Debt: The First 5000 Years - autonomous learning

AGE OF THE GREAT CAPITALIST EMPIRES 315
the thousands who died in the building of the capital city. Above all, he
insisted, were the uncountable numbers who died in the mines:
The eighth plague was the slaves whom the Spaniards made in
order to put them to work in the mines. At first those who were
already slaves of the Aztecs were taken; then those who had
given evidence of insubordination; finally all those who could
be caught. During the first years after the conquest, the slave
traffic flourished, and slaves often changed master. They produced
so many marks on their faces, in addition to the royal
brand, that they had their faces covered with letters, for they
bore the marks of all who had bought and sold them.
The ninth plague was the service in the mines, to which the
heavily laden Indians traveled sixty leagues or more to carry
provisions . . . When their food gave out they died, either at
the mines or on the road, for they had no money to buy food
and there was no one to give it to them. Some reached horne
in such a state that they died soon after. The bodies of those
Indians and of the slaves who died in the mines produced such
a stench that it caused a pestilence, especially at the mines of
Oaxaca. For half a league around these mines and along a great
part of the road one could scarcely avoid walking over dead
bodies or bones, and the flocks of birds and crows that carne
to fatten themselves upon the corpses were so numerous that
they darkened the sun."14
Similar scenes were reported in Peru, where whole regions were
depopulated by forced service in the mines, and Hispaniola, where the
indigenous population was eradicated entirelyY
When dealing with conquistadors, we are speaking not just of
simple greed, but greed raised to mythic proportions. This is, after all,
what they are best remembered for. They never seemed to get enough.
Even after the conquest of Tenochtitlan or Cuzco, and the acquisition
of hitherto-unimaginable riches, the conquerors almost invariably regrouped
and started off in search of more treasure.
Moralists throughout the ages have inveighed against the endlessness
of human greed, just as they have against our supposedly endless
lust for power. What history actually reveals, though, is that while
humans may be justly accused of having a proclivity to accuse others of
acting like conquistadors, few really act this way themselves. Even for
the most ambitious of us, our dreams are more like Sindbad's: to have
adventures, to acquire the means to settle down and live an enjoyable