> Pre-Columbian societies (e.g., Actecs) were quite fond of gold for jewelry, but were puzzled by the Spanish fetish for it. At the beginning, but later they r

> Pre-Columbian societies (e.g., Actecs) were quite fond of gold for jewelry, but were puzzled by the Spanish fetish for it. At the beginning, but later they realized what was going on. They first "traded" their gold for mirrors, a new technology to them. Once they learnt that gold could be easily created by humans they stopped and started to hide their gold. Eventually it became clear what they were there for : to steal their gold. It ended, of course, in a war. They even got a saying out of it in Spanish : "El vivo vive del bobo". It's sad but empirically true.