Almadén: The Largest Mercury Deposit on Earth
Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
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Minas de Almadén
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300
XP
+100 Spain
= 400 total
1 day
Almadén: The Largest Mercury Deposit on Earth
300 + 100 XP
Almadén sits on the largest cinnabar reserves in the world, and they were being worked when Strabo, Vitruvius and Pliny wrote about them. The Arabic vocabulary still used in the mines — azogue for mercury, jabeca for the furnace, aludel for the pipe, and almadén itself, meaning the mine — records who ran them next. Mercury was essential to the silver refining that funded the Spanish empire, and the work was done substantially by convicts: the Real Cárcel de Forzados was built here in 1754, and penal labour detachments were still operating in the 1940s. UNESCO listed the mines in 2012 alongside Idrija in Slovenia.
Required Activities
1
of 6
Go underground into the workings and work out what mercury mining actually did to the people doing it
2
of 6
Learn the Arabic words still used here — azogue, jabeca, aludel — and what each one means
3
of 6
Work out the chain: mercury from here refined American silver, and American silver paid for the empire
4
of 6
Find out what the Real Cárcel de Forzados of 1754 was for and who was in it
5
of 6
Find out that penal labour detachments were still working here in the 1940s
6
of 6
Work out why UNESCO listed Almadén and Idrija together in 2012
Go underground into the workings and work out what mercury mining actually did to the people doing it
Learn the Arabic words still used here — azogue, jabeca, aludel — and what each one means
Work out the chain: mercury from here refined American silver, and American silver paid for the empire
Find out what the Real Cárcel de Forzados of 1754 was for and who was in it
Find out that penal labour detachments were still working here in the 1940s
Work out why UNESCO listed Almadén and Idrija together in 2012
Before you go
Underground tours are booked and capped. Mercury contamination is a real historical issue here — stay on the routes and follow the guides.
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About Castilla-La Mancha
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Spain country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Spain.
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