1493_ Uncovering the New World Columbus Created - Charles C. Mann [254]
31 Indian metallurgy and smelters: Mann 2005:82–83 (and references therein); Acosta 1894:324–26; Cieza de Léon 1864:388–89 (chap. CIX).
32 Potosí population: Dressing 2007:39–41 (migration restriction); Chandler 1987:529 (list of American cities by population); Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 43 (more than fourteen thousand in 1546), vol. 3, 286 (160,000 in 1611); López de Velasco 1894:502 (1560s); Acarete du Biscay 1698:2–5 (restrictions); Anon. 1603:377–78; Baquíjano y Carrillo 1793:37–38 (160,000). Potosí’s only competitor was Mexico City, which in 1612 had about 145,000 inhabitants (Beltrán 1989:216). At this time, “Seville barely housed 45,000 residents; Paris, 60,000; London and Antwerp, 100,000; and Madrid, 6,000 souls” (Pacheco 1995:274). All these figures are debatable, but they give an idea of relative sizes.
33 Potosí opulence: Author’s visit (coat of arms); Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 250 (“strands of pearl”); Acarete du Biscay 1698:61 (silver paving); Quesada 1890:vol. 1, 178–80 (courtesans), vol. 2, 420 (bidding war). A single peach could cost one hundred pesos (Baquíjano y Carrillo 1793:38).
34 Dependence on imports: Cobb 1949:30–31; López de Velasco 1894:503; Acosta 1894:306; Anon. 1603:373.
35 Mercury amalgamation: Whitaker 1971 (“mountain of Potosí,” 105, note 21). My thanks to Bryan Coughlan for helping me with the chemistry.
36 Four thousand a week: Brown 2001:469–70 (Huancavelica); Cole 1985:12 (Potosí). The numbers fluctuated over time; I give typical numbers for the beginning of the program.
37 3–8 million deaths: E.g., Galeano 1997:39. The historian David Stannard (1993:89) wrote that the life span of a mine worker was “about the same as that of someone working at slave labor in the synthetic rubber manufacturing plant at Auschwitz.” The actual death rate, though still horrific, seems to have been much smaller (Cole 1985:26).
38 Huancavelica conditions: Brown 2001; Whitaker 1971; Lohmann Villena 1949. A fine summary is Reader 2009: 10–14.
39 Potosí schedule, conditions: Cole 1985:24–25; Acosta 1894:321–23; Acarete du Biscay 1698:50 (“After Six days constant work, the Conductor brings ’em [sic] back the Saturday following.” As the laborers staggered to bed, the Potosí governor “causes a review to be made of ’em, to make the owners of the Mines give ’em the Wages that are appointed ’em, and to see how many of ’em are dead, that the [native leaders] may be oblig’d to supply the number that is wanting”); Loaisa 1586:600–03 (“Saturday,” 602).
40 Violence in Potosí: Padden 1975:xxviii (bodies in walls); Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 192–93 (first birth); Quesada 1890:vol. 1, 387 (city council); Lodena, P. d. Letter to Audiencia de La Plata, 29 Apr. 1604. In Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 258 (tailors). See also, Valenzuela, J. P. d. 1595. Letter to Crown, 8 Apr. In Dressing 2007:38.
41 Montejo and Gudínez: Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 75–92 (all quotes, 75–76).
42 Basque dominance of Potosí: Dressing 2007:65–78, 104–06, 144–45 (Basque gangs as enforcers); Crespo 1956:32–39; Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 186, 249. According to Dressing (2007:128), eleven of the twenty-four members of the city council were Basques.
43 Martínez Pastrana’s audit: Dressing 2007:112–31 (council debtors, 128; corruption claims, 130–31); Crespo 1956:39–64 (“not Basque,” 39; salary, 48; royal order banning tax cheats, 49–54; council debtors, 50; revolt begins, 63–64).
44 Insurrection in Potosí: Dressing 2007:143–252 (Basque Spanish challenge, 146; saving Verasátegui, 151–53; Manrique’s Basque sympathies, fiancée, 164–65, 198–209, 248–49, 285–88; burning down home, 211; “arrogant manner,” 230; ransacking homes, 232); Crespo 1956:65 (“cuckolds,” 66; saving Verasátegui, 71–73; burning Manrique home, 97–99; riots, 109–12); Arzáns 1965:vol. 1, 328–407 (hands and tongue, 330; attempt to kill Manrique, 359–64; viceroy’s harsh position, 387–88).
45 Martínez Pastrana, Manrique leave: Dressing 2007:207, 248–49, 277; Crespo 1956:96, 132–33 (“the Basques,” 133), 156.
46 Lack of disruption