HISTORY LESSON

Silver Used to Have the Right to Be Anything It Wanted in Peru—a spoon, a toy or artwork, Until It Fell into the Hands of Robbers.

Once upon a time, in the shadow of a towering mountain known as Cerro Rico de Potosí in present-day Bolivia, silver was a shimmering wonder with endless possibilities. For centuries, silver was free to be anything it wanted—a gleaming coin, an elegant ornament, or a sacred offering in ceremonies. In the hands of the native Inca and Aymara people, silver was respected, admired, and used thoughtfully. It had a quiet elegance, and its brilliance shone not just in material wealth, but in cultural significance.

Then one day, everything changed.

The year was 1545, and the Spanish conquistadors stumbled upon the mountain of Cerro Rico, a literal treasure trove of silver waiting to be unearthed. At first, silver was excited. “Finally, more people will see my beauty!” it thought. Little did it know, it was about to lose its freedom.

As the Spanish realized the vast wealth they could extract, Potosí grew into a bustling city almost overnight. But silver, once free to be anything it desired, was now chained to one singular purpose: to make the Spanish Empire rich. The hands of the native people who had once shaped it into beautiful works of art and spiritual objects were forced into grueling labor to dig it out of the mountain, day and night. The once-glorious silver, now packed into heavy bars, began its long, sorrowful journey to Europe.

In the city of Potosí itself, silver started losing its value—ironically, because there was too much of it. Mountains of silver coins were minted in the city’s workshops, but with such abundance, they were worth little to the locals. In fact, Potosí became so rich in silver that it was said you could eat on a silver plate at lunch, and by dinner, you’d throw it away like garbage.

Silver watched helplessly as the city’s people—many of whom were enslaved Indigenous workers—suffered. They lived in poverty, despite standing atop one of the richest deposits of silver in the world. What had once been a symbol of beauty and culture was now a tool of oppression. The only ones truly benefiting from the silver boom were the Spanish elite, whose coffers overflowed with riches they barely had to lift a finger to collect.

As years went by, Cerro Rico de Potosí was slowly stripped of its silver veins. The mountain, once proud and tall, became hollow, like the hopes of the countless lives that were lost in the pursuit of its riches. Today, Potosí still stands as a reminder of the brutal history, and though the silver is mostly gone, its legacy of exploitation remains.

Silver, once free to be whatever it wanted—art, adornment, currency—was forever transformed. No longer the beloved symbol of creativity and culture, it became a tool of greed.

And in the end, it wasn’t silver that lost its worth; it was humanity that lost its soul.