How much gold and silver did Spain take from South America?

Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge That’s quite a pre-nup. Between 1500 and 1650, the Spanish imported 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver from the New World. In today’s money, that much gold would be worth nearly $4 billion, and the silver would be worth over $7 billion.

How much silver did Spain take from the New World?

According to Hamilton, a total of 16,887 tons of silver were imported from the colonies into Spain.

Where did most of the Spanish silver come from?

After they conquered America in the 16th century, the Spanish exploited the considerable silver resources of Peru and Mexico. Every year, nearly 300 tons of silver were extracted from New World mines. The result was an intensive production of silver coinage minted in Peru or in Mexico.

How much gold did the Incas have?

The Spanish, fearful of Atahualpa’s generals, murdered him anyway in 1533. By then, a staggering fortune had been brought right to the feet of the greedy conquistadors. When it was melted down and counted, there were over 13,000 pounds of 22 karat gold and twice that much silver.

What percentage of the world’s silver did the Spanish mines produce?

So Spanish mines in the Americas produced over 150,000 tons of silver between the 16th and the 18th centuries, over 80\% of the world’s supply.

How much Incan gold and silver is melted down by the Spanish?

What happened to the gold Spain took from America?

Originally Answered: what happened to all the gold that Spain mined from the New World? Spaniards used the gold to buy goods and services from England, France, and the Low Countries. Spaniards ended up with stacks of dry goods, other countries ended up with the gold, factories, and skills.

How did the Spaniards get their gold?

Almost overnight, Spain became very rich taking home unprecedented quantities of gold and silver. These were stolen from the Incas and the mines that the Spanish came to control. The gold was used by the Spanish monarchy to pay off its debts and also to fund its ‘religious’ wars.

Which mine produced more than 80 of all the Spanish silver?

For more than 300 years the Spanish empire was fueled with silver mined in Potosí’s Cerro Rico, or “rich hill,” home to one of the largest veins of silver ore in the New World. The mountain, supposedly discovered by a llama herder in 1545, was estimated to be 80\% silver.