What made Habsburg Spain Europe's most formidable war machine was money, or more accurately, credit: the ability to borrow huge sums to field armies and assemble navies. What gave Spain credit was in large part an early flood of silver from Potosi, the bonanza that came close on the heels of Atahualpa's treasure.
K. Lane, Potosi (2019), 49
Potosi produced more silver, according to official tax records, than all Mexico combined before 1650. In its first century, Potosi produced nearly half the world's silver. In the longer term, the amount of silver taxed between 1545 and 1810 ... constituted nearly 20 percent of all the known silver produced in the world across 265 years.
K. Lane, Potosi (2019), 8
