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Economy1545

Discovery of Silver at Potosí

Also called: Cerro Rico

A mountain of silver, Potosí, was found in the Andean highlands of Spanish Peru. American silver flowed into Europe and Asia, binding the world economy together.

Cerro Rico seen above the rooftops of Potosí, Bolivia
Cerro Rico seen above the rooftops of Potosí, Bolivia

Mhwater (Dutch Wikipedia) · Public domain · Source

When silver was found in 1545 at the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain"), 4,000 metres up in southern Bolivia, Potosí soon became one of the largest cities in the Americas. From the 1570s mercury amalgamation and the mita — a forced-labour draft adapted from the Inca system — greatly increased output, and many Indigenous workers died in the shafts or of mercury poisoning. American silver passed through Spain and drove up European prices (the price revolution), and flowed via the Manila galleons into Ming China, underpinning the Single Whip tax reform paid in silver.

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The map in 1545

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States at the time
Spain
Viceroyalty of Peru
Places
Potosí (Cerro Rico)

Before and after

Earlier
1542 Spanish Colonial Rule and Las Casas
Later
1571 Battle of Lepanto

Themes that include this event

  • The Age of Discovery1415 – 1600

    From Ceuta to the Manila galleons — two centuries in which European ships crossed the oceans and bound the world together by sea

  • Islamic Empires and the Atlantic World1500 – 1800

    Three centuries in which the Ottomans of Suleiman I, the Mughals of Akbar and the Safavids of Abbas I flourished and then faltered, while across the Atlantic the slave trade and colonies transformed the Americas, leading to American independence