The Mita System: Inca Labor Under Spanish Rule

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Inca mita system — a traditional labor tax that the Spanish repurposed into a brutal engine of exploitation. They trace its origins under the Incas, where it built roads, terraces, and temples, and its transformation under Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, who institutionalized it to feed the Potosí silver mines. The episode covers the staggering human cost: Quechua and Aymara families torn apart by mandatory service, the toxic amalgamation process with mercury, and the ensuing demographic collapse. It also examines indigenous resistance, from flight to vacant lands to legal battles in the courts of Spain, and the system's long shadow into the colonial era. Keywords: Viceroy Toledo, Potosí, Huancavelica, mitayos, kurakas, reducciones, corregidores, mercury poisoning. #MitaSystem #IncaEmpire #Potosí #FranciscoDeToledo #Huancavelica #MercuryPoisoning #SpanishColonialism #IndigenousResistance #Quechua #Aymara #Kurakas #Reducciones #ColonialLabor #SilverMining #DemographicCollapse #Peru #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo