Mina - History Lab

List of the subjects destined for mining in New Spain and the Kingdom of Santa Fe, including their families and servants

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:30 +0000

In 1788, Manuel González Guiral, President of the Casa de Contratación, the institution in charge of organising commercial expeditions to America, approved the sending of different people to the mines of New Spain and the Kingdom of Santa Fe. Among them was Fausto Elhuyar, brother of Juan José Elhuyar and Director of Mines in Mexico, who travelled with his wife and a servant. Several well-known German mineralogists travelled with him, such as Alcance y contenido:Destined for New Spain- Fausto de Elhuyar, Director of the Royal body of mines of Mexico, with his wife, Juana de Raab, and their servants: Magdalena Kummer, Rosalía, free Black and Johann Knisrch.- Frederick Sonnenschmidt, Franz Fischer, Ludwig Lindner and Carlos Weinhold.

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File of information and passenger licence to the Indies of Juan José de Elhúyar

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:30 +0000

Juan José de Elhuyar, a Spanish scientist born in Logroño, was, together with his brother Fausto de Elhuyar, the first to isolate tungsten. They were both granted a scholarship by the Spanish monarchy to study at different European universities. In 1784, he was sent to Santa Fe de Bogotá to work in the mines of Mariquita. This document contains a dossier of information and a passenger licence to the Indies from Juan José de Elhúyar, commissioner for the promotion of the mines of the New Kingdom of Granada, to Cartagena de Indias, with the following people: Angel Díaz, commissioner; Francisco Llamas, servant, born in Socuéllamos, son of Pablo and Isabel Poveda; Antonio Pastrana, servant, born in Buenos Aires, son of Julián and Agustina Jibaja.

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The castle of Alicante and its fortifications in 1709

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:25 +0000

When the allied army took control of Alicante in the midst of the War of the Spanish Succession, they found weak and poorly planned fortifications that they had to carry out major works to improve. The priority was to repair the breaches that the British fleet had caused in its previous attack, and so it was.
A year later, when the French recaptured the town in 1708, they returned to work on the city’s defences, while devising a novel tactic to take control of the castle. The strategy was to build a mine to gain access from the base of the hillside to the castle at the top of the rocky mountain.
March 3, 1709 was the day chosen to detonate the mine, causing a huge explosion and killing 54 English soldiers stationed at the castle. Contrary to what the French commanders thought, the explosion made access to the castle even more difficult, as the extensive damage to the hillside continued to prevent upward entry.
It was not until 18 April that the capitulations were signed, with the English garrison leaving the castle with great military honours, which they would receive two days later, after more than a month under siege and managing the little water they had.

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