Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital city of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. The municipality's population was 1,528,683 inhabitants in 2006 (official estimate) and the urban population is 1,545,161 in 2008 (official estimate) which makes it the largest city in Bolivia.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded on February 26, 1561 by Ñuflo de Chávez who gave the new settlement its name, which means "Holy ...
more
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the capital city of the Santa Cruz department in eastern Bolivia. The municipality's population was 1,528,683 inhabitants in 2006 (official estimate) and the urban population is 1,545,161 in 2008 (official estimate) which makes it the largest city in Bolivia.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded on February 26, 1561 by Ñuflo de Chávez who gave the new settlement its name, which means "Holy Cross of the Hills," in honor of his beloved native city in Extremadura, Spain. Ñuflo de Chávez was a Spanish captain whose biggest legacy was the expansion of colonization through virgin rainforest and savanna areas in southeastern South America. His campaign started in Buenos Aires - then Argentina's capital city - to the second biggest settlement, Asunción - then Paraguay's capital city - and finishing with the last of the larger settlements, Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Each of the three cities helped to consolidate the colonization of several...
less
