Talk about a telling sign: they say the mintmark of Potosí (the letters PTSI superimposed on each other) is the origin of the dollar symbol. Whether it’s true or not, who knows, but it does give you a pretty good idea about Potosí’s history. Founded in 1545, Potosí’s main attraction was the Cerro de Potosí, also called the “Cerro Rico,” or “Rich Mountain,” from which so much silver would be mined—mostly through a combination of brutal Indigenous/African labor—that today the peak is a couple hundred meters shorter than it was originally. Once one of the largest cities in the world, after 1800, most of the shiny stuff was gone and the population shrank. People are still mining in Potosí today, but there aren’t a ton of job opportunities, and as a result, a lot of folks have moved north, to places like La Paz and El Alto. Read Less