Cerro Rico de Potosí

Cerro Rico, also known as Cerro Potosí or Sumaq Urqu, is a mountain in the Andes near the Bolivian city of Potosí. Cerro Rico—popularly conceived as being "made of" silver ore—is famous for having provided vast quantities of silver to the Spanish Empire, most of which was shipped to metropolitan Spain. It is estimated that approximately 85 percent of the silver produced in the central Andes during this period came from Cerro Rico.