I considered the dim stains spreading the mine passage. They were from the blood of the llamas customarily relinquished to conciliate El Tio, the evil divinity who manages underground.
Coca juice desensitized my mouth and claustrophobia worried my stomach. My heart pounded with the effort at this elevation. What the fallen angel would i say i was doing here, somewhere down in the profundities of Cerro Rico (rich slope), the mountain that broods over Potosí in Bolivia?
The shocking riches underneath the surface of the cone-formed slope, called Sumac Orcko ("lovely slope") in the Quechua tongue, was found by Diego Gualpa, an Indian, in April, 1545. One story says he recognized silver when his llama scratched the earth.
On the off chance that Diego had known how much enduring his find was to convey to his kin in the previous kingdom of the Incas, he would without a doubt have stayed silent. Be that as it may, five rich veins were found near the surface, the mountain was renamed Cerro Rico and soon Potosí had 160,000 tenants, a bright blend of authorities, merchants, desperadoes, and moguls, in addition to no less than 800 expert speculators and 120 whores.
From its mines poured an expected 46,000 tons of silver, worth anything from US$5,000 million upwards in present day terms. It conveyed undreamed-of riches to a modest bunch of globe-trotters, decorated places of worship and royal residences, and helped pay for Spain's Great Armada and a progression of wars. It additionally conveyed wretchedness and passing to a huge number of Indians compelled to work subterranean.
In Potosí just the best was sufficient for the silver aristocrats. They contended in obscenity and prominent utilization. They sent their delicacy back to Paris to have it appropriately dry-cleaned while their women wore exquisite shoes with foot sole areas of strong silver.
Today the city, announced by UNESCO a World Heritage site, is remote and languid and conditions underground are still unsafely primitive, as I realized when a youthful understudy guided me through a portion of the 785 kilometers of passages honeycombing Cerro Rico. Minimal silver turns out nowadays for the most open veins are depleted.
Tin supplanted it in significance, making fortunes for a fortunate few. In any case, after the bottom fell out of the tin showcase in 1985, a large number of mineworkers lost their occupations and just a couple of mines battle on.
The fantasy of simple riches added to Spain's stagnation, ruining it for a considerable length of time. The wealth of the Indies were wasted - and that maybe is the retribution of Potosí.
The individuals who carted away its fortune were left with nothing either. But recollections of the silver surge, revered in a famous Spanish expression: "Vale un potosí! It's justified regardless of a lord's payment!"
Bolivial is the great country to explore. If you are looking
for the bus tickets for Bolivia, Please visit us at Bolivia buses.
No comments:
Post a Comment