The Secret City of Spanish Silver: Potosí's Dark Heart

In this episode, Lucas and Luna descend into the Cerro Rico, the mountain that poured unimaginable wealth into the Spanish Empire. They explore the mita system of forced indigenous labor, the mercury amalgam process that refined silver, and the human cost that built Potosí into the world's largest city in the 17th century. Learn about the tocochimbos—enslaved African miners—and the ingenios that crushed ore day and night. Discover how Viceroy Francisco de Toledo formalized the mita, and how the silver from Potosí flowed through the Manila Galleon to China, reshaping global economies. This is a story of exploitation, innovation, and the dark underbelly of imperial grandeur. #Potosí #CerroRico #SpanishEmpire #SilverMining #Mita #ViceroyToledo #Tocochimbos #Ingenios #Huancavelica #MercuryAmalgam #ColonialPeru #IndigenousLabor #GlobalTrade #ManilaGalleon #Silver #Empire #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo