The First Opium War
What is the connection between the sale of opium to China and the British investments in Huelva? Early 19th Century (leading up to the war): The British East India Company significantly increases its illegal opium exports from…
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The East India Company
What happens when a state outsources imperial expansion to a private company? It has been said that the British mining companies like Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company and the Rio Tinto Company Limited created semi-colonies in Huelva.…
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Queen Victoria’s Birthday
What has Queen Victoria’s birthday got to do with Huelva copper mines? May 24, 1837: This date marked a crucial milestone: Princess Alexandrina (known as ‘Drina’ to close family) Victoria of Kent celebrated her 18th birthday. This…
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Women and Children in the Huelva Mines
It’s hard, if not impossible, to understand the past from and in the past and not from and in the present. What was considered acceptable or normal in the past may not be so in our present.…
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A Beginner’s Guide to Investing in the Huelva Pyrite Mines in the 1870s: Part 1—The Prospectus
WOULD YOU HAVE INVESTED IN A HUELVA PYRITE MINE IN 1873? It’s July 1873, and you have just seen a prospectus to buy shares for The Rio Tinto Company. Prospectuses in the newspapers offering investment opportunities in…
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A Beginner’s Guide to Investing in the Huelva Pyrite Mines in the 1870s: Part 2—British Investor Profiles
WHAT’S YOUR PROFILE? In Part 1 of A Beginner’s Guide to Investing in the Huelva Pyrite Mines we set the scene. The Rio Tinto Company had published a prospectus offering an investment opportunity. This prospectus was quickly…
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Queen Victoria’s Birthday Celebrations
It’s the 24th of May, 1889. You are a British mining engineer living and working at Rio Tinto Mines in the north of the province of Huelva and your company, the Rio Tinto Company Limited, is a…
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