La Paz (Official Name: Nuestra Señora de La Paz) is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department. Located at an elevation of 3,660 meters, it is the world's highest capital city. La Paz sits in a bowl surrounded by the high altiplano. As it grows, La Paz climbs the hills, resulting in varying elevations from 3,000 meters to 4,100 meters (9,840 ft to 13,450 ft). Overlooking the city is towering tr...
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La Paz (Official Name: Nuestra Señora de La Paz) is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department. Located at an elevation of 3,660 meters, it is the world's highest capital city. La Paz sits in a bowl surrounded by the high altiplano. As it grows, La Paz climbs the hills, resulting in varying elevations from 3,000 meters to 4,100 meters (9,840 ft to 13,450 ft). Overlooking the city is towering triple-peaked Illimani, always snow-covered and majestic. As of the 2001 census, the city of La Paz had a population of 877,363, and together with the neighboring cities of El Alto and Viacha, make the most populous urban area of Bolivia, with a population of more than 1.6 million inhabitants (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica). La Paz is also known as Chuquiago Marka or Chuqiyapu from Aymara "chuqi," meaning gold, and "yapu", meaning farm.
Founded in 1548 by the Spanish conquistadors at the site of the Native American settlement, Laja, the full...
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