Paria, Bolivia was an important administrative center of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

in the late 15th and 16th centuries CE and was the first Spanish settlement in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, founded in 1535. The ruins of "Old Paria" (Paria la Viexa or Paria la Vieja) are located east of the present day hamlet of Paria, which had a population of 106 people in 2012. Paria is northeast of the city of

Oruro Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level. It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...

. It is situated in a cultivated valley at an altitude of . Paria is located in Cercado Province and

Oruro Department Oruro (; Quechua: ''Uru Uru''; Aymara: ''Ururu'') is a department of Bolivia, with an area of . Its capital is the city of Oruro. According to the 2012 census, the Oruro department had a population of 494,178. Provinces of Oruro The depar ...

of Bolivia.

Incas

Paria existed as a settlement of the

Uru people The Uru or Uros () are an indigenous people of Bolivia and Peru. They live on a still-growing group of about 120 self-fashioned floating islands in Lake Titicaca near Puno. They form three main groups: the Uru-Chipaya, Uru-Murato, and Uru- ...

long before the

. The Inca emperor

Topa Inca Yupanqui Topa Inca Yupanqui or Túpac Inca Yupanqui (), also Topa Inga Yupangui, erroneously translated as "noble Inca accountant" (before 14711493) was the tenth Sapa Inca (1471–1493) of the Inca Empire, fifth of the Hanan dynasty. His father was Pac ...

(ruled 1471-1493) conquered the Paria region while expanding the

south from Cuzco. He selected Paria as capital of

Charcas province Charcas is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian Potosí Department. Its capital is San Pedro de Buena Vista (955 inhabitants in 2001).maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

crop from

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

to the east passed through Paria en route to Cuzco or was stored in Paria. Later in the 1520s, soldiers to serve in the Inca military campaigns in the northern

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

gathered in Paria before their journey north. Paria was located on the

royal road The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt for trade by Darius the Great, the Achaemenid emperor, in the 5th century BC. Darius I built the road to facilitate rapid communication on the western part of his large empire from ...

(Camino Real) of the Inca which stretched from

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

in the North to the

Maule River The Maule river or Río Maule ( Mapudungun: ''rainy'') is one of the most important rivers of Chile. It is inextricably linked to the country's pre-Hispanic (Inca) times, the country's conquest, colonial period, wars of Independence, modern hi ...

in present-day

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Paria under the Incas, in the words of a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest, was "an administrative and military center, a miniature Cuzco with numerous settlements under its jurisdiction, from where the Inca emperor exercised his

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

over

Qullasuyu Qullasuyu ( Quechua and Aymara spelling, ; ''Collasuyu, Kholla Suyu''; ) was the southeastern provincial region of the Inca Empire. Qullasuyu is the region of the Qulla and related specifically to the native Qulla Quechuas who primarily resided ...

ne of the four main parts of the Inca Empire It has temples for

Inti Inti is the ancient Inca mythology, Inca solar deity, sun god. He is revered as the national Tutelary deity, patron of the Inca state. Although most consider Inti the sun god, he is more appropriately viewed as a cluster of solar aspects, since t ...

, the cult of the Sun of the Incas, convents for ñustas (princesses), civil and military buildings, storage silos (

qullqa A qullqa ( "deposit, storehouse"; (spelling variants: ''colca, collca, qolca, qollca'') was a storage building found along roads and near the cities and political centers of the Inca Empire. These were large stone buildings with roofs thatched w ...

s) and lodging places ambos"

Spanish

In 1535, the conquistador

Diego de Almagro Diego de Almagro (; – July 8, 1538), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish conquistador known for his exploits in western South America. He participated with Francisco Pizarro in the Spanish conquest of Peru. While subduing ...

set forth from Cuzco with the goal of conquering land and finding riches in the territory south of Cuzco in what is today Bolivia and Chile. An advance party led by Juan de Saavedra and including Vila Oma, an Inca religious leader,

Paullu Inca Pawllu Inka Tupaq (before 15351549) Paullu was a statesman, military man and politician, thanks to the intellectual training he received as a member of the Inca Nobility. He became the main indigenous ally for different spanish factions after Man ...

, the brother of Inca emperor,

Manco Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui (1544) was the founder and first Sapa Inca of the independent Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, Peru, Vilcabamba, although he was originally a Puppet government, puppet Inca Emperor installed by the Spaniards. He was also known ...

, Augustianian priests, 150 Spanish soldiers, and hundreds of native soldiers. Arriving at Paria on January 23, 1535, the Spanish destroyed many of the buildings and founded Paria La Nueva (New Paria). Almagro and the bulk of his army arrived in Paria later that year and proceeded southward to conquer additional lands. The Augustinian priests who accompanied Saavedrea founded a parish in Paria In 1565, the

Corregimiento ''Corregimiento'' (; , ) is a Spanish term used for country subdivisions for royal administrative purposes, ensuring districts were under crown control as opposed to local elites. A ''corregimiento'' was usually headed by a '' corregidor''. The ...

(district) of Paria was created as part of

Charcas Province Charcas is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian Potosí Department. Its capital is San Pedro de Buena Vista (955 inhabitants in 2001).Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priests were working in the province. The church in Paria has been declared a National Monument by the Bolivian government.

Ruins

The location of Paria la Viexa has been disputed, but a 2010 article locates it east of the present hamlet of Paria. There, scattered over a large area of , are the ruins of large buildings, more than 1,000

s for storing grain, and pottery dating mostly from the Inca period. The site is larger than any other known archaeological site in the area, thus strengthening the opinion that this is the site of Paria la Vieja.Faldon, et al, pp 235, 243

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Oruro Department Inca Archaeological sites in Bolivia 1535 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated places established in 1535 Ruins in Bolivia History of the Inca civilization Inca Empire