Cinnabar deposits were discovered
in the mountains of Peru in 1563/1564 by an indian servant of Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera. The
mercury mines of Huancavelica became the most
prolific source of mercury in Spanish America and were vital to
the mining operations of the Spanish colonial-era. Mercury was necessary
to extract silver and gold from the ores in Peru and what is now
Bolivia. Mercury consumption was the
basis for the Quinto Real tax levied on precious metals.
The extraction of the
cinnabar ore in tunnels was so difficult that the
life expectancy of miners was about three years. Spanish priests
held a daily Mass for the Dead for miners that had perished on
that day. Due to the need of numerous hand-workers and the high rate
of mortality, the Viceroy of Perů Francisco de Toledo reinstituted the pre-columbian mandatory service of the mita,
in which the indigenous peoples were conscripted and forced to work in
the mines. In 1648 the Viceroy
of Peru, declared that Potosí and Huancavelica were "the two pillars
that support this kingdom and that of Spain." Moreover, the viceroy
thought that Spain could, if necessary, dispense with the silver from
Potosí, but it could not do without the mercury from Huancavelica.
Records indicate over 8
million indigenous Incas died in the Spanish mining system in greater
Peru during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. (A System of
Geography, Popular and Scientific, by James Bell, Adrien Balbis
Published 1836, A. Fullarton and Co.)
The mines continued
to be worked through many stages of technical improvements until the
mid-1970's. Today Huancavelica is
the one of the poorest cities in Peru. It is the capital of the
Huancavelica region and has a population of approximately 40,000.
Indigenous peoples represent a major percentage of the population.
