About 400 silver mines are still being worked on Cerro Rico in Bolivia but they are all squalid, primitive and dangerous.
The Spanish colonialists discovered the fabulous wealth of Cerro Rico (meaning Rich Mountain), the 4,824m high mountain which towers over Potosi in Bolivia, in the sixteenth century and silver extracted from its mines funded the conquest of South America and indeed the whole Spanish economy and the extravagance of its royal family for over two hundred years. Some four hundred mines are still being worked on the mountain today, employing about 20,000 miners and support workers, but the equipment is primitive, the conditions are squalid and the work is highly dangerous.
Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: Potosi, Bolivia
Photo credit: © Richard Slater / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: american, bolivia, bolivians, cerro, colonial, danger, dangerous, dirt, drag, dragging, employment, engineer, engineers, filth, filthy, hauling, health, history, indians, indigenous, job, men, mess, miner, miners, mining, potosi, primitive, pull, pulling, push, pushing, rico, risk, safety, shove, shoving, silver, south, spanish, squalor, track, trolley, trolleys, truck, worker, workers
