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The Environmental Dynamics of a Colonial Fuel-Rush: Silver Mining and Deforestation in New Spain, 1522 to 1810

This essay is part of a larger project that investigates the environmental effects of mining in Mexico. Although mining played a critical role in the economic, political, and social development of Spanish American colonies, and although it has consequently received extensive attention by historians, there exists no serious study of its environmental dimensions. The study establishes the overall rhythms and scales of fuel wood consumption—the main source of energy for silver smelting and refining—for mining districts located along the length of New Spain (Chihuahua to Taxco) from the beginning of colonial mining (1522) to the turn of the nineteenth century. It also details the more local environmental dynamics of mining, describing the practice of charcoal-making, its connection with emerging pastoralism and agriculture, and its social and ethnic dimensions.