Indian Gold Reserves – No Loot, Without Luck and No Slaves

Indo-Parthians send back Crassus - with molten gold down his throat

“Get gold, humanely if possible, but at all hazards, get gold.” (1511, King Ferdinand of Spain to his conquistadors).

The root of war

Gold is the root of war. That is gold in the hands of kings, generals and rulers.

The rise of nations and successful conquests have a history of either looting gold or hitting a gold mine. India, with the largest reserves of gold in the world, is the only exception. National Governments (like the US), have used gold looted from their own citizens (and others) to deprive other peoples of the world of gold – and wage war.

Any new financial architecture must work to disperse gold holdings among the citizens of the world – and dilute the ability of nations to wage war!

Alexander

Alexander’s campaign started with the gold reserves that his father had built from the mining operations at Mount Pangeus. The Macedonians were the first in the Hellenistic world to keep standing army – a luxury and big expense, in Greece at that time. (His first sexual experience was with a slave girl from these mines, Leptine from the slave camps of Mount Pangaion also written as Mount Pangaeus).

In 357 BC, Alexander’s father conquered Amphipolis in Thrace, an Athenian colony – and that gave him possession of the Mount Pangaeus gold mines. Gold from theses mines financed Phillip’s wars. (356 BC – captured Potidea in Chalcidice, Pydna on the Thermaic Gulf; 355 BC Crenides, a Thracian town (later re-named Philippi). 354 BC – Methone, advanced into Thessaly. 348 BC – Completed the annexation of Chalcidice, including Olynthus). His politics and financial muscle got him (346 BC) a seat in the Delphic council, a prestigious position in Greece.

Alexander set off on his campaign with this hoard of gold – and King Phillip’s standing army. The Persian conquest further added to his gold hoard.

Roman Empire

The Roman empire was similarly funded by gold mining and loot. Julius Caesar’s European conquests were funded by Gaellic loot. The Punic Wars with Carthage were fought over Spanish Gold. Roman conquest and love affair with Egypt was motivated by grain and Nubian gold. One of the first actions that Romans took in Wales, Britain was to build an gold ore refining system. Gold mined in Britain went to Roman coffers.

Charlemagne of France – The First Christian Emperor

Carolus Magnus, Karel de Grote, Karl der Grosse, Carlomagno, Charles the Great – or more commonly known as Charlemagne (ruled between 768-814) waged war for 30 years, spread over more than 50 battles. Charlemagne’s conquests were funded by the Saxony mines, the Haartz mountains, etc. His victory over Avars, (modern Hungary) gave him treasures which needed 15 carts, pulled by grey steppe oxen for transport.

Egypt

King Tushrutta (an Indic King) wrote to the Egyptian king in the Amarna letters about gold in Egypt – which came from Nubia. The Egyptian civilisation was funded by Nubian gold.

African Gold In The Middle Ages

From 10th AD, African north east, current Tanzania was the gateway for Zimbabwe gold. Shirazi Arabs (actually Persians) controlled gold trade. A 100-room palace with a gold mint ran this trade out of Africa.

European Renaissance

Europe’s Renaissance was funded with the loot from the (Red) ‘Indian’ gold, later the (Brown) Indian gold and lastly by the discoveries in California. In the twentieth century it was the South African, Australian and Canadian gold which funded the expansion of Europe.

Japan

The Sado mines, made Japan the 2nd largest producer of gold in the 16th-17th century – which funded the rise of Japan. Using prison slave labour, the gold output from Sado mines allowed Japan to make the necessary investments.

China and Mongolia

Have been traditional producers and exporters of gold.

Cecil Rhodes - the man behind colonization and enslavement of Rhodesia and South Africa (Photo - The New York Times).

South African Gold

The 20th Century was about mineral riches of South Africa – gold, diamonds. Cecil Rhodes set up, at the end of the 19th century, an entire colonial system for exploitation of South African minerals for the benefit of the British Empire.

Using forced African labour, British rulers and the subsequent Afrikaans created the system of apartheid to exploit these mines.

Spain & Portugal

Eldorado – South American continent was a large producer for gold and silver for 400 years. The Spanish king was clear with conquistadors – Get gold. Nearly the entire native Indian population was exterminated by massacres, slavery and (deliberate spread) of disease. After the native population was exterminated, slaves from Africa were imported to work mines and plantations.

Russia

Ekaterinburg gold mines were discovered in 1744. Since then Russia has been one of the major gold producers in the world.

America And The Great Depression

Roosevelt gave a New Deal to the Americans. He took away all their gold. WW2 followed soon thereafter. The British loot from Canada, Australia, South Africa – and India, gave the world, numerous wars and brought humanity “under the heel by means that will not bear scrutiny.”

It is these very same Gold reserves which gave birth to the Bretton Woods – and we know what happened after that!

Indian Gold Reserves

India had minor gold deposits in Karnataka (The Kolar Gold Fields).

India’s gold reserves through history has been built up by trade, commerce, technology, inventions. Not by loot, plunder or a stroke of luck. While nations and conquerors fell by the wayside, the Indian nation has survived and progressed.

The Rise & ”Fall” Of The British Empire

The rise of the British Empire was funded by slavery and gold exploitation from Australia, Canada, America and South Africa. In a short span of 50 years, after losing WW2 and the Indian colonies, British Empire, the greatest the world had known, nearly became a third world country by 1980.

A ramp up in North Sea Oil kept a “shell” of Britain at the edge of the developed world. There is no British Steel today. The coal industry is dead. There is no car industry worth its name. Britain and electronics are unknown to each other. British shipping is piece of history. British Engineering is a rarity.

But even today, the Anglo Saxon Bloc (of countries, colonies, companies) control 80% of world gold production. This gives the freedom to print money, flood the world with depreciating currency and buy limited resources. Over consume, over spend over pollute – and over-defraud.

Extant Indian society

Three elements of the Indian economic system were unique till the 19th century – property ownership by the commoners, widespread ownership of gold and absence of slavery (defined as capture, trade and forced labour by humans – without compensation).

The Indian social structure in pre-Alexandrian Indian had widespread gold and property ownership. With complete absence of slavery, wages could also rise above subsistence levels. This restricted the wealth of Indian rulers – and thus impressive monuments, buildings and palaces are rare or non-existent in pre-medieval India.