Huancavelica is a region in Peru. Area: 22,131 km2. Population: 385,162 (1993 census). The capital is the city of Huancavelica.
 In the pre-Incan era, Huancavelica was known as the Wancawilka region or "the place where the grandsons of the Wankas live". The city itself was established on August 5th, 1572. The mines of Huancavelica, discovered in 1563, were the most prolific source of mercury in Spanish America, and as such were vital to the mining operations of the Spanish colonial-era. Mercury was necessary to extract silver from the ores produced in the Potosí silver-mines of Perú superior, now named Bolivia, using the patio process (see also amalgamation). Mercury was so essential that mercury consumption was the basis upon which the tax on precious metals, known as the Quinto Real, was levied. In 1648 the Viceroy of Peru declared that Potosí and Huancavelica were "the two pillars that support this kingdom and that of Spain." Moreover, the viceroy thought that Spain could, if necessary, dispense with the silver from Potosí, but it could not dispense with the mercury from Huancavelica.
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