GO rD hIll
exPaNsION , e xPlOIT aTION ,
aND exTermINaTION
The formulative years of the colonization pro-
cess were directed towards exploiting the lands
and peoples to the fullest. To the Europeans, the
Americas were a vast, unspoiled area suitable
for economic expansion and exploitation.
The primary activity was the accumulation
of gold and silver, then a form of currency among
the European nations. This accumulation was first
accomplished through the crudest forms of theft
and plunder (i.e. Colombo’s and Cortes’ methods).
Eventually, more systematic forms were developed,
including the encomiendas—a form of taxation
imposed on Indigenous communities that had
been subjugated—and the use of Indigenous slaves
to pan the rivers and streams. By the mid-1500s,
the expropriation of gold and silver involved in-
tensive mining. Entire cities and towns developed
around the mines. Millions of Indigenous peoples
died working as slaves in the mines at Guanajuato
and Zacatecas in Mexico, and Potosi in Bolivia. By
the end of the 1500s, Potosi was one of the largest
cities in the world at 350,000 inhabitants. Peru was
also another area of intensive mining. From the
time of the arrival of the first European colonizers
until 1650, 180–200 tons of gold —from the Amer-
icas—was added to the European treasury. In to-
day’s terms, that gold would be worth $2.8 billion.^6
During the same period, eight million slaves died
in the Potosi mines alone.“I am
Smallpox... I
come from far
away...where
the great water
is and then far
beyond it. I am
a friend of the
Big Knives who
have brought
me; they are my
people.”
–Jamake Highwater,
Anpao: an Indian Odyssey- Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers, Ballantine Books, New York, 1988.