La Paz was founded on October 20th, 1548 by Pedro de la Gasca who was entrusted to build a city celebrating the end of Peruvian civil wars. The city was controlled by the Spanish crown for hundreds of years after. The first of what would be become many uprisings would occur in 1781, when a group of Aymara Indians sieged the city for a period of 6 months. They would continue until Independence, which occurred in 1825 when liberator Simon Bolivar entered the city with his troops. Present day has seen the people of La Paz and the rest of the Bolivian altiplano, among the poorest people on the continent, have frequent uprisings. In both 2003 and 2005, presidents have been either overthrown or replaced. There is no telling when the political situation will ever level out, however, the city is still a generally safe one and tourists are always made to feel welcome. Sporadic strikes and road closures still occur, but usually are made public days before so you can plan your travel ahead of time. Today the city has a population of more than 1 million and is growing as more and more people move to the capital to look for work.