La Paz

La Paz, city, Bolivia

La Paz (lä päs), city (1992 pop. 713,378), W Bolivia, administrative capital (since 1898) and largest city of Bolivia. The legal capital is Sucre. La Paz, the highest capital in the world, lies at an altitude of c.12,000 ft (3,660 m) and is crowded into a long, narrow valley cut by the La Paz River. The site, where there was an Inca village, was chosen by Alonso de Mendoza in 1548 because it offered a modicum of protection in winter from the wind and cold of the barren high plateau c.1,400 ft (430 m) above. Because of the narrowness of the valley, the city could not be laid out in the customary Spanish gridiron pattern. The Plaza Murillo, named after the independence leader Pedro Domingo Murillo, with the national palace, cathedral, and other buildings, is small; there are only a few broad, long avenues, and the streets ascend steeply on either side. Since the climate is generally cool and extreme variations in temperature are common, what flowers and trees there are must be carefully tended. La Paz's location on colonial trade routes made it the commercial and political focus of colonial life; some of the colonial architecture remains. La Paz is an agricultural market and has light manufacturing industries. Its Univ. of San Andrés was founded in 1830, and a Catholic university in 1966. There are extraordinary tourist attractions in the region, notably the Andean peaks Illimani and Illampú, Lake Titicaca, the ruins of Tiahuanaco, and the adjacent tropical yungas. The city's full name is La Paz de Ayacucho, after a Bolivian victory at Ayacucho, Peru, in the war for independence (1809–25).

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La Paz, city, Mexico

La Paz (lä päs), city (1990 pop. 137,641), capital and largest city of Baja California Sur state, W Mexico. A tourist spot and transportation hub for the southern Baja peninsula, La Paz was first settled in 1811. The city was known for its pearl fishing until the middle of the 20th cent. when the oyster beds were destroyed by disease. It is known for its water sports, as well as being an entry point for the Los Cabos resort area to the south. La Paz is linked to Mazatlán and Los Mochis by ferry, and to Tijuana and Mexicali by highway.

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La Paz

City (pop., 2001: city, 789,558; 2003 metro. area est., 1,477,000), administrative capital of Bolivia. Located in west-central Bolivia, it is the world's highest capital, built over 12,000 ft (3,650 m) above sea level. The city centre lies in a canyon formed by the La Paz River. Founded in 1548 by the Spanish on the site of an Inca village, it was originally called Nuestra Señora de La Paz (“Our Lady of Peace”). Following the Battle of Ayacucho (1824), the decisive battle in the colony's wars of independence, the city was renamed La Paz de Ayacucho, though informally it continues to be called La Paz. Since 1898 it has been the administrative capital of Bolivia, though Sucre remains the judicial capital. It is Bolivia's principal industrial centre and also the site of the University of San Andrés (1830), the National Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Archaeology.

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La Paz

City (pop., 2000: 162,954), capital of Baja California Sur state, northwestern Mexico. Situated on La Paz Bay of the Gulf of California, it is a popular resort and the largest urban centre in the state. The bay was discovered by the Spanish in 1596; the town was established in the early 1800s and served as the capital of Baja California (1828–87). When the peninsula was divided between the U.S. and Mexico (1887), La Paz became the capital of the Mexican region.

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La Paz

a city in W Bolivia, at an altitude of 3600 m (12 000 ft.): seat of government since 1898 (though Sucre is still the official capital); the country's largest city; founded in 1548 by the Spaniards; university (1830). Pop.: 1 533 000 (2005 est.)

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La Paz 

a city in Bolivia and the administrative center of La Paz Department; the functional capital and political, economic, and cultural center of the country. It is situated in the Andes, in a canyon of the Río de La Paz, at an elevation of 3,660 m. It has a tropical high-mountain climate. The mean temperature is 6°C in the coldest month (July) and 11°C in the warmest month (December). The annual precipitation is 570 mm. Population, 562,700 (1970). A railroad and highway junction, La Paz is linked by railroad with ports in Peru, Chile, and Argentina. El Alto Airport is of international significance. There are food-processing, textile, tobacco, and paper industries, as well as the production of cement, glass, footwear, furniture, and other items. La Paz also manufactures handicrafts (ceramics, wood carvings, and gold and silver articles). It is a commercial center.

La Paz was founded in 1548 by the Spanish conquistador Alonso de Mendoza. It was named La Paz (”peace”) to commemorate the reconciliation of several groups of Spanish conquistadors that had long been fighting among themselves. However, there was a continual struggle for power in the city among the descendants of the Spanish colonialists, which was accompanied by rebellions, revolts, and palace coups. In 1809 an uprising erupted in La Paz against Spanish rule, which was a prologue to the War of Independence of the Spanish-American Colonies of 1810–26. In 1825 the city was finally liberated by the troops of General Sucre. In 1898, La Paz became the de facto capital of Bolivia (the official capital is Sucre). In April 1952 the city was the site of a three-day rebellion, which marked the beginning of the Bolivian Revolution of 1952.

La Paz is the seat of the president’s residence and government institutions. The rectangular grid of streets from colonial times has survived in the old sections, which have traditional two-story houses. Several buildings were constructed in the baroque style, including the 18th-century Diez de Medina Palace (1775; three stories with arcades and stairways in internal courtyards), the 18th-century Villaverde Palace, the Church of San Francisco (c. 1743–84; a tripartite portal with rich carving), the Church of Santo Domingo (1726), the Church of San Pedro (1790; the vault of the nave and the dome made from a lime-pumice cement on a thatched framework). In the partially rebuilt center (including Arce, Camacho, and Potoci streets, as well as Avenida de 16 julio) there are multistory, reinforced-concrete buildings that were constructed in the mid-20th century. On the outskirts of the city are Indian sections with poor facilities.

La Paz is the seat of the University of San Andrés, a pedagogical institute, the National Conservatory, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of History, the Geophysical Institute, the Library of the Department of Culture, the Municipal Library; the Tiahuanaco National Museum (art of ancient and colonial periods, Bolivian folk art), and the Municipal Theater.

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La Paz 

a city in Mexico, in the southern part of Lower California, administrative center of Baja California Sur. Population, 42,000 (1969). La Paz has cotton-ginning enterprises. It is a commercial and fishing port. Cotton is exported.