On the basis of an examination of the colonial mercury and silver production processes and related labor systems, Mercury, Mining, and Empire explores the effects of mercury pollution in colonial Huancavelica, Peru, and Potosí, in present-day Bolivia. The book presents a multifaceted and interwoven tale of what colonial exploitation of indigenous peoples and resources left in its wake. It is a socio-ecological history that explores the toxic interrelationships between mercury and silver production, urban environments, and the people who lived and worked in them. Nicholas A. Robins tells the story of how native peoples in the region were conscripted into the noxious ranks of foot soldiers of proto-globalism, and how their fate, and that of their communities, was—and still is—chained to it.

Potosí, a mining center in what is now Bolivia, was the most productive source of silver in the Spanish American Empire between the mid-1500's and the late seventeenth century. Much of this success was attributable, at least initially, to the mita, a system of draft Indian labor instituted by Viceroy Francisco do Toledo in 1573 for the working of the silver mines and refineries. Bitter debate swirled around the mita during most of its 250-year history. It was assailed by its enemies as a form of servitude worse than slavery and accused of depopulating the provinces subject to it, yet it was supported by many, however reluctantly, who believed that the Spanish Empire depended on Potosí silver for its survival. The author traces the evolution of the mita from its inception to the end of the Hapsburg epoch in 1700. The primary focus is on the metamorphosis of the mita under the pressures of changing production realities at Potosí and demographic developments in the provinces from which the Indians were drafted. The author describes the role of native headmen (kurakas) in the system, the means used by Indians to evade service, and the efforts of the mining guild to tailor the mita to its needs. The secondary focus is on the Hapsburg government's administration of the mita, especially those factors that prevented the Crown or its viceroys from being fully effective.

An indispensable reference work for anyone interested in Latin America's economic development.

"For anyone who wants to learn about the rise and decline of Potosí as a city . . . Lane’s book is the ideal place to begin."—The New York Review of Books In 1545, a native Andean prospector hit pay dirt on a desolate red mountain in highland Bolivia. There followed the world's greatest silver bonanza, making the Cerro Rico or "Rich Hill" and the Imperial Villa of Potosí instant legends, famous from Istanbul to Beijing. The Cerro Rico alone provided over half of the world's silver for a century, and even in decline, it remained the single richest source on earth. Potosí is the first interpretive history of the fabled mining city’s rise and fall. It tells the story of global economic transformation and the environmental and social impact of rampant colonial exploitation from Potosí’s startling emergence in the sixteenth century to its collapse in the nineteenth. Throughout, Kris Lane’s invigorating narrative offers rare details of this thriving city and its promise of prosperity. A new world of native workers, market women, African slaves, and other ordinary residents who lived alongside the elite merchants, refinery owners, wealthy widows, and crown officials, emerge in lively, riveting stories from the original sources. An engrossing depiction of excess and devastation, Potosí reveals the relentless human tradition in boom times and bust.

Explanation of the success and failure of the Roman economy is one of the most important problems in economic history. As an economic system capable of sustaining high production and consumption levels, it was unparalleled until the early modern period. This volume focuses on how the institutional structure of the Roman Empire affected economic performance both positively and negatively. An international range of contributors offers a variety of approaches that together enhance our understanding of how different ownership rights and various modes of organization and exploitation facilitated or prevented the use of land and natural resources in the production process. Relying on a large array of resources - literary, legal, epigraphic, papyrological, numismatic, and archaeological - chapters address key questions regarding the foundations of the Roman Empire's economic system. Questions of growth, concentration and legal status of property (private, public, or imperial), the role of the state, content and limitations of rights of ownership, water rights and management, exploitation of indigenous populations, and many more receive new and original analyses that make this book a significant step forward to understanding what made the economic achievements of the Roman empire possible.