Potosi is a department and city in Bolivia. It is at an altitude of 3967 meters and has about 115,000 inhabitants. It lies beneath the Cerro Rico, a mountain of silver ore, which has always dominated the city. Founded 1545 as a mining town, it soon acquired fabulous wealth. In Spanish there is still a saying vale un Potosi meaning "being worth a fortune". It is here that most of the Spanish silver came from and Indian forced labour came to die by the thousands. After 1800 the silver mines became depleted, making tin the main product. This eventually led to a slow economic decline.
The department of Potosi is in the southwest of the country. It comprises 37,623 sq. km with 368,500 inhabitants. It is mostly a barren, mountainous region with one large plateau to the west. It is also home of Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.