The city was founded as Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace) in 1548 by a Spanish expedition headed by Alonso de Mendoza. The site, which was inhabited by Inca peasants, has favourable climatic conditions, sheltered as it is from the cold winds that blow over the Altiplano. The city developed only after it became Bolivia's capital; it had a population of 79,000 in 1900.
There is a little left of the old colonial and nineteenth-century town with the exception of some steep narrow streets and layout of some squares. The Plaza Murillo, with the city's cathedral, legislative buildings, and government institutions, is the focal area of the central part of the city, which has many modern buildings, including skyscrapers. Bolivia's most important university, Mayor de San Andres (founded in 1830), several other institutions of higher learning, and museums give La Paz its dominant position in the country's cultural life.
The highest lake in the world (3,800 meters, 12,507 feet), it is 200 kilometers (125 miles) long, with a maximum width of 110 kilometers (69 miles), maximum depth of 280 meters (918 feet), and an area of 8,300 square kilometers (3,240 square miles). It is a fresh-water lake fed by a number of rivers coming mainly from the Cordillera Real (part of the Cordillera Oriental) near its eastern shores. The surplus waters of the lake are drained by Rio Desaguadero into a shallow brackish waters of lake Poopo.
The temperature of the lake varies little through the year (50-53.6F). Under the influence of the lake, temperatures in the surroinding area do not drop at night nor in winter as much as they do at similar altitudes on the Altiplano. Thus, wheat and maize (corn) can be grown to a higher altitude (12,800 feet) around the lake than in other parts of the Altiplano. Lake Titicaca includes many small bays and headlands along its shores as well as small islands. The lake has an extensive fleet of motorboats carrying goods and passengers, especially between the Peruvian and Bolivian ports.