Miners of the Red Mountain: Indian Labor in Potosí, 1545-1650

By Peter Bakewell and Peter J. Bakewell

Book Overview

Assumptions and speculation about the Spanish conquerors' treatment of the indigenous miners at Potis , Peru, have long obscured the complexity of the motives in mining there. Peter Bakewell's innovative study incorporates the Indians' viewpoint, finding that they were willing to work for the Spaniards. Many of them quickly combined their technical skills and individual initiative to become the first silver mining entrepreneurs of Potos . Although Indian entrepreneurship declined after the 1750s, a substantial portion of the native work force retained more control over its condition of labor and life than previously recognized.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826349005
• ISBN13: 9780826349002
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 229 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"