SWEAT OF THE SUN
In the mythical tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece — one of the earliest accounts of the acquisition of gold — Jason’s quest is seen as the first long-distance sea voyage ever undertaken. The production and journey of his ship, Argo, set a precedent, igniting the colonisation of the Black Sea and subsequent eras of colonial impulse with the precious element at their core. The Golden Fleece itself references a historic method of collecting gold, whereby the fibres of a ram’s coat were submerged within natural bodies of flowing water and would envelop gold flecks originating from upstream deposits. Like the gold dispersed within the sheep’s fleece, at the heart of every story are traces of truth, entagled within the web of mythology.
Over two millenia later, during the sixteenth Century, a number of notable Spanish conquistadors plundered and colonised the South Americas. During these early colonial expeditions, Francisco Pizarro violently looted Peru (the former name of South America) for its abundance of precious metal and resources, exploiting an Incan Empire that had already been weakened by civil war, and creating an influx of wealth to alleviate the ongoing economic difficulties in Spain and wider Europe.
At the Battle of Cajamarca, Pizarro ambushed and captured the Inca leader, Atahuallpa, who — to buy his liberty, offered Pizarro enough gold to fill the room within which he was kept prisoner, measuring 6.70 m (22 feet) long, 5.18 m (17 feet) wide and 2.4 m (8 feet) high.1
Precious metals held a religious significance to their empire, where gold was referred to as ‘the sweat of the sun’. Atahuallpa’s offer was therefore not simply one of financial status, but of considerable spiritual value. Pizarro initially accepted the terms, though soon reneged on their agreement. Atahuallpa was sentenced to death by immolation, though fearing his soul would not pass to the afterlife should he be burned, agreed to be baptised in return for a sentence reduction — of death by garrotte. He was renamed Francisco Atahuallpa before his execution.
Peru is now the sixth-largest producer of gold in the world and the largest producer in Latin America, delivering around 166 tonnes a year. Increasing by 400 percent in the past decade, mining has created an environment in which communities depend on ecologically devastating and unsustainable endeavours.2
1 Kim MacQuarrie. 2008. The Last Days Of The Incas. Simon and Schuster Paperbacks: USA.
2 World Gold Council. 2018. Gold Production by Country | Gold Production | Goldhub. [online] Available at: https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/historical-mine-production
fig 1. Francisco Pizarro, copper engraving, John Ogilby. Including previously unseen material on the English colonies,