La Paz

La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department. As of the 2001 census, the city of La Paz had a population of about one million. La Paz is situated in the canyon of the Choqueyapu River below a plateau with an altitude of 3600 meters. Atop the plateau is the city of El Alto, where the international airport is located. The city is located at 16°30' South, 68°8' West (-16.5, -68.1333). Its name is translated into English as "The Peace" or "peace."

Founded in 1548 by Alonso de Mendoza at the site of the Native American settlement called Chuquiago, 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 two years earlier against Blasco Núñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru. In 1825, after the decisive victory of the republicans at Ayacucho over the Spanish army in the course of the South 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 remaining the nominal capital only. This change reflected the shift of the Bolivian economy away from the largely exhausted silver mines of Potosí to the exploitation of tin near Oruro, and resulting shifts in the distribution of economic and political power among various national elites.

La Paz is also home to the world's highest golf course. The air is so thin that a well-timed shot will travel several metres further than at sea level.