Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí during the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality in the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world, located at about 4,067 meters (13,343 feet) above sea level.

Diego Huallpa, an indigenous explorer, is traditionally credited with discovering the Cerro Rico in 1545. This discovery led to the founding and rapid growth of Potosí because of the large amounts of silver found there.

For many years, Potosí was the site of a Spanish colonial silver mint. Much of the city’s colonial architecture remains intact in the historic center. This area, along with the Cerro Rico de Potosí, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its global importance.

Potosí is located at the base of the Cerro de Potosí, also called Cerro Rico ("rich mountain"). This mountain is famous for containing large amounts of silver ore and was the main source of silver for the Spanish Empire until Guanajuato, Mexico, became more significant in the 18th century.

Silver from Potosí was transported by llama and mule trains to the Pacific coast. It was then shipped to Panama City, carried across the isthmus of Panama to Nombre de Dios or Portobelo, and sent to Spain on Spanish treasure fleets. Some silver also traveled east to Buenos Aires via the Rio de la Plata or to Acapulco, Mexico, where it was transported by Manila Galleons to trade for Asian goods. The peak of Cerro de Potosí is 4,824 meters (15,827 feet) above sea level.

Today, Potosí remains an important mining center and is the largest city in the Department of Potosí. It is growing and is now known for its well-preserved colonial buildings and unique location as one of the highest cities in the world. Potosí has a rare cold highland climate with a long dry season and a short but strong rainy season. Although it is famous for its role as a major mining center during the early Spanish colonial period, Potosí still contains one of the largest silver deposit systems in the world.

Etymology

There is no official explanation for where the word "Potosí" comes from. According to a story, around 1462, Huayna Capac, the eleventh ruler of the Inca Empire, traveled to Ccolque Porco and Andaccaua, which were places where large amounts of silver were mined (an arroba is a Spanish unit of weight equal to about 25 pounds or 11 kilograms). Before leaving, he saw Potosí and admired its beauty. He reportedly told his court, "This place is very special."

It is thought that "Potosí" may be a word from the Quechua language. However, in Quechua, the word "p'otoj" does not mean a loud noise, unlike in the Aymara language. If "Potosí" refers to a loud sound, the name might come from Aymara instead of Quechua.

The actual structure of the word does not match the patterns of either Aymara or Quechua. Another idea, shared by some Quechua speakers, is that "potoq" sounds like the noise made by a hammer hitting metal. Oral traditions suggest the town’s name may have come from this sound.

History

The city was founded in 1545 as a mining town and quickly became very wealthy. Over time, its population grew to more than 200,000 people. A Spanish expression still used today, "valer un Potosí," means "to be of great value." The rich mountain called Cerro Rico produced about 60% of the world’s silver mined during the second half of the 16th century.

At first, miners used simple methods to extract silver from ores that could be directly smelted. Small clay furnaces called guayras, which the Incas had used, were especially effective. By 1565, the easily smelted ores were gone, and silver production dropped. A new method called the patio process, invented by Bartolomé de Medina in 1554, helped revive production. This process used mercury to extract silver from lower-grade ores, including those containing silver sulfide. In 1609, another method called pan amalgamation was developed in Potosí and proved better suited to local conditions.

Spanish American mines were the world’s largest sources of silver during this time. The high demand for silver in China, supplied by Spanish trade routes through the Philippines using Manila Galleons, led to a mining boom. The Spanish crown benefited most from this boom by allowing private companies to operate mines under license and taxing mining profits heavily. One tax, the quinto, took 20% of the value of mined silver. Coins called "pieces of eight" were made from the silver at the Potosí mint.

Before becoming Bolivia, the region was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru and known as "Upper Peru." Potosí was described in the novel Don Quixote as a place of "extraordinary richness." Some believe the Potosí mint mark (letters "PTSI" overlapping) may have inspired the dollar sign.

Potosí was an important city in the Andes, designated a Villa Imperial by the Spanish. Its main area followed a standard Spanish grid layout, while Indigenous settlements nearby were less organized. By 1603, the city had about 6,000 Spaniards, 5,000 Africans, 120,000 Indigenous people, and others. It was governed by a Spanish official, two aldermen, and a town council of 19 members.

Over 40 notaries and five scribes recorded legal and business documents. Because of its economic importance, the Spanish government had a strong presence in Potosí. Large churches were built, and religious groups like Dominicans and Jesuits were active. No convents for women existed until 1650.

Indigenous workers were forced to mine silver through the mita system, a form of labor based on an older Andean tradition. Each year, 13,000 men were conscripted, about one in seven adult males. These workers, called mitayos, carried heavy loads of ore up steep, narrow mine shafts lit only by candles on their heads. Many died from accidents, illness, or mercury poisoning.

The mita system caused major population changes. Families followed workers to Potosí, while others fled their villages. By the late 17th century, the Indigenous population in the region had dropped by nearly 50% compared to a century earlier. Despite efforts to increase the number of mitayos, by 1689, only about 4,000 were working in the mines.

Some workers avoided the mita by paying to escape, while others stayed in Potosí as paid laborers after their term ended. A 1603 report noted that of 58,800 Indigenous workers in Potosí, only about 1,000 were mitayos, with the rest working as contract laborers or wage earners. Historians disagree on the mita’s role, with some emphasizing its limited impact and others highlighting its significant role in mining operations.

Geography

Cerro Rico de Potosí, located in the Bolivian tin belt, is the world's largest silver deposit. Mining there began in the sixteenth century and produced up to 60,000 tonnes of silver by 1996. Experts believe 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 led to a shift to tin mining, which continued until 1985. During peak production in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the ore contained up to 40% silver.

The silver deposits are found in veins within the dacite volcanic dome. The hill is full of underground tunnels, extending from the top to depths of 1,150 meters (3,770 feet). The hill has a reddish-brown gossan cap made of iron oxides and quartz, with grayish-blue altered dacite and many mine dumps below.

The basement rocks are Ordovician clastic sediments, including phyllite with some sandstone layers. Around 13.8 million years ago, the dome was extruded. During this process, the Venus breccia formed when rising dacite magma reacted with groundwater, causing a phreatic eruption. The released pressure created the Caracoles tuff ring on top of the breccia. The magma then flowed outward from a dike to form a volcanic dome over the tuff. The dacite dome is 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) wide and 1,200 meters (3,900 feet) long at the surface, narrowing to a 100-meter (330-foot) wide dike at depth. Hydrothermal circulation and fracturing followed, altering the dacite and depositing ore minerals and gangue in the veins.

Potosí has a cold subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwc, Trewartha: Eolk). Summers are cool and wet, with daily high temperatures rarely exceeding 20°C (68°F). Winters have cooler days and much colder nights, averaging −4°C (25°F). These low temperatures are due to the lack of winter rainfall, which increases the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.

Sports

Potosí is home to football teams Real and Nacional, which play their games at the Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte, a multi-purpose stadium that can hold 32,000 people. This stadium is one of the highest in the world.

Transportation

The city has an airport called Aeropuerto Capitán Nicolas Rojas, which provides commercial flights operated by Boliviana de Aviación, Bolivia's main airline. The city also has a railroad known as 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 given to lead-mining towns in Wisconsin and Missouri, and to a silver-mining town in Nevada.

Gallery

• Main Street in Potosí
• View of Potosí from a High Place
• Surface Mining in Potosí
• Laguna Verde, Bolivia
• Street in Potosí with Cerro Rico Mountain in the Background
• Salar de Chalviri, Potosí
• National Mint of Bolivia (Former Colonial Mint in Potosí)
• Potosí Mountains
• Statue of El Tío in Potosí Mines, 1993
• Church of San Lorenzo de Carangas
• Downtown Area of Potosí, Bolivia
• Potosí Cathedral
• Potosí, Bolivia