Potosi - The History
Mining has defined Potosí for almost five centuries, but it has always come with a heavy price. In the 1500s, one of the local Indians leaked the secret of the vast veins of silver in Cerro Rico, the "rich mountain" that towers over Potosí, and the Spanish then started up a system of forced labour to mine the treasure.
Between 1545 and 1824, about 8 million Indians and African slaves died in the process of producing between 22,000 and 45,000 tons of pure silver for the Spanish Empire. Cerro Rico has more than lived up to its horror film nickname of "The Mountain that Eats Men".
Of this enormous total, 7,000 tons of silver went directly to the Spanish monarchy. Indian labour came to die by the thousands, not simply from exposure and brutal labour, but by mercury poisoning: in the ‘patio process’, the silver-ore, having been crushed to powder by hydraulic machinery, was then cold-mixed with mercury and trodden to an amalgam by the native workers with their bare feet. The mercury was then driven off by heating, producing deadly vapours.
To compensate for the diminishing indigenous labour force, the colonists made a request in 1608 to the Crown in
After 1800 the silver mines became depleted, making tin the main product. This eventually led to a slow economic decline. Still, the mountain continues to be mined for silver to this day. Due to poor working conditions (a severe lack of protective equipment from the constant inhalation of dust), the miners have a short life expectancy with most of them contracting silicosis and dying around 40 years of age. It is estimated that, in the past years of indigenous labour, roughly 8 million Indians died, "eaten" by the
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