One Andean mountain funded the Spanish Empire and killed millions mining it

Discovered in 1545, the silver inside Bolivia's Cerro Rico ('Rich Mountain') was so vast that Potosi briefly became one of the largest, wealthiest cities on Earth, minting coins that dominated global trade for two centuries. The mountain's labor system, built on forced indigenous and enslaved work under lethal conditions, is estimated to have killed millions over its centuries of operation.

— Historical and economic scholarship on Spanish colonial silver mining, Potosi — Founded 1545