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Potosi

Destination creator (Voyajo Team)

Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal . from boliviaweb.com. Retrieved 2010-09-27. and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint, now the National Mint of Bolivia (...) (from Wikipedia)

Trip creator - GraemeBarrow

Day 63;
Situated at 4070m (13,350 ft), Potosí is the highest city of its size on earth. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in1987 in recognition of its tragic history in the mining of silver during the time of Spanish colonization. Potosí provided a large share of the silver mined and shipped back to Spain until the early 1800s, when both the supply of silver and world market prices began to decline.

Working conditions for miners were appalling, and a large portion of the indigenous population was decimated. African slaves were brought in to replace the native workers, and it is estimated that as many as eight million indigenous people and Africans died in the mines during the first three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. There is time for an optional tour to the working mines of the Mountain of Silver, an
eye-opening excursion.