Roz in La Paz is on the move

LA PAZ: LOOKIN' GOOD AT AGE 474

The City of La Paz marks the 474th anniversary of its founding in May. This historic event was a long time coming. It actually took the Europeans five tries to found the settlement that became La Paz. Here's how it happened, as recounted in the city's celebration brochure.

The first Spaniard to arrive was Fortún Jiménez de Bertandoña, mutineer pilot of "La Concepción." He came in 1533, but he and his 22 sailors were killed by the native Guaycuras.

Two years later, on May 3, 1535, Hernán Cortés arrived and named the bay and harbor Santa Cruz. That day has become the official date of the founding anniversary. However, Cortés failed to establish a permanent colony. Sixty-one years later (in 1596), Sebastián Vizcaíno disembarked and named the port La Paz. But he didn't create a settlement, either.

There were two more attempts: one in 1683 by the admiral Isidro de Atondo y Antillón; another in 1720 by Jesuits Juan de Ugarte and Jaime Bravo, who established the mission of "Nuestra Señora del Pilar de La Paz." They abandoned the mission 15 years later.

It wasn't until 1811 that Governor Felipe de Goicoechea gave the area to Juan José Espinoza to start a settlement. That was the beginning of the permanent colony of La Paz.