銀山
The economy of the viceroyalty of Peru largely depended on the export of silver. The huge amounts of silver exported from the viceroyalty of Peru and Mexico deeply affected Europe, where some scholars believe it caused the so-called price revolution. Silver mining was carried out using contract and free wage labourers, as well as the mita system of unfree labour, a system inherited from pre-Hispanic times. Silver production peaked in 1610.