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Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location of the Spanish colonial silver mint. A considerable amount of the city's colonial architecture has been preserved in the historic center of the city, which - along with the globally important Cerro Rico de Potosí - are part of a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Potosí lies at the foot of the ''
Cerro de Potosí Cerro Rico (Spanish for "Rich Mountain"), Cerro Potosí ("Potosí Mountain") or Sumaq Urqu (Quechua ''sumaq'' "beautiful, good, pleasant", ''urqu'' "mountain", "beautiful (good or pleasant) mountain"), is a mountain in the Andes near the Boliv ...
'' —sometimes referred to as the ''Cerro Rico'' ("rich mountain")— a
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...
popularly conceived of as being "made of"
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
ore that dominates the city. The Cerro Rico is the reason for Potosí's historical importance since it was the major supply of silver for the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
until Guanajuato in
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
surpassed it in the 18th century. The silver was taken by llama and mule train to the Pacific coast, shipped north to
Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is loca ...
, and carried by mule train across the isthmus of Panama to Nombre de Dios or Portobelo, whence it was taken to Spain on the
Spanish treasure fleets The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...
. Some of the silver also made its way east to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, via the
Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...
. Some of the silver was also transported to Acapulco, Mexico where they were sent via the
Manila Galleons fil, Galyon ng Maynila , english_name = Manila Galleon , duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years) , venue = Between Manila and Acapulco , location = New Spain (Spanish Empire) ...
to buy Asian products.Schurz, William Lytle. ''The Manila Galleon'', 1939. P 193. Cerro de Potosí's peak is
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
. Today, Potosí continues to be an important mining center, and is the largest urban center in the Department of Potosí. A growing city, Potosí is now famous for its well-preserved colonial architecture, and unusual geographic setting as the one of the highest cities in the world. It features a rare cold highland climate, and is marked by its long dry period, and short but strong wet season. While famous for its dominance as a mining center in early Spanish colonial history, Potosí still sits at one of the largest silver deposit systems in the world.


Geology

Located in the Bolivian Tin Belt, Cerro Rico de Potosí is the world's largest silver deposit and has been mined since the sixteenth century, producing up to 60,000 tonnes by 1996. Estimates are that much silver still remains in the mines. Potosí became the second largest city, and the site of the first mint, in the Americas. By 1891, low silver prices prompted the change to mining tin, which continued until 1985. At peak production in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the ore contained up to 40% silver.Cunningham, C.G., Zartman, R.E., McKee, E.H., Rye, R.O., Naeser, C.W., Sanjines V., O., Ericksen, G.E., Tavera V., F., 1996, The age and thermal history of Cerro rico de Potosi, Bolivia, Mineralium Deposita, 31, 374-385 The ore deposits reside in
veins Veins are blood vessels in humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are the pulmonary and umbilical veins, both of which carry oxygenated ...
present in the
dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained ( aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyo ...
volcanic dome. The hill is "honeycombed" with underground workings, reaching from the summit to depths of . The conical hill has a reddish-brown gossan cap of iron-oxides and quartz, with grayish-blue altered dacite and many
mine dump In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overl ...
s below. Basement rocks consist of Ordovician clastic sediments consisting of phyllite with some
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...
interbedding. At about 13.8 Ma, the dome was extruded. During the explosive process, the Venus
breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of ...
formed when the ascending dacite
magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...
reacted with
groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
to produce a phreatic eruption. The released pressure allowed the formation of the Caracoles tuff ring on top of the breccia. The magma then extruded outward from a dike to form a volcanic dome over the tuff. The dacite dome is by at the surface and narrows down to the wide dike at depth. Hydrothermal circulation and fracturing soon followed, altering the dacite and depositing ore minerals and gangue in the veins.


History


Colonial silver boom

Founded in 1545 as a mining town, it soon produced fabulous wealth, and the population eventually exceeded 200,000 people. The city gave rise to a Spanish expression, still in use: ''valer un Potosí'' ("to be worth a Potosí"), meaning "to be of great value". The rich mountain,
Cerro Rico Cerro Rico (Spanish for "Rich Mountain"), Cerro Potosí ("Potosí Mountain") or Sumaq Urqu (Quechua ''sumaq'' "beautiful, good, pleasant", ''urqu'' "mountain", "beautiful (good or pleasant) mountain"), is a mountain in the Andes near the Boliv ...
, produced an estimated 60% of all silver mined in the world during the second half of the 16th century. Potosí miners at first mined the rich oxidized ores with native silver and silver chloride ( cerargyrite) that could be fed directly into smelting furnaces. Especially successful were the small clay "flower pot" furnaces called ''guayras'', which had been used by the Incas. But by 1565, the miners had exhausted the direct-smelting ore, and silver production plummeted. Silver production was revived by the introduction of the patio process, invented in Mexico in 1554. The patio process used mercury amalgamation to extract silver from lower-grade ores, and those containing silver sulfide (
argentite In mineralogy, argentite (from the Latin ''argentum'', silver) is cubic silver sulfide (Ag2S), which can only exist at temperatures above 173 °C, 177 °C or 179 °C. When it cools to ordinary temperatures it turns into its monocli ...
), as was typical of the unoxidized ores found deeper in the mountain. In 1609, another mercury amalgamation method, the pan amalgamation process was invented in Potosí, and proved better-adapted to the conditions at Potosí. Spanish American mines were the world's most abundant sources of silver during this time period. Spanish America's ability to supply a great amount of silver and China's strong demand for this commodity which the Spanish supplied via Latin American trade with the Philippines using the
Manila Galleons fil, Galyon ng Maynila , english_name = Manila Galleon , duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years) , venue = Between Manila and Acapulco , location = New Spain (Spanish Empire) ...
, resulted in a spectacular mining boom. The true champion of this boom in the silver industry was indeed the Spanish crown. By allowing private-sector entrepreneurs to operate mines under license and placing high taxes on mining profits, the Spanish empire was able to extract the greatest benefits. An example of a tax that was levied includes the ''quinto'', a 20% severance tax on gross value. From the raw materials extracted from the mines, coins called pieces of eight were fashioned at the Potosí mint. For Europeans, Peru–
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
was located in the Viceroyalty of Peru and was known as ''
Alto Perú Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...
'' before becoming independent as part of
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
. Potosí was a mythical land of riches, it is mentioned in Miguel de Cervantes' famous novel, '' Don Quixote'' (second part, chap. LXXI) as a land of "extraordinary richness". One theory holds that the mint mark of Potosí (the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another) is the origin of the dollar sign. The urban complex in the remote Andes was important enough to be designated a ''Villa Imperial'' in the hierarchy of Spanish urban settlements. Although in mountainous terrain, the core of Potosí was laid out in the standard Spanish grid pattern, where by 1610 some 3,000 Spaniards and 35,000 creoles, mostly male, were resident. Indigenous settlements outside the core were more haphazard. The villa was governed by a Spanish corregidor and town council. Some 40 notaries documented and recorded commercial transactions as well as last wills and testaments. Since Potosí was of such economic importance to the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, the crown bureaucracy was a significant presence. Large churches, lavishly decorated inside, were built, and friars from the Dominican, Franciscans, Augustinians, Mercederians, and Jesuits were present, but no convent for women. There was an ecclesiastical court for legal issues regarding the clergy.


Labor

Indigenous laborers were required to work in Potosí's silver mines through the Spanish '' mita'' system of forced labor, based on an analogous ''
mit'a Mit'a () was mandatory service in the society of the Inca Empire. Its close relative, the regionally mandatory Minka is still in use in Quechua communities today and known as ''faena'' in Spanish. Historians use the Hispanicized term ''mita'' ...
'' system traditional to pre-Hispanic Andean society (though the ''mit'a'' directed labor for public works and collective agricultural projects). Laborers were drawn from the native population of an area that encompassed almost 200,000 square miles. Thirteen thousand men were conscripted each year, constituting about one out of every seven adult males in the indigenous population. These ''mitayos'' faced harsh conditions in the mines, where they were often given the least desirable jobs. While more skilled laborers extracted the ore, ''mitayos'' were tasked with carrying it back to the surface in baskets, leather bags, or cloth sacks. These loads often weighed between 100 and 300 lbs, and the workers had to carry them up rickety ladders in steep, narrow shafts lit only by a candle tied to their foreheads.Bakewell, 130. Many of them died or were seriously injured due to falls, accidents, and the harsh conditions of the mine life. Illness was another danger: at such a high altitude, pneumonia was always a concern, especially given the extreme and rapid changes of temperature experienced by workers climbing from the heat of the deep shafts to the freezing elements of the surface at 16,000 feet, and mercury poisoning took the lives of many involved in the refining process. The Potosí ''mita'' caused dramatic demographic shifts in the local indigenous population as wives and children moved with workers to Potosí while thousands more fled their traditional villages, forfeiting their '' ayllu'' land rights in order to escape the labor draft. By the late 17th century, upper Peru had lost nearly 50% of its indigenous population compared to a little over a century earlier. This only increased the burden on the remaining natives, and at some point in the 1600s, up to half of the eligible male population might find themselves working at Potosí. Nevertheless, the number of ''mitayos'' dropped to about 4,000 by 1689, prompting the Viceroy
Duke of Palata Duke of Palata ( es, Duque de Palata) is a hereditary title in the peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1646 by Philip IV to Francisco Toralto de Aragón, a paternal descendant of Alfonso V of Aragon. The ti ...
to raise the number again through a new census and inclusion of new populations not subject to the mita (''forasteros''). The reform failed, and the Duke's successor set the official number to 4,108 mitayos (1,367 active each week). In reality, the number of ''mitayos'' was even lower due to the increasing practice of buying oneself out of the obligation. For the remaining mita workforce, however, conditions remained harsh. Mine and mill owners notoriously ignored official regulations on provisions and especially withheld the money the Indians should receive as recompensation for their travel. Just the cost of traveling to Potosí and back could be more than a ''mitayo'' was paid in a year, and so many of them chose to remain in Potosí as wage workers when their ''mita'' was finished.Bakewell, 125. Former ''mitayos'' living in Potosí were not only exempt from the draft, but usually earned considerably more due to the valuable skills they had gained in permanent services. According to historian Noble David Cook, "A key factor in understanding the impact of the Potosi mita on the Indians is that mita labor was only one form of work at the mines. A 1603 report stated that of 58,800 Indians working at Potosi, 5100 were ''mitayos'', or fewer than one in ten. In addition to the mitayos there were 10,500 ''mingas'' (contractual workers) and 43,200 free wage earners." However, historian Peter Bakewell emphasizes the role of mita labor in Potosí to a greater extent. According to his research, though as few as 4500 ''mitayos'' were actively laboring in the mines at any given time, this was due to the ''mita ordinaria'' system, in which the up to 13,500 men conscripted per year were divided into three parts, each working one out of every three weeks. In addition, many of the remaining ''mingas'' and wage workers were either ''mita ordinaria'' workers on their off weeks or former ''mitayos'' who remained in Potosí.


Colonial-era society

Potosí was a multiracial society, with native Andeans, Spanish settlers, and black slaves. The largest sector of the population were native men, forced to labor underground mining the silver ore, but there were considerable opportunities for merchants and native traders, who became wealthy. Suppliers of food as well as holders of urban and rural real estate prospered in Potosí. Women, particularly widows, held property, since they were guaranteed a portion of their husband's estate under Spanish law. Small-scale female vendors dominated street markets and stalls, selling food, coca leaves, and chicha (maize beer). A portion of the female population were sex workers, which is a typical phenomenon in mining towns generally. By the early 17th century, Basques were well established in the city and made up for a substantial number of the inhabitants in Potosí. They gathered in a confederation opposed to another one, the ''Vicuñas'', a melting pot of natives and non-Basque Spanish and Portuguese colonists, fighting for control over ore extraction from the mines and its management. Eventually, tension among both factions came to a head, resulting in the eruption of overt armed conflict starting 1622 up to 1625. The Spanish Crown intervened, siding at one point with the Basques. Finally, both factions reached a settlement sealed with a wedding between the son and daughter of the leaders in either side, the Basque Francisco Oyanume and the Vicuña general Castillo. One of the most famous Basque residents in Potosí (1617–19) was
Catalina de Erauso Antonio de Erauso, born as Catalina de Erauso (in Spanish; or Katalina Erauso in Basque) (San Sebastián, Spain, 1585 or 15921592 according to the baptismal record; 1585, according to sources including the supposed autobiography. See . — Cuetl ...
, a nun who escaped her convent and dressed as a man, becoming a driver of llamas and a soldier.


Independence era

During the Bolivian War of Independence (1809–1825), Potosí frequently passed between the control of Royalist and Patriot forces. Major leadership mistakes came when the First Auxiliary Army arrived from
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
(under the command of Juan José Castelli), which led to an increased sense that Potosí required its own independent government. Later, the Second Auxiliary Army (under the command of
Manuel Belgrano Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He ...
) was forced to retreat, Belgrano made the decision to blow up the Casa de la Moneda. The natives undid the fuse, as many refused to evacuate and would have lost their lives. Two more expeditions from Buenos Aires would seize Potosí.


Modern era

Potosí continues to be an important administrative center, mining town, tourist attraction, and population center in modern Bolivia.


Origin of the name

There is no authoritative etymology for the word ''Potosí''. According to legend, in about 1462, Huayna Capac, the eleventh Sapa Inca of what by then was known as the
Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts",  "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
"set out for Ccolque Porco and Andaccaua, the location of his mines from which were taken innumerable arrobas of silver" (an arroba is a Spanish unit of weight equivalent to approximately ). Before leaving there, he saw Potosí, and admiring its beauty and grandeur, he said (speaking to those of his Court): It is believed that ''Potosí'' is a Quechua word. However, in Quechua the root ''p'otoj'' does not refer to a thunderous noise, whereas it does in Aymara. Thus, if ''Potosí'' encompasses the idea of a thunderous noise, the location would have an Aymaran root rather than a Quechuan. The actual sharp structure of the term is contrary to the nature of both Aymara and Quechua. Another explanation, given by several Quechua speakers, is that ''potoq'' is an onomatopoeic word that reproduces the sound of the hammer against the ore, and oral tradition has it that the town derived its name from this word.


Climate

Potosí features a rare climate for a city of its size, due to its extreme elevation at over 4000m. Semi-arid and with average temperatures in its warmest month sitting right on the 10 °C threshold, the city's climate straddles that of the subtropical highland climate (''Cwc'', according to the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
), with
subpolar oceanic An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
characteristics and an
alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions o ...
(E). Summers are cool and wet with daily highs rarely rising above 20 °C, while winters feature cooler days with much colder nights averaging −4 °C. These low temperatures are a result of the extreme precipitation deficit during the winter months with the resulting aridity leading to an increased diurnal temperature variation.


Neighborhoods

*Old Town *San Gerardo *La Chacra *Cervecería *Alto Potosí *Nuevo Potosí *San Martín *Pampa Ingenio *Nacional Potosí *San Juan *Concepción *San Cristóbal *Pailaviri *Cachi Rancho *El Calvario *San Pedro *San Roque *Mercado Uyuni *San Benito *Villa España *Huachacalla *Cantumarca *San Clemente *Ciudad Satélite *Plan 40 *Las Delicias *Los Pinos-Cordepo *Las Lecherías *Villa Mecànicos *Villa Copacabana *Villa Venezuela *Villa Nazaret


Villages

* Belén *
Cuchu Ingenio Cuchu Ingenio is a small town in Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center ...


Sports

Potosí is home to football teams Real and Nacional, which play their matches at the 32,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium
Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte, also known by its old name Estadio Mario Mercado Vaca Guzmán, is a multi-purpose stadium in Potosí, Bolivia. It is currently used mostly for football matches, on club level by Real Potosí and Nacional Potosí. ...
, one of the highest stadiums in the world.


Transportation

The city is served by Aeropuerto Capitán Nicolas Rojas, with commercial airline flights by
Boliviana de Aviación Boliviana de Aviación, legally incorporated as ''Empresa Pública Nacional Estratégica Boliviana de Aviación'' ("Bolivian National Strategic Aviation Public Company") and commonly known as BoA, is the flag carrier airline of Bolivia and is who ...
, Bolivia's flag air carrier. There is also a railroad, the Rio Mulatos-Potosí line.


Legacy

The city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico was named after Potosí in Bolivia. In the United States, the name Potosi was optimistically given to lead-mining towns of
Potosi, Wisconsin Potosi is a village in Grant County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. The village is in the Town of Potosi. History Potosi is located where Wisconsin's lead ore belt intersects with the Mississippi. The pos ...
, and Potosi, Missouri, and also to the silver-mining town of
Potosi, Nevada Potosi or Potosi Camp, was called Crystal City in the 1870s, a mining ghost town in Clark County, Nevada. It lies at an elevation of 5705 feet. History The Potosi Mine is thought to be the site of the oldest lode mine in Nevada. Its lead depos ...
.


Twin towns – sister cities

* Cusco, Peru *
Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...
, China


Gallery

File:Potosi Street Scene.jpg, Central Potosí street File:Vista panorámica de Potosí.jpg, Panoramic of Potosí File:Potosi Mining Photo by Sascha Grabow.jpg, Potosí surface mining File:Laguna_Verde_DSCN5693mod.jpg, Laguna Verde, Bolivia File:Cerro Rico Potosi (pixinn.net).jpg, A street in Potosí with Cerro Rico in the background. File:Salar_de_Chalviri_DSCN5740mod.jpg, Salar de Chalviri, Potosí File:Casa de la moneda.jpg,
National Mint of Bolivia The National Mint of Bolivia ( es, Casa de la Moneda de Bolivia) or the Mint of Potosí (in colonial era) is a mint located in the city of Potosí in Bolivia. It is from this mint that most of the silver shipped through the Spanish Main came. T ...
(Casa de la Moneda) File:Andes_potosinos_-_Bolivia.jpg, Potosí Mountains File:El Tio Potosi Bolivia.jpg, A figure of
El Tio EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
in Potosí mines, 1993 File:20170807 Bolivia 1373 crop Potosí sRGB (37270469644).jpg,
Church of San Lorenzo de Carangas Church of San Lorenzo de Carangas is a church located in the city of Potosí in the department of the same name, in Bolivia. According to historians, it was formerly called "La Anunciación" and, together with the Church of Santa Bárbara, they w ...
File:20170807_Bolivia_1367_Potosí_sRGB_(37270470884).jpg, Downtown Potosí, Bolivia File:20170807 Bolivia 1362 Potosí sRGB (37270475854).jpg, Potosí Cathedral File:I14.jpg, Potosí, Bolivia


See also

* Geology of Bolivia *
San Cristóbal mine (Bolivia) The San Cristobal mine in Lipez, Potosí Department, Bolivia is an open-pit silver, lead and zinc mine near the town of San Cristóbal, Potosí. The mine, operated by Sumitomo Corporation, produces approximately 1,300 metric tons of zinc-silver ...
* Pari Urqu *
Potosí mountain range The Potosí mountain range in Bolivia is situated east and southeast of the city of Potosí. It is at least 25 km long stretching from north to south. Its highest mountain is Khunurana (Anaruyu) rising up to 5,071 m (16,637 ft). Th ...
* ''Potosi'' (barque) * Tinku – A local combat ritual and agricultural fertility rite *
El Tio EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
*
Mapuche silver finery Mapuche silverwork is one of the best known aspects of Mapuche material culture.Painecura 2011, p. 15. The adornments have been subject to changes in fashion but some designs have resisted change. History Prior tradition of gold adornments Mapuch ...
* Cervecería Potosina - One of few Bolivian breweries * The Devil's Miner — documentary film (2005) follows a fourteen-year-old boy who along with his twelve-year-old brother work in the mines near Potosí. *
Great Potosi Mint Fraud of 1649 Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great ...
* Corregimiento de Potosí


References


Further reading

*Angola Maconde, Juan. "Raíces de un pueblo: cultura afroboliviana." La Paz: Producciones CIMA, 1999. *Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela, Bartolomé. ''Historia de la Villa Imperial de Potosí.'' Edición de Lewis Hanke y Gunnar Mendoza. Providence, R.I.: Brown University Press, 1965. *Bakewell, Peter. "Miners of the Red Mountain: Indian Labor in Potosi, 1545-1650". University of New Mexico Press 2010. *Bakewell, Peter. "Silver and Entrepreneurship in Seventeenth-Century Potosí: The Life and Times of Antonio López de Quiroga". Southern Methodist University Press 1995. *Cobb, Gwendolin Ballantine. "Potosí, a South American Mining Frontier." ''Greater America: Essays in Honor of Herbert Eugene Bolton.'' Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1968, © 1945, pp. 39–58. 1999. *Gil Montero, Raquel. "Ciudades efimeras. El ciclo minero de la plata en Lipez (Bolivia), siglos XVI - XIX". Instituto Frances de Estudios Andinos - IFEA- Plural Editores, 2014. * Hanke, Lewis (writer) and
Jean-Claude Wicky Jean-Claude Wicky (28 January 1946 – 31 July 2016) was a photographer noted for his series on Bolivian miners (1984–2001). Biography Wicky was born in 1946 in Moutier, Switzerland. His photos have been exhibited at the Swiss Foundation for Ph ...
(photographer). ''The Imperial City of Potosí.'' The Hague: Nijhoff, 1956. * Lane, Kris. ''Potosí: The Silver City That Changed the World''. Berkeley: University of California Press 2019.
online review
*Ross, John F. ''Mountains of Pain'' Smithsonian Magazine, November 2000. *Tandeter, Enrique. "Coaccion y mercado. La mineria de plata en el Potosí colonial, 1692-1826". Siglo XXI Editores 2001.


External links

*J.H. Elliott, "The Silver Rush" https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/11/21/potosi-silver-rush/
Cerro Rico: The Greatest of the Great. Part 1
Geology for Investors, last updated October 17, 2019
Cerro Rico Part 2: Geology
by Andrew Watson, updated 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Potosi 1545 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places established in 1545 Populated places in Potosí Department World Heritage Sites in Bolivia