Potosí: the mountain of silver that was the first global city

Cerro Rico is a crazy place, geologically speaking. Apparently around 800 million ounces of silver (22,695 metric tons) were produced between 1545 and 1823 [1], and even after about half a millennium of mining it still has another 1.7 billion ounces in estimated silver reserves [2].<p>It&#x27;s a swiss cheese of tunnels by now, so much so that the summit is subsiding at a rate of a few cm&#x2F;yr [2] due to the gradual collapse of the mountain.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1093&#x2F;acrefore&#x2F;9780199366439.013.2" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1093&#x2F;acrefore&#x2F;9780199366439.013.2</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cerro_Rico" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cerro_Rico</a>

I did a mine tour. We first visited a market to buy dynamite, coca leaves, and soda as gifts for miners we may encounter. Tunnel areas are run by different cooperatives. It was interesting and humbling. Each coop has a devil statue in the mine they pay weekly respect to for keeping them safe. At 4500 meters, it&#x27;s best advised to take an altitude sickness pill 12 hours before your trip to Potosi if coming in quickly from surrounding areas. We also went to a bar for drinks and found many locals playing cards at tables, drinking hot lemonade with singani (Bolivian clear Brandy). Here&#x27;s a BBC article about the mines, devils: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;magazine-29448079" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;magazine-29448079</a>

The article touches on this slightly, but I don&#x27;t really feel that it does true justice to the horror of the slavery of the native Americans forced to work in the mines by the Spaniards. &quot;Labour draft&quot; seems like much too mild a euphemism for what was really rapacious enslavement. Cerro Rico is known as &quot;The Mountain that Eats Men&quot; and an estimated 8 million people have died mining it since the 16th century.

I read a great piece of journalism a couple years ago about the miners in Potosí and the ecotourism associated with the area. Sadly I can&#x27;t find a free version of it--here&#x27;s a link to it for those interested: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.decastories.com&#x2F;comeseethemountain&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.decastories.com&#x2F;comeseethemountain&#x2F;</a>

There&#x27;s an awesome discussion of Potosí and its wider role in the first stages of globalization in Mann&#x27;s book <i>1493</i>.

Potosi is so synonomous with wealth that the word literally means &quot;a fortune&quot; in Spanish now. Like another poster touched on, this came at immense human cost.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spanishdict.com&#x2F;translate&#x2F;potos%C3%AD" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.spanishdict.com&#x2F;translate&#x2F;potos%C3%AD</a>