The Imperial City of Potosí: An unwritten chapter in the history of Spanish America

70 Pages·1956·2.316 MB·English

by  Lewis Hanke (auth.)

THE IMPERIAL CITY OF POTosf
THE IMPERIAL CITY OF
,
POTOSI
An unwritten chapter in the history
of Spanish America
by
LEWIS HANKE
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
THE HAGUE
MARTINUS NIJHOFF
1956
Copyright 1956 by Martinus Nijlwff, The Hague, Netherlands.
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form.
ISBN 978-94-011-8682-7 ISBN 978-94-011-9489-1 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-94-011-9489-1
For
Jody
On Her Sixteenth Birthday
TABLE OF CONTENTS
POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREME 1
THE DEARTH OF PRINTED HISTORIES OF POTOSI. 7
MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL AVAILABLE 11
THE. HISTORIAN CONFRONTING POTOSI TODAY 14
PROBLEMS IN THE HISTORY OF POTOSI. 17
a. Pre-history . 17
b. Silver production and population statistics 18
c. Technological development 20
d. Indian labor 24
e. Mining laws. 27
f. Commerce . 28
g. "Pretensiones" of the City of Potosi. 30
h. Literature and learning 32
1. Potosi, crucible of America 33
TENTATIVE INTERPRETATIONS. 36
NOTES 43
57
INDEX
POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREMEl
No city in all the vast territory of America won for the
King of Spain-save perhaps Mexico City-has had a more
interesting or more important history than Potosi, located
in the Viceroyalty of Peru. The colorful story of this great
mountain of silver began when the Inca Emperor Huayna
Capac started digging almost a century before the Spaniards
arrived. He was halted-so legend has it- by a terrible
noise and a mysterious voice which commanded, in the
Quechua Indian language: "Take no silver from this hill.
I t is destined for other owners." The conquistadores heard no
2
such prohibitory voice in 1545 when they were told of the
rich silver ore by Indians who had accidentally discovered
it, and indeed, if they had, would doubtless have considered
themselves the rightful owners. They immediately began to
develop Potosi, which was to become one of the most famous
mines in the history of the world.
Treasure seekers flocked from Spain and many other parts
of the world to this bleak and uninviting spot high up in the
Andes, to exploit the silver in the Cerro, or sugar-loaf moun
tain, which rises majestically over the plateau to a height of
almost 16,000 feet above sea level. The first census, taken
by Viceroy Francisco de Toledo about twenty-five years after
the news of the lode first burst upon the world, showed the
unbelievable total of 120,000 inhabitants. By 1650 the popu
lation had risen- we are told-to 160,000, and Potosi was
incomparably the largest city in South America. At a time
when Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Colony were
puling infant colonies, unsure of their next harvest, Potosi
had produced such quantities of silver that its very name
had become so common a symbol for untold wealth that
Don Quijote quoted it to Sancho Panza.3 Vale un Potosi, the
Spaniards expressed it. The phrase "as rich as Potosi" became
current in English literature as well, for within a generation
1
POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREME
of its discovery the astronomical quantities of silver mined
there had become known to Spain's enemies and to others
in far corners of the world. Potosi was soon marked on maps
by the Portuguese, always the vigilant rivals of Spain, and
even on the Chinese world map of Father Ricci, where it
was placed in its correct position and called Mount Pei-tu
hsi.4
The flush times of Potosi lasted for almost two centuries,
and during this period the Imperial City (as it was officially
designated by the Emperor Charles V) developed a wealthy
and disorderly society. The vice, the piety, the crimes, the
fiestas of these Potosinos, all were on a vast scale. In 1556, for
example, eleven years after the founding of the city, the
inhabitants celebrated the accession of Philip II to the throne
of Spain with a party which lasted twenty-four days and
cost eight million pesos. In 1577 three million pesos were
spent on water works, an improvement which ushered in a
period of even greater prosperity. By the end of the sixteenth
century, miners in search of recreation could choose among
the fourteen dance halls, the thirty-six gambling houses, and
the one theater, the price of admission to which ranged from
forty to fifty pesos.5 Later, one of the governors organized a
"grandiosa fiesta," to celebrate an ecclesiastical event, which
included the establishment in one plaza of a circus "with as
many different kinds of animals as in Noah's Ark, as well as
fountains simultaneously spouting wine, water, and the
native drink chicha."6 The seventeenth-century ecclesiastical
chronicler Antonio de la Calancha declared: "In Potosi the
signs of Libra and Venus predominate, and thus most of
those who live there incline to be covetous, friends of music
and festivities, zealous in the pursuit of riches, and somewhat
given to venery."7 The scanty literature now available
emphasizes about equally the carnal pleasures obtainable in
2
POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREME
the silver-rich mining camp, and the curious, awe-inSpIring,
and stupendous events of its uproarious history. Our knowl
edge of Potosi may be said to be still in the folklore stage.
For many years Potosi was boom town supreme and full
of turbulence. Treachery, assassination, and civil war flourish
ed as the natural result of the gambling, the intrigues, the
antagonism between Peninsular Spaniards and American
born Creoles, and the rivalries for the favor of women.
Fighting became a pastime, a recognized social activity.
Even the members of the town council came to their meetings
armed with swords and pistols, and wearing coats of mail.
The Dominican friar Rodrigo de Loaysa described the
"accursed hill of Potosi" as a sink ofiniquity,8 but the Viceroy
Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza declared that the mine was
the nervio principal en aquel reina, "the principal support of that
realm."9
At one time, in the early part of the seventeenth century,
there were some 700 or 800 professional gamblers in the city
and 120 prostitutes, among them the redoubtable courtesan
Dona Clara, whose wealth and beauty, the chroniclers assure
us, were unrivalled. The most extravagant woman in Potosi,
she was able to fill her home with the luxuries of Europe and
the Orient, for her salon was frequented by the richest
miners, who competed enthusiastically for her favors. Vaga
bonds abounded, and royal officials indignantly reported
that these ne'er-do-wells did nothing but dress extravagantly
and eat and drink to excess. So high were the stakes that one
Juan Fernandez dared to start a revolution in 1583, by which
he hoped to make himself king of Potosi. He and his brothers
planned to seize the city and, "despite the fact that he was a
married man, Fernandez had selected a widow, Maria Al
varez, to share the throne of his kingdom-to-be." The govern
ment learned of this plot and captured Fernandez before his
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POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREME
revolution could erupt, but this was not the last time that
the wealth of Potosi engendered a fever of boundless hope
and all-consuming desire among the bold spirits attracted to
that cold and windy city. A thick volume could be compiled
on the plots that were hatched. One was the conspiracy led
by Gonzalo Luis de Cabrera and the relator of the Audiencia
de La Plata named Juan Diaz Ortiz. They caused royal
officials much trouble in 1599 because they tried to smuggle
in hundreds of Englishmen through the port of Buenos Aires
to help them with their plans to take over PotosUO
When other mines were discovered, particularly after 1640,
production began to slacken at Potosi. It continued to decline
steadily throughout the eighteenth century, despite frantic
efforts to improve the methods by which the silver was
exploited, and at last the glory departed. The War for Inde
pendence was a decisive influence in the final decline of
Potosi under Spanish rule. During this agitated period the
Indians practically stopped working in the mine, and it was
difficult to obtain materials needed for its operation. Up to
1816 Potosi was lost and won by the opposing forces three
times. After 1816 Upper Peru was wholly occupied by royal
ist forces despatched by the Viceroy in Lima, and continuous
guerrilla warfare was the rule.
By the time Simon Bolivar reached Potosi on October 5,
1825, the city had shrunk to a shadow of its former splendor.
Potosi, however, was mindful of its traditions and outdid
itself in preparing a flamboyant welcome of the type relished
by the Liberator. Thousands of Indians were assembled in
their colorful costumes to welcome him on the outskirts, as
he moved toward Potosi under a series of triumphal arches
about which gaudily beplumed Indians performed a sort
of ballet. As he approached the grand triumphal arch in the
center of the city, two children dressed as angels were let
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POTOSI: BOOM TOWN SUPREME
down from the arch and each pronounced a short oration.
During the seven weeks Bolivar remained in Potosi, he
was the object of many more orations. In one day he gave
"elegant and appropriate ex tempore replies" on seventeen
different occasions, and his days and nights were filled with
bull-fights, formal dinners, balls, fireworks, illuminations,
and "other signs of public rejoicing." On October 26, he
ascended the Cerro, or mountain, itself, accompanied by
General Jose Antonio Sucre "and all the persons of distinc
tion in Potosi." One of this company in the climb up the
desolate slopes of the Cerro was his old mentor Simon Rodri
guez, one of the most fantastic figures in the history of educa
tion in Latin America. It was to Rodriguez that Bolivar had
solemnly sworn in 1805 on the Monte Sacro in Rome that
he would dedicate his life to the liberation of his country.
N ow at last Potosi, one of the last centers of royalist powers
in America, had fallen and the Liberator may well have
considered this final triumph a fulfillment of the vow taken
years before in Rome. The symbolic ascent of the Cerro was
made at the end of the winter season, when raw winds still
whip around the top of the mountain and glacial tempera
tures are the rule, but the ceremony was carried out with
pomp and oratory. As described by General William Miller,
that picturesque British veteran of the Peruvian Wars of
Independence who at the time was Prefect of Potosi, the
spectacular affair included a "sort of collation at the summit"
and "patriotic toasts were drunk." With the flags of the
11
newly liberated Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Peru flying
in the breeze, Bolivar declaimed: "We come victorious from
the Atlantic coast. In fifteen years of continuous and terrific
strife, we have destroyed the edifice that tyranny erected
during three centuries of usurpation and uninterrupted
violence .... Standing here on this silver mountain of Potosi,
5