of life was also a direct result of the introduction of diseases from the New World that the indigenous population had no defenses against? I honestly do not see 8 million dying in the mine tunnels, but rather 8 million perishing as a result of new peoples in the region to extract, process, and transport ore and metals. The mine labor was undoubtedly slave labor, it was done under inhuman conditions, and casualty rates were high. However, casualties were also due to diseases p*****ed from family member to family member after being contracted in the exchange markets, arriving in the ports, and other influences beyond the mines alone. Just my 2 cents.

techwriter

worldcoinguy, it was not I who brought up the 8 million lives, I was only responding to that particular statistic, which I took with TWO grains of salt. Read the original thread from STLNATS post. I just thought I'd do a little research on the subject and posted a result of that search. Therefore, the 8 million lives stat cannot be attributed to me.



Edited to add: It's not my nature to enter into stat-filled and undocumented discussions, they become meaningless and sometimes people say/write things they later regret.

worldcoinguy

Originally posted by: techwriter

worldcoinguy, it was not I who brought up the 8 million lives, I was only responding to that particular statistic, which I took with TWO grains of salt. Read the original thread from STLNATS post. I just thought I'd do a little research on the subject and posted a result of that search. Therefore, the 8 million lives stat cannot be attributed to me.



Edited to add: It's not my nature to enter into stat-filled and undocumented discussions, they become meaningless and sometimes people say/write things they later regret.

Understood......I didn't intend to poke at you. No dog in the hunt here either.