Almadén,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, is a town and
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
in the
provinceIn addition to its Autonomous Communities, Spain is divided into fifty provinces.Formerly of greater importance, since the arrival of the autonomous community system the provinces have had fewer powers. They are still used as electoral districts, in postal addresses, phone codes, and as...
of
Ciudad RealCiudad Real is a province of central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo...
, within the
autonomous communityThe Autonomous Community is the first-level political division of the Kingdom of Spain, established in accordance with the Spanish Constitution...
of
Castile-La ManchaCastile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain.Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura...
. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 200 km south of
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
in the
Sierra MorenaThe Sierra Morena is a mountain range which stretches for 400 km East-West across southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south.Situated within the province of...
. The word Almadén is of Arab origin, meaning "the mine."
Originally a
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
(then Moorish) settlement, the town was captured in 1151 by Alfonso VII and given to the Knights of the
Order of CalatravaThe Order of Calatrava was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164.-Origins and Foundation:...
.
The
mercuryMercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80...
deposits of Almadén account for the largest quantity of liquid mercury metal produced in the world.
Almadén,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, is a town and
municipalityA municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a city, town, or village, or a small grouping of them. A municipality is typically governed by a mayor and a city council or municipal council.The notion of municipality...
in the
provinceIn addition to its Autonomous Communities, Spain is divided into fifty provinces.Formerly of greater importance, since the arrival of the autonomous community system the provinces have had fewer powers. They are still used as electoral districts, in postal addresses, phone codes, and as...
of
Ciudad RealCiudad Real is a province of central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo...
, within the
autonomous communityThe Autonomous Community is the first-level political division of the Kingdom of Spain, established in accordance with the Spanish Constitution...
of
Castile-La ManchaCastile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain.Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura...
. The town is located at 4° 49' W and 38° 46' N and is 589 meters above sea level. Almadén is approximately 200 km south of
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
in the
Sierra MorenaThe Sierra Morena is a mountain range which stretches for 400 km East-West across southern Spain, forming the border of the central plateau of Iberia, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the north and the Guadalquivir to the south.Situated within the province of...
. The word Almadén is of Arab origin, meaning "the mine."
Originally a
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
(then Moorish) settlement, the town was captured in 1151 by Alfonso VII and given to the Knights of the
Order of CalatravaThe Order of Calatrava was the first military order founded in Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bull confirming the Order of Calatrava as a Militia was given by Pope Alexander III on September 26, 1164.-Origins and Foundation:...
.
The
mercuryMercury , also called quicksilver or hydrargyrum , is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80...
deposits of Almadén account for the largest quantity of liquid mercury metal produced in the world. Approximately 250,000 metric tons of mercury have been produced there in the past 2,000 years.
Mining
Almadén is home to the world's greatest reserves of
cinnabarCinnabar, sometimes written cinnabarite, is a name applied to red mercury sulfide , or native vermillion, the common ore of mercury. The name comes from the Greek - "kinnabari" - used by Theophrastus, and was probably applied to several distinct substances. Other sources say the word comes from the...
, a mineral from which mercury is extracted. Cinnabar was first used for pigment by the Romans. Later, the mineral was used mostly in medicine and alchemy during the Arab domination of Spain.
The Fuggers of
AugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a College town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, two German bankers, administered the mines during the 16th and 17th centuries in return for loans to the Spanish government. Mercury became very valuable in the Americas in the mid 16th century due to the introduction of amalgamation, a process that uses mercury to extract the metals from gold and silver ore. The demand for mercury grew, and so did the town's importance as a center of mining and industry. Most of the mercury produced at this time was sent to
SevilleSeville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos or...
, then to the Americas.
The dangerous working conditions of the mines made it difficult for the Fuggers to find willing laborers. As the demand for mercury grew, the idea of convict labor was introduced.
Introduction of convict labor in mine
After the Fuggers failed to meet
production quotaA production quota is a goal for the production of a good. It is typically set by a government or an organization, and can be applied to an individual worker, firm, industry or country. Quotas can be set high to encourage production, or can be used to limit production to control the supply of goods...
s in 1566, the King of Spain agreed to send 30 prisoners to serve their sentences as laborers at Almadén. The number was increased to 40 in 1583. The prisoners, known as
forzados, were selected out of criminals waiting for transport to the galleys in the jail of
ToledoToledo is a municipality located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid. It is the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha...
. Those selected usually had limited sentences and good physical abilities. Murderers and capital criminals were rarely selected, as the galleys were considered a far harsher punishment than the mines of Almadén. This assumption would later prove false when the horrors of mercury poisoning were discovered.
The first group of
forzados arrived at Almadén at the end of February 1566.
Daily life at Almadén
A steady run of complaints to the king in the 1580s led to an investigation of convict living conditions at Almadén in 1593. The investigation was conducted by royal commissioner and famous author
Mateo AlemánMateo Alemán y de Enero was a Spanish novelist and writer.He graduated at Seville University in 1564, studied later at Salamanca and Alcalá, and from 1571 to 1588 held a post in the treasury; in 1594 he was arrested on suspicion of malversation, but was speedily released...
, and was based largely on convict interviews.
The mine at Almadén provided
forzados with acceptable living conditions. Each convict received daily rations of
meatMeat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys, or lungs...
,
breadBread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and possibly more ingredients. Doughs are usually baked in the Western world , but in some cuisines breads are steamed, fried, or baked on a hot skillet. It may be leavened or unleavened...
, and
wineWine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes...
. Each year, a
forzado was issued a
doubletDoublet may refer to:*Doublet , a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that was worn from the late 14th century to the mid 17th century*Doublet , an assembled gem composed in two sections, such as a garnet overlaying green glass...
, one pair of
breechesBreeches are an item of male clothing covering the body from the waist down, with separate coverings for each leg, usually stopping just below the knee, though in some cases reaching to the ankles.The breeches were normally closed and fastened about the leg, along its open seams at varied lengths,...
, stockings, two
shirtA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become in American English a catch-all term for almost any upper-body garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers....
s, one pairs of
shoeA shoe is an item of footwear evolved at first to protect the human foot and later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains more bones than any other single part of the body, and has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years in relation to vastly varied terrain and...
s, and a
hood-Places:In the United States:* Fort Hood, a US Army post near Killeen, Texas* Hood College, a liberal arts college in Frederick, Maryland* Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon** Mount Hood, Oregon, an unincorporated community named after the mountain...
. Medical care was available at the infirmary, and the mine even housed its own
apothecaryApothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist ....
.
Despite these good offerings, the danger of death or sickness from
mercury poisoningMercury poisoning is a disease caused by exposure to mercury or its compounds. Mercury is a heavy metal that occurs in several forms, all of which can produce toxic effects in high enough doses...
was always present. 24% of convicts at Almadén between 1566 and 1593 died before their release dates, most often because of mercury poisoning. Nearly all prisoners experienced discomfort due to mercury exposure. Common symptoms included severe pains in any part of the body, trembling limbs, and loss of sanity. Most of the men at the furnaces died from poisoning.
Forzados were also forced to bail water out of the mines. These men escaped the dangers of mercury exposure, but suffered exhaustion on a daily basis. A group of four men had to bail out 300 buckets of water without rest. Those that could not meet this quota were whipped. Sick prisoners were not exempt from this practice.
Death was common, and the convicts wished to provide a proper burial for each of the men that died at the mine. A religious confraternity was formed, conducted by a prior who was administrator of the mine for the Fuggers. The prior also chose devout convicts to serve as officials. Mass was held on Sundays and feast days, and non-attendance was punishable by fine.
Slave labor
North African slaves were purchased directly from slaveholders to work alongside the convicts. These slaves were often much cheaper than others on the market at the time, and by 1613, slaves outnumbered
forzados by a two-to-one ratio.
1645 to present
In 1645, the Fugger concession was cancelled and the mines were taken over by the state, to be managed by the royal government. All capital criminals were to be sent to Almadén by court order in 1749, but the mine simply couldn't accommodate all of them. The act was cancelled in 1751.
Two disastrous fires occurred in 1775 that were blamed on the
forzados.
Safer mining technology was introduced in the last quarter of the 18th century, and free laborers began to take interest in the mine again. By the end of the century, free workers had replaced most of the slave labor.
The penal establishment at Almadén was closed in 1801. In 1916, a special council was created to operate the mines, introducing new technology and safety improvements. A record production of 82,000 mercury flasks was reached in 1941, just after the
Spanish Civil WarThe Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña...
.
The price for mercury decreased from a peak of 571 US$ in 1965 to 121 US$ in 1976 making economic planning difficult.
In 1981, the Spanish government created the company Minas de Almadén y Arrayanes to operate the mine.
In 2000, the mines closed due to the fall of the price of mercury in the international market, caused by falling demand. However, Almadén still has one of the world's biggest reservoirs of mercury. A museum has been built, including visit to the mines (areas from 16th to 20th century).
See also
- Huancavelica
Huancavelica is a city 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...
, the other major source of mercury in the Spanish Empire
- The New Almaden
The New Almaden Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County, California, is the oldest and most productive quicksilver mine in the United States. The site was known to the Ohlone Indians for its cinnabar long before a Mexican settler discovered the ores in 1820. By the time they were identified as...
Quicksilver Mine in Santa Clara County, California
External links