La extracción de azufre del volcán Popocatépetl

Abstract

In this paper we recount the historical process that shaped the sulfur mining industry from the crater of Popocatépetl volcano in the first years of the XX century. To provide a holistic view of the relationship between humans and the volcano, we refer briefly to the geological history of the mountain and pre-Hispanic trading routes and roads (which miners still used a thousand years later). We analyze the origins of the mining industry in the XVI century and its development through the colonial era, when vice royal authorities granted exploitation rights to particulars due to the importance of sulfur in the fabrication of gunpowder.