History of La Paz
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La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...
was founded in 1548 by the Spanish
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
s at the site of the Native American settlement Laja; the full name of the city was originally ''Nuestra Señora de La Paz'' (meaning '' Our Lady of Peace''). The name commemorated the restoration of peace following the insurrection of Gonzalo Pizarro and fellow conquistadors four years earlier against Blasco Núñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru. The city was later moved to its present location in the valley of Chuquiago Marka. Control over the former Inca lands had been entrusted to
Pedro de la Gasca Pedro de la Gasca (June 1485 – 13 November 1567) was a Spanish bishop, diplomat and the second (acting) viceroy of Peru, from 10 April 10 1547 to 27 January 1550. Biography Pedro de la Gasca studied at the University of Salamanca and the Un ...
by the Spanish king (and Holy Roman Emperor)
Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...
. Gasca commanded
Alonso de Mendoza Alonso de Mendoza (Garrovillas de Alconétar, Spain, c. 1471–1476 – Tipuani, Imperio Español, 1549) was a Spanish captain, conquistador, and the founder of the city of Nuestra Señora de La Paz. He was appointed by Pedro de la Gasca, the " ...
to found a new city commemorating the end of the civil wars in Peru; the city of La Paz was founded on October 20, 1548. In 1549, Juan Gutierrez Paniagua was commanded to design an urban plan that would designate sites for public areas, plazas, official buildings, and a cathedral. La Plaza de los Españoles, which is known today as the Plaza Murillo, was chosen as the location for government buildings as well as the Metropolitan Cathedral. Spain controlled La Paz with a firm grip and the Spanish king had the last word in all matters political. In 1781, for a total of six months, a group of Aymara people laid siege to La Paz. Under the leadership of
Tupac Katari Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
, they destroyed churches and government property. Thirty years later, Indians laid a two-month siege on La Paz – where and when the legend of the
Ekeko The Ekeko is the Tiwanakan (pre Columbian civilization) god of abundance and prosperity in the mythology and folklore of the people from the Peruvian and Bolivian Altiplano Its chief importance in popular culture is as the main figure of the an ...
is set. In 1809, the struggle for independence from the Spanish rule brought uprisings against the royalist forces. It was on July 16, 1809 that
Pedro Domingo Murillo Pedro Domingo Murillo (September 17, 1757– January 29, 1810) was a patriot of Upper Peru who played a key role in Bolivia's independence. Biography On 17 September 1757, Pedro Domingo Murillo was born in the city of La Paz. His father, Juan ...
famously said that the Bolivian revolution was igniting a lamp that nobody would be able to turn off. This formally marked the beginning of the Liberation of South America from Spain. Pedro Domingo Murillo was hanged at the Plaza de los Españoles that night, but his name would be eternally remembered in the name of the plaza, and he would be remembered as the voice of revolution across South America. In 1825, after the decisive victory of the republicans at Ayacucho over the Spanish army in the course of the Spanish American wars of independence, the city's full name was changed to ''La Paz de Ayacucho'' (meaning ''The Peace of Ayacucho''). In 1898, La Paz was made the '' de facto'' seat of the national government, with
Sucre Sucre () is the Capital city, capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the List of cities in Bolivia, 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . T ...
remaining the nominal historical as well as judiciary capital. This change reflected the shift of the Bolivian economy away from the largely exhausted silver
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
s of
Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...
to the exploitation of tin near Oruro, and resulting shifts in the distribution of economic and political power among various national
elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
s.La Paz
," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2008

2009-10-31.


History of La Paz


References

{{Authority control Colonial Bolivia