The Cornish in Latin America

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Significant numbers of Cornish miners arrived from 1824-5 to work in Latin American mines that lay derelict, abandoned and flooded due to the Wars of Emancipation raging across the continent. Backed by large amounts of British capital some mines were rehabilitated and once more became successful enterprises. In several mining regions of Latin America, such as Fresnillo and Pachuca-Real del Monte in Mexico, the signs of a Cornish industrial landscape complete with masonry engine houses with integral chimneys, betray the involvement of the Cornish in bringing the industrial revolution to those shores. 

But far less tangible evidence for their intimate connection with the Latin American mining industry exists on countless mine maps and plans, the workings often described in typically Cornish terms. For not only did the Cornish bring with them new working practices such as the tribute system, but a vast new mining terminology, some of it derived from the Cornish language. This was added and blended to a rich Ibero-American technical vocabulary resulting in a global mining language. Some of the most common terms and phrases are given; Ibero-American terms are in italics.
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DemasíaUnclaimed space between mines is known as demasía; simliar to Demasías.
DemasíasUnclaimed or unappropriated ground; simliar to Demasía.
Denuncio or DenunciaciónThe denunciation of a mine, the formal proclamation that a mine has not been worked for more than 4 months. If the court of mines of the area considers that the denunciación is valid, the title of the mine is awarded to the denouncer who has then to work it to retain ownership.
Derrumbe or DerrumbamientoA mine cave-in.
DesagüeDrainage channels.
DescostradoresMen employed in taking down any fragment that may remain after blasting.
DescubridoraThe first mine to be discovered on a lode, or on a new vein.
DesmonteThe gangue or waste rock surrounding the vein which is removed to expose it; a clearing.
DespensaA store room for tools, or a secure room for storing ore.
DespuebleTo abandon a mine.
DiallerAn underground surveyor.
DressersCleaners of the ore.
DrillA machine invented for boring blasting holes using steam and later compressed air.
DrivingCutting and blasting horizontally.
DryA room fitted with steam pipes where the miners' underground clothes were dried.

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