[ExI] the Spanish today

[Lee Corbin]

Damien B. writes

>>"And why weren't my people there first?", asked Angelo, quite
>>conscious that every place from Florida to Tierra Del Fuego to
>>the Phillipines had been explored and colonized by Spain.
>>
>>"Because, Angelo", said I, "there wasn't any gold there!", to
>>which he gave a hearty laugh.
> 
> Bad luck, bum steer. The place was loaded with so much of the stuff 
> that the gold rushes of Australia are legendary,
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_gold_rushes
> 
> e.g. "1872 - Worlds largest ever gold nugget was discovered by 
> Bernhard Otto Holterman."
> 
> and paid for the wonderful buildings of Victoria. And brought a lot 
> of Chinese miners, and market gardeners, to Oz. Bad luck, Spaniards!

Yeah, they didn't know about California, Nevada, or Alaska either.

And in all these other places, it would have taken some real
work to get the gold out. Not that the conquistadors would ever
dream of getting their fingernails dirty, but the absence of a large
population that could either discover the gold for them or be
enslaved to dig it out for them forbade Spanish exploitation.

Lee