The city of La Paz was founded here, in what is now the community of Laja, on October 20th, 1548 as La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz, The City of Our Lady of Peace, to mark the end of the civil wars in Peru. The first church in Bolivia was constructed here.
The city was later moved from this location on the road to Lake Titicaca to the present location in the valley of the Chuquiago Marka.