| [00:00.30] |
|
| [00:00.40] |
Inspired by the legend of El Dorado, the realm of the gold-covered king. |
| [00:07.70] |
After defeating the Inca army at the Battle of Cajamarca, their quest began in earnest. |
| [00:15.65] |
At Potosi, in what is now Bolivia, the Spaniards struck it rich. |
| [00:21.32] |
They discovered the Cerro Rico, literally the Rich Hill. |
| [00:25.91] |
Towering nearly 16,000 feet above sea level, it was a money mountain. |
| [00:33.40] |
In their 250 years of Spanish rule, more than 2 billion ounces of silver were extracted from mines like this one,14,000 feet up in the Andes. |
| [00:45.65] |
What the Incas couldn't grasp was why the Europeans had such an insatiable lust for gold and silver. |
| [00:52.49] |
They couldn't understand that to Pizarro and the Conquistadores, silver was much more than just shiny metal, |
| [00:58.82] |
it could be made into money, a store of value, a unit of account, portable power. |
| [01:08.03] |
|
