A Claimed to be the highest big city in the world (4100 meters altitude) Potosi was founded in 1546 by the Spanish as a mining town. According to official records, 45 000 tons of pure silver were extracted from Cerro Rico (The rich mountain) from 1556 to 1783 which bankrolled the Spanish Empire and its Armada. In the boom years, when the metal seemed to be inexhaustible, Potosi became one of the wealthiest and the biggest city in the Americas.Heavy working conditions in the mine and the use of the deadly mercury led during the Spanish rule to a 8 million human life loses, during centuries of colonial rule. The mine output began to decline in the early 19 century, and also the drop in silver prices dealt a blow from which Potosi has never completely recovered.
A Today, the cooperative mines are owned by the miners themselves and they must produce to make their living. Most of the city's population is Quechua Indians, who live by scratching at whatis left in the old mines. Some of them are living next to the mines. They have no access to modern technology and no socialsecurity protection. Fatal accidents are frequent and most miners fall victim to black lung disease by the age of 40.Working in a maze of over 20.000 tunnels the miners make it their mission to find any remaining valuable minerals overlooked during the Spanish rule.