The Evils of Silver

Potosi, a Bolivian town colonized by Spain, has one of the most depressing histories that I have heard of. The town´s 120,000 inhabitants live at over 13,000 feet in constantly cold weather, strong winds, and an overcast sky. The only reason why the town exists is because there happens to be a huge mountain filled with silver, zinc, and other precious elements close by.

When the Spanish discovered silver in 1546, the city swelled to a population of over 200,000 and became the largest city in the southern hemisphere. The Spanish, eager to collect as much silver as possible, enslaved the indigenous people. The locals were forced to work in the mines for up to four months without ever seeing fresh air. They were dying by the thousands from a combination of dangerous labor conditions, mercury poisoning in the silver processing, and asbestos and silicon poisoning in the mines. To replace the dying workforce, the Spanish began importing up to 2,000 African slaves annually in 1608. The method proved effective, and after 200 years of forced labor in the mines, the Spanish had extracted over 45,000 tones of pure silver.

Now, the local people have formed cooperatives to work together to extract valuable minerals from their mountain. Fortunately, they all work voluntarily and are no longer enslaved. However, the working conditions have barely changed in 500 years. Men start working as young as 13 or 14 years old, and they work for less than $180 a month. They work in temperatures up to 105 degrees and breathe asbestos and silicon dust. To filter the dust and supply energy, the miners stuff over 100 coca leaves (the plant that makes cocaine) into their mouth at a time. They also smoke a special type of cigarette to get the bad air out of their lungs. Apparently, neither of these methods is very effective, as few miners live to see their 50^th birthday.