Discovery of the Zacatecas silver mines

Name: Discovery of the Zacatecas silver mines
Start: 1546
End: 1548

Type Event Region Americas Time 1546–1548

In September 1546 the Basque Juan de Tolosa confirmed silver ore at Cerro de la Bufa in northern New Spain, and in January 1548 the city was formally…

Timeline

1546Cerro de la Bufa · ZacatecasThe Basque Juan de Tolosa led a small party to Cerro de la Bufa, north of the present city site. After the Zacateco people showed silver-bearing ore, he confirmed the source and gathered miners to resume extraction. This event pushed Spanish expansion from the central valleys to the northern edge of the Gran Chichimeca, opening Mexico's silver boom.
1548–1550Zacatecas mining town · ZacatecasTolosa, Cristóbal de Oñate, Diego de Ibarra and Baltasar de Bañuelos formally established the mining town. Prospectors and indigenous laborers from the south poured in, the silver road ran to Mexico City, and Zacatecas soon became one of the wealthiest mining towns in New Spain.

Sources

Silver Mining and Society in Colonial Mexico: Zacatecas, 1546–1700 — P. J. Bakewell (1971) https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/silver-mining-and-society-in-colonial-mexico-zacatecas-15461700/discovery-and-settlement/79792AF46EA28B456991FD7CA541170F
The History of Zacatecas: From La Gran Chichimeca to a Silver-Based Economy — John P. Schmal https://www.indigenousmexico.org/articles/the-history-of-zacatecas-from-indigenous-territory-to-a-silver-based-economy