Concept in Definition ABC

Cerro Potosí has ​​always held an important place in history and in the geography American. From the geographical point of view, we can say that it is located in the territory belonging to Bolivia, in the department or region that bears the same name, Potosí. As a hill, it is part of the Andes Mountains and although it is not among the highest hills, it is about 4800 meters high, being without a doubt imposing and unique. The Cerro de Potosí is also highly known as the Cerro Rico due to its historical and almost endless natural resource: silver.

The Cerro de Potosí was one of the most important geographical features for the civilization Inca, the one that was located in the current territory of Peru, Bolivia and Chile before the arrival of the Spanish. However, it would not be until the latter managed to colonize the continent that this Hill would not gain world importance. The Cerro de Potosí was exploited by the Spanish for more than three centuries. This exploitation was carried out directly through the

extraction of silver from the interior of the rock that composed it. The immeasurable quantity of metallic material available made the Spaniards not only establish an entire extraction system, production Y Commerce of the product, if not that they establish a complete viceroyalty around them.

In addition, to properly organize the extraction of wealth, the Spanish were in charge of establishing a labor system forced labor that had as its main labor the indigenous people, who were forced to work in conditions of deep insalubrity. This generated a very important population debacle in the region due to the presence of diseases, the number of hours that this work system implied, the bad feeding of the indigenous, etc.

At present, Cerro Potosí still functions as a space from which to obtain certain mineral wealth although the proportion of the mining industry today is much lower than that of the colonial era.

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