This is a city that captures the visitors imagination and draws him into its tempting lure. Bbc news americas history echoes in the mines of potosi. Surviving the potosi mine potosi, bolivia bootsnall. At the height of its splendour in the 17th century, potosi was one of the largest cities in the world. This initial settlement period lasted until about 1400 bc when a more highly advanced culture of the chavin began spreading their influence. But spains unquenchable thirst for silver had a terrible human cost. In extreme southwestern bolivia there is a city that was once the pearl of the spanish crown, the center of legendary riches. This is a detailed summary of the history of potosi. The city of potosi, bolivia is a beautiful slice of life in a bolivian city. The manuscript held at the john hay library is the primera parte of the complete work and. History no one is certain how much silver has been extracted from cerro rico over its four centuries of productivity, but a popular boast was that the spanish could have constructed a silver bridge to spain and still had silver left to carry across it. Potosi, bolivia the andes mountain range surrounds this city in southwestern bolivia, but there is one that stands apart from the rest tall, red and almost perfectly conical. It is said that it can build a bridge of silver to link bolivia to spain. The history of potosi bolivia as a major source of revenue for the spanish crown started to end around the year 1800.
Get potosis weather and area codes, time zone and dst. Over the next 200 years, more than 40,000 tons of silver were shipped out of the town, making. Spain came and established potosi as a mining town in 1546 and was a major source of spanish wealth. It is commonly believed that these first asian colonizers reached the south american continent by 12,000 bc.
This file is licensed under the creative commons attributionshare alike 3. Part of a crossnational project commissioned by the organization of american. Potosi, the city which grew up at the foot of the hill, was said to be paved with silver and became a byword for luxury and splendour. History of potosi bolivia facts about the potosi mines. Explore potosis sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal 4,090 metres,420 ft. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in. Due to this depletion, tin took over as the main product. Take a bolivia tour and get lost in the spellbinding lull of life on the altiplano, or plateau. Mineria colonial, cerro lipezpotosi, bolivia siglos. Bolivia en su historia y literatura, 1982 al presente. And for the next 300 years about 60,000 metric ton of silver were extracted from it.
The wealth the spanish gained from the mines practically single handedly funded. This was largely due to the fact that the silver mines were essentially depleted. The history of potosi, bolivia bolivian thoughts in an. Pdf overview of bolivian electoral reforms in bolivia 19852014. You can learn more about potosi bolivia by looking up information on points that are of special interest to you. Right off the bat, the superlatives concerning the potosi silver mine are impressive. This is potosis cerro rico, or rich hill, a mountain so heavily laced with silver that it has become legend.