Hardly had the Spaniards established themselves in Peru, when they founded a settlement also in Upper Peru or Charcas, the present Bolivia. Los Charcas, the name of an Indian tribe, was given not only to the first town, but also to the entire province which in 1825 became an independent republic named for the “Liberator,” Simón Bolívar.

As early as 1538, Diego de Rojas, sent out by the governor of Peru, founded a colony at Charcas. He also was the first to enter Tucumán, or northern Argentina, in 1543. Charcas is the present capital of Bolivia, and since Independence it has been known as Sucre. In colonial times the town was known also as Chuquisaca and as La Plata, which latter should not be confused with the La Plata colony, south of Paraguay, the present Argentina.