POTOSI: View of the town & Cerro de Potosí. Silver mines. Bolivia. MALLET, 1683
'Montagne de Potosi'. Artist/engraver/cartographer: Allain Manesson Mallet. Provenance: "Description de l'Univers, contenant les differents systemes du Monde, les Cartes generales & particulieres de la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne: Les Plans & les Profils des principales Villes & des autres lieux considerables de la Terre; avec les portraits de Souverains qui y commandent, leurs Blasons, Titres & Livrees: Et les Moeurs, Religions, Gouvernements & divers habillemens de chaque Nation", dedie'e au Roy, par Allain Manesson Mallet. Paris, Chez Denys Thierry, Rue S. Jacques, MDCLXXXIII [First edition, Paris, 1683]. Type: Original 17th century copperplate print. Founded in 1545 as a mining town, Potosi produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest cities in the Americas and the world, with a population exceeding 200,000 people. Potosi was a mythical land of riches. There is a theory that the mint mark of Potosi (the letters "PTSI" superimposed on one another) is the origin of the dollar sign. Most of the silver shipped through the Spanish Main came from Potosí: 45,000 short tons of pure silver were mined from Cerro Rico from 1556 to 1783. Due to extensive mining, the mountain itself has diminished in height; before the mining started it was a few hundred metres higher than it is today.
Size: 1306px × 2331px
Location: Bolivia
Photo credit: © Antiqua Print Gallery / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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