Potosí: History, Former Names & Timeline

Highland city built on the silver of the Cerro Rico; in the seventeenth century as populous as London, its silver flowed to Europe and China.

Map showing Potosí in 1815 — Border map for 1815. See the world in 1815.

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<p style="font-size:13px;margin:4px 0 0">Interactive map: <a href="https://chronicamaps.com/en/city/potosi">Potosí: History, Former Names &amp; Timeline</a> · Chronica Maps</p>

Former names of Potosí

From	Name	Note
1545	Potosí

Timeline of Potosí

Year	Event
1545	Silver is found at the Cerro Rico
1572	The mita forced-labour draft is imposed on the mines
1825	Bolivia becomes independent
1987	The City of Potosí becomes a World Heritage Site

Who ruled Potosí

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

Period	State
500 BC–1491	Savanna hunter-gatherers
1492–1599	Inca Empire
1600–1782	Savanna hunter-gatherers
1783–1879	Viceroyalty of Peru
1880–today	Bolivia