Latin American Contributions to Inorganic Chemistry

Abstract

I norganic chemistry in the Americas, and especially in Latin America, has been historically linked to mining endeavors, in particular those of Spanish and Portuguese colonizers from the 16th to 17th centuries. Gold and silver are perhaps what first come to mind, although evidence of earlier mining activities by native civilizations has been documented and the extraction of metals and minerals is quite broad. Aztec and Maya uses of mineral pigments are representative examples, although earlierevidence exists of cinnabar (HgS) employment as a red dye.