La Paz

La Paz, the name of a department of Bolivia and its capital. The department, which joins Peru, has an area of 43,000 square miles, and contains the highest mountain of the Bolivian Andes. The town of La Paz de Ayacucho is one of-the highest' situated in the world, standing 11,970 feet above the sea-level. It is 40 miles E. of Lake Titicaca. Founded in 1548, it became a bishopric in 1605, in which year its cathedral, one of the finpst.in South America, was begun. A trade in copper and cinchona is carried on by its Indian arid half-breed inhabitants. There is also a town called La Paz in the province of Entre Rios, Argentina.