Aberdonians in early Bolivian Industry: the Penny and Duncan Mining Company

Following Bolivia’s independence from Spain in the early nineteenth-century, Bolivian mines became an attractive destination for mining engineers and adventurers from Europe.  Among such adventurers were Aberdonians, Andrew Penny and James Duncan, both of whom had humble origins yet became extremely wealthy mine-owners.  This lecture examines their lives and their relations with Bolivian society through documentary sources and the donations and photographs that Duncan left to the University Museum and Special Collections.