Comme les esclaues fouillent & font fondre la mine. · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Comme les esclaues fouillent & font fondre la mine.
Period: 1550-1600;
Geographic: Villa Imperial de Potosí; Upper Peru; Bolivia; South America; Paris; France
Description: Enslaved Indigenous people work at a mine near the mountain Potosí (Thevet described the mountain as being on an island near Cuba but it was really a mining town in Upper Peru founded in 1545). Some of the Indigenous people mine the ore using hoes, then others carry it in baskets on their backs to a large kiln-like structure where the ore is smelted. A European man wielding a club supervises them and stands poised to swing the club. Large numbers of enslaved and indentured Africans and Indigenous South Americans died working in the silver mines of Potosí. Potosí is found in present-day Bolivia, where silver is still mined. This image is identical to one found on page 984 verso of Paris, 1575 (Chaudière).
Image Creator: Unknown (Woodcutter);Pierre l'Huillier (Printer); Unknown (Woodcutter); Pierre l'Huillier (Printer)
Type: StillImage; Woodcut
Identifier: mta:23527
Language: fre
Source Name: La Cosmographie Vniverselle d’André Thevet Cosmographe du Roy
Parent Collection: 1575 Huillier; 1575 Huillier
Image: mta_23527_OBJ.png
Collection: European Illustrations of Native Americans
Subject: Indigenous peoples – South America; Slavery; Silver mines and mining - Bolivia; Mines and mineral resources – Bolivia; Colonists; Smelting