The Cerro Rico of Bourbon Potosí

With the enlightened Bourbon reforms of the 18th century, which included the halving of the severance tax from a fifth to a tenth, creation of a savings bank, and mit’a or corvee labour reform, the Cerro Rico began a slow and extended recovery. A new mint opened in 1773, outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, and technical advice on mining and refining was sought all over Europe. Rationalisation of mining and refining entailed a new, less organic vision of the Cerro Rico, as revealed in this 1772 diagram purporting to ‘square the circles’ and get to the bottom of the mountain. The Bourbon reforms paid off, although at great human cost. Production soared into the 1790s as mit’a workers laboured much harder than in the past, their ore quotas set higher and higher, and the rate of mercury consumption in the refineries fouled more water and air than at any time since the late 16th century. New technologies and more punishing work regimes could not solve all problems, however, and as the Cerro Rico’s mines grew deeper, they grew ever more expensive to work, more prone to flooding, cave-ins and simply playing out.