Where did the Incas find all that Gold? - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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By Potemkin
#13061835
In the ground, Oxy. :roll:
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By Oxymoron
#13061931
There arent that many deposits there, from historians they supposedly got it from streams but the quantity doesnt jive with that.
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By Thunderhawk
#13062102
I am under the impression there were, and still are, sizable gold deposits. There was an article in Time a while back about gold miners in Peru (or its neighbour), which had a side comment about the natives of the region doing what their ancestors had done in the past - mine gold.
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By chuuzetsu
#13062174
I'm not sure if we can have the exact amount that was taken. There were quite a few ships, I believe, that did not make the voyage home. Plus, a lot of gold was piled up by the Incas because they did not use it as currency. I don't believe gold to them had the same sort of value as it did to the Europeans. The Incas just had the shit everywhere, because no one was really keeping it locked away for themselves.
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By Nets
#13062199
The amount of gold was sizable for the time, but I don't think it was enormous by today's standards. It was large enough to cause massive inflation back in Spain when it got dumped in the market. But remember that 50% of all gold ever mined has been mined in the last 50 years.
By Huntster
#13062262
Does anyone know the specific quantities of gold taken by the Spanish from the Inca?


Small shiploads.

I am aware it is sizable, my question is where was all that gold found?


Throughout the continent.
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By Anothroskon
#13062326
In fact most of the wealth plundered was in sivler not gold.The quantity of silver mined in South America between the 16th and 19th centuries was close to 100K metric tones. That is alot of silver btw. The story of Potosi is fairly typical. The Spanish of course come out looking like bloodthirsty imperialist scum, but then they were bloodthirsty imperialist scum so that's all right.
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By Potemkin
#13062417
For what purpose? Why did they have so much gold?

Gold is a soft metal which is easy to work with. Gold has an attractive appearance and takes a good polish, and can be spun out into thin filaments or beaten into paper-thin wafers. The Incas used it to make huge quantities of ornaments and jewelry.

I find it hard to believe they got it just in streams.

If they had been gathering it for generations, then it is entirely possible for them to have accumulated huge quantities of the stuff. In fact, it seems to have been so plentiful that it had little monetary value to them.
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By Oxymoron
#13062423
If they had been gathering it for generations, then it is entirely possible for them to have accumulated huge quantities of the stuff. In fact, it seems to have been so plentiful that it had little monetary value to them.


Well thats possible, but I dont buy it for a number of factors.

Why did the Incas try to hide it from the Conqistadors? If it was a simple decoration why the trouble for it? Obviously gold held some importance to the Incas aside it being pretty and easy to work with.
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By QatzelOk
#13062565
Oxymoron wrote:Obviously gold held some importance to the Incas ...

All mammals love gold. It's in our genes.
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By Potemkin
#13062575
"We have a sickness of the spirit which can only be cured with gold." - Hernan Cortez.
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By Miecznik
#13063028
Where did the Incas find all that Gold?

They got it where all gold comes from.
Found it a pot at end of rainbow.
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By QatzelOk
#13064719
I heard they had some Jewish connections.

I wonder if the Incas were always relating every story back to "the place of the Incas in the world."

Was every political gesture worldwide rated for its "anti-Incan" qualities?

Did Incas think they were - somehow - the better "half" of the entire earth?

Were they really this parochial and racist?
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By Potemkin
#13064734
Qatz what is the point of all these semi rants?

Jews are bad.... mm'kay? :)
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By QatzelOk
#13064790
Qatz what is the point of all these semi rants?


Jews are bad.... mm'kay? :)


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