It is hard to imagine that an ordinary leaf could support two huge empires in East and West in the 16th centuries.
Coca addiction slaved South American Indians to run silver mines and Spanish Empire
Although Andean people have long history of chewing coca, it was not known to the world until Spanish colonizers invaded South America in the 15th century. Initially, Spanish colonizers were extremely averse to these South American Indians who chewed coca. A mouthful of green juice was considered ugly, and even reminded people of grass-eating livestock. The church tried to outlaw these pagan customs, but they soon realized that coca was not only a very profitable business, but also kept the entire Spanish Empire running.
Spanish colonizers discovered many silver and gold mines near the Andes Mountains in South America, but the Potosí mine in Bolivia was the most impressive. It was the largest, highest and most easily exploited silver mine in the world at that time. Many sliver veins were directly exposed at surface or located in shallow layers, giving an illusion that they were just lying there waiting to be picked up. As a result, a small city accommodating thousands of people sprang up within a year. At first, South American natives were very pleased because they could easily obtain crushed ore with hammers and picks, and wages were reasonably good. The only drawback was high altitude of about 4,000 meters, but lack of oxygen and cold were negligible compared to digging holes in rocks, and it was overcome by coca leaves effectively. After easy silver ores were exhausted, the miners' enthusiasm gradually waned because they had to work in very deep mine tunnels or vertical mines shafts, some of which were several hundred meters deep to reach the ore layers. But Spanish found that if enough coca leaves were given to South American Indians for forced labor, the silver mine could still be running effectively.
What could be more important than gold and silver exploitation? They employed indigenous people and African slaves to cultivate coca plantations and transport harvested coca leaves to the Potosí mine whose altitude was too high to grow crops. Coca leaves were a commodity that related to all South American Indians, much like modern petroleum. The colonizers had a new source of income. In addition to the church taxing 10% on cultivation, transportation and trade of coca leaves were also taxed by government. Workers usually spent more than half of their wages buying coca leaves from Spanish colonizers, and left only a little of money for food and clothing. Thus, Native Americans breathed stale air in dim tunnels or shafts, chewed coca leaves, and dug ores endlessly. Countless people died from overwork, malnutrition and poor working conditions. Population continuously declined until they were nearly extinct. The South American Indians did not realize that they were numbed by cocaine in coca leaves and unaware of how unfortunate their lives were. Coca had become the incarnation of evil. This was probably the earliest drug trafficking.
Coca and silver developed European capitalism.
Before this, Spain had just expelled the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. The Queen was well aware that she had no power to compete with other European countries. However, when South American ore was processed into silver from the mid-16th century and transported to Seville, Spain quickly became the richest and most powerful country in Europe at the time. The king used this money to recruit soldiers, build warships and cannons to raise the strongest invincible Armada. It is a sharp blade for territorial expansion and colonization. Spanish occupied the entire South America except for Brazil, Mexico and most of United States, a small amount of land in Africa, and Philippines. It was the first empire in human history where the sun never set.
Money coming too easily was never a good thing, just like a poor guy winning the grand prize overnight. The Spanish royal family and nobles began to pursue a luxurious lifestyle. In 1561, the king moved the capital from Toledo to Madrid and built many palaces, churches, and monasteries to display wealth, power and religious beliefs. The Royal Palace of Madrid is one of the largest palaces in Europe. It covers an area of about 135,000 square meters and has more than 3,400 rooms. The entire building includes palaces, gardens, fountains, stables, royal armory and other ancillary buildings. Designers adopted the luxurious Baroque style. Many items appeared golden due to gilding, such as reliefs and murals in ceiling and wall, furniture, mirror frames and other decorations. Exquisite statues or carvings adorned the walls, stone pillars, and roofs. Some decorations were also inlaid with precious gemstones.
Only a little of wealth was invested in infrastructure and industrialization. Unlike other European countries that used their seized money to develop manufacturing, academic research, agriculture and modern financial systems, Spain indulged in territorial expansion and a luxurious lifestyle. Silver was almost consumed by palace, luxury goods and military, especially in wars with Netherlands, England, France and Turkey. Spain even had to take foreign loans to cover its fiscal deficits. Although silver brought temporary prosperity, the ensuing inflation caused prices to soar. The common people did not get much welfare from South America because most of the wealth flowed into pockets of nobles and royal family. The Spanish Empire's economy was almost entirely dependent on colonial silver mines, and their mining depended on the cocaine in coca leaves. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration that Spain was an empire built on coca.