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Home > Research and Projects > Glossary of Cornish and Latin American Mining Terms |
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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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