La ingeniería militar al servicio de las minas de azogue de Almadén (1750-1765)
Almadén was a minor mine until the mid-16th century when Bartolomé de Medina applied the industrial process of amalgamation with mercury, known as the patio method, at the silver deposit in Pachuca (New Spain). From then on, the production of mercury from Almadén increased, except for the second hal...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha |
| Repositorio: | RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/41214 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doi.org/10.14198/rhm.26437 https://revistahistoriamoderna.ua.es/article/view/26437 https://hdl.handle.net/10578/41214 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 18th century Almadén Amalgamación Amalgamation Azogue Ingeniería militar Military Engineering Mining Technique Quicksier Siglo XVIII Técnica minera |
| Sumario: | Almadén was a minor mine until the mid-16th century when Bartolomé de Medina applied the industrial process of amalgamation with mercury, known as the patio method, at the silver deposit in Pachuca (New Spain). From then on, the production of mercury from Almadén increased, except for the second half of the 17th century, when there was a severe shortage of economic consignments for the mining establishment. In the second half of the 18th century, Almadén had transformed into a large mining establishment, the most important in the metropolitan territory, because without mercury there was no silver and New Spain was on its way to becoming the world’s leading producer of this metal. Therefore, in 1750, Superintendent Francisco Javier de Villegas informed the Marquis of Ensenada that he did not have real mining technicians. Ensenada agreed with Villegas and both he and his successor Arriaga ordered the search for the most capable men to solve the situation, who at that time were military engineers due to their mathematical knowledge and experience in tunnels and explosives. This article specifically analyzes the work carried out in Almadén by military engineers Francisco Nangle, Miguel Antonio de Escurrechea, Silvestre Abarca, and Jorge Juan between 1750 and 1765, and how their intervention helped to meet the growing demand for mercury from the silver mining of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. |
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