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Kathy G

Kathy G

Well-known member
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The mountain in the 2 photos is known as Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). Cerro Rico was once an important source of silver. If you look closely you can see the mines on the side of the mountain as silver is still mined from here. The City of Potosi, where Cerro Rico is located, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the important role it played in the mining of silver during the Spanish colonial era. In it's hey day (late 1500s to late 1700s), Potosi became one of the richest and largest cities in the world despite it's high altitude (4060 m above sea level). Spain extracted silver from Mexico and Potosi. During the 200 year period of the late 16th to 18th centuries, the amount extracted and shipped to Spain tripled the total amount of silver in Europe. Cerro Rico contributed 50% of that silver. Spain used the labour of the indigenous population in what is now Peru and Bolivia to mine the silver. The labour was considered a tax owed to the Spanish Crown so the miners did not receive a wage. I lived in Potosi for 3 months in 2006 and I never tired of looking at this mountain.
The 2 photos are from 2015 and they were taken with a Nikon D600. I took the first photo from the roof of my hotel just after sunrise. I took the second photo from the opposite end of downtown Potosi just before sunset. I was facing south when I took the photos. As usual, feel free to offer constructive comments.
Potosi 2015_0017_Nik-1.jpg
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Potosi 2015_0793_Nik.jpg
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Oztours said:
Great pics and story.



That must have been a fantastic experience.
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Thanks Peter. Yes it was a fantastic experience. I have spent a total of more than 2 years of my life in highland Bolivia - the longest time was 13 months in a small town on the altiplano (high plain). It is an awesome country with a very interesting history (Incas, Spanish and even the 19th and 20th centuries).
 
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ssheipel said:
Love how the town just blends in as if part of the lanscape, or perhaps vice versa! Beautiful. I gotta say tho, just looking at this shot makes me thirsty!!
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Steven, most of the city is behind me. The residential area that is in the photos is the area where the indigenous people lived when they came to Potosi for their one year of labour service. And you are correct, this place is dry. The high plain (altiplano) is considered semi-arid. It feels really arid to me. Both photos were taken during the dry season.
 
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Kathy G said:
The mountain in the 2 photos is known as Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). Cerro Rico was once an important source of silver. If you look closely you can see the mines on the side of the mountain as silver is still mined from here. The City of Potosi, where Cerro Rico is located, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the important role it played in the mining of silver during the Spanish colonial era. In it's hey day (late 1500s to late 1700s), Potosi became one of the richest and largest cities in the world despite it's high altitude (4060 m above sea level). Spain extracted silver from Mexico and Potosi. During the 200 year period of the late 16th to 18th centuries, the amount extracted and shipped to Spain tripled the total amount of silver in Europe. Cerro Rico contributed 50% of that silver. Spain used the labour of the indigenous population in what is now Peru and Bolivia to mine the silver. The labour was considered a tax owed to the Spanish Crown so the miners did not receive a wage. I lived in Potosi for 3 months in 2006 and I never tired of looking at this mountain.
The 2 photos are from 2015 and they were taken with a Nikon D600. I took the first photo from the roof of my hotel just after sunrise. I took the second photo from the opposite end of downtown Potosi just before sunset. I was facing south when I took the photos. As usual, feel free to offer constructive comments.
View attachment 6975

View attachment 6976
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Great Shots Kathy --- the sunrise shot really highlights the degradation of the mountain with the open cast mines coming out in sharp relief--but somehow the ochre shades give it a certain beauty which I am sure would be much less appealing up close on the mountain itself !
 
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Gottshotz said:
Great Shots Kathy --- the sunrise shot really highlights the degradation of the mountain with the open cast mines coming out in sharp relief--but somehow the ochre shades give it a certain beauty which I am sure would be much less appealing up close on the mountain itself !
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Thanks David. The mountain is eerily beautiful. It changes colour throughout the day as the sun moves across it. Presumably the different colours are from the different minerals. During colonial times the houses in Potosi were painted with paints tinted with the different colours from the mountain. Of course, what also makes this mountain so eerily beautiful is the death associated with it. Eduardo Galeano claims that during Spanish rule 8 million people died mining silver from Potosi. That figure most likely includes all the deaths associated with the mining economy, not just the deaths of miners.
 
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Kathy G said:
Thanks David. The mountain is eerily beautiful. It changes colour throughout the day as the sun moves across it. Presumably the different colours are from the different minerals. During colonial times the houses in Potosi were painted with paints tinted with the different colours from the mountain. Of course, what also makes this mountain so eerily beautiful is the death associated with it. Eduardo Galeano claims that during Spanish rule 8 million people died mining silver from Potosi. That figure most likely includes all the deaths associated with the mining economy, not just the deaths of miners.
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Wow, that is a staggering number, and probably largely made up from the poorer indigenous inhabitants too, I imagine !! Life was cheap then and unfortunately many colonial powers plundered their conquest countries raw wealth mercilessly.
 
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Gottshotz said:
Wow, that is a staggering number, and probably largely made up from the poorer indigenous inhabitants too, I imagine !! Life was cheap then and unfortunately many colonial powers plundered their conquest countries raw wealth mercilessly.
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David, that number is for the indigenous population. Men and boys work in the mine today under horrible conditions. Their life expectancy is 40 years. The old mine shafts are not mapped, so there is great danger whenever a new section is blasted out with dynamite - there is always the risk of blasting into an old shaft and creating a massive hole. The mountain is beginning to implode (no, I’m not making this up), the top was filled in with some cement structure in 2014!
 
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Kathy G said:
David, that number is for the indigenous population. Men and boys work in the mine today under horrible conditions. Their life expectancy is 40 years. The old mine shafts are not mapped, so there is great danger whenever a new section is blasted out with dynamite - there is always the risk of blasting into an old shaft and creating a massive hole. The mountain is beginning to implode (no, I’m not making this up), the top was filled in with some cement structure in 2014!
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And we have the temerity to complain sometimes about "health and safety" being inconvenient !
 
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