american-holocaust

SEX, RACE AND HOLY WAR 215the little colony on the Panama isthmus, over vast desert plateaus towardsCalifornia, south to Colombia where gold mines were found by Quesada in1537, and above all, after 1532, to the new bonanza in Peru. Every townshipestablished by the Spaniards in Mexico, with the exception of Mexico Cityand perhaps Vera Cruz, lost most of its Spanish population within a fewyears of its foundation. 52During these years-and especially after the Incas' fabulous "silvermountain" of Potosi was discovered by the Spanish and converted, throughthe importation of forced Indian mine labor, into the most populous "city"in the entire Spanish empire-vast sums of wealth flowed back to Spainfrom the Americas. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, between1503 and 1505, Spain imported 445,266 ducats' worth of treasure fromthe New World; by 1536-40 that amount had increased more than tenfoldto 4,725,470 ducats; by 1571-75 it had more than tripled again to14,287,931 ducats; and by the end of the century, between 1596 and 1600,it had almost tripled again to 41,314,201 ducats-nearly 100 times whatit had been a century earlier. 53 But as quickly as those riches flowed backto Spain they also flowed out of Spain's primitive and dependent economyinto the pockets of the country's European creditors. As the century woreon this bad situation steadily deteriorated, exacerbated in large measureby the imperial vision-and the pauper's purse, once all the debts werepaid-of Charles V and his successor, Philip II.Within Spain, during the sixteenth century, tax increase followed upontax increase-at one point the tax load tripled in just two decades-in aneffort to sustain the empire's overextended growth, but still when Philiptook the Crown at mid-century he inherited a debt of 70,000,000 ducats.By the time his reign was ending two-thirds of the Crown's revenues wereearmarked for interest payments alone, and on a number of occasions Philipwas forced to convert short-term indebtedness to long-term debt becausehe simply was unable to pay his obligations. 54 Immanuel Wallerstein hasput it simply and well: "Spain was an empire," he writes, "when whatwas needed in the sixteenth century was a medium-size state." 55Much historiographical debate has taken place regarding the ultimatecentrality of New World gold and silver to Spain's economy in the sixteenthcentury, some scholars declaring it to have been much more importantthan others. What is beyond debate, however, is that Spain at thetime perceived the wealth of the Indies and the Americas as absolutelyessential to its economic health and pursued it with the cupidity of thecrudest and greediest conquistador.The conquistadors, meanwhile, were plying their lethal trade not onlyin the Americas. No doubt, that was where most Spanish soldiers wouldhave liked to be spending their time-especially after stories began circulatingin Spain of people like Gaspar de Espinosa, who was said to have