Sucre

Before the Spanish, Chuquisaca was the provincial capital of the Charca people, conquered by the Inca Topa Inka Yupanqui. The Spanish founded the city as Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo, on 30 November 1538 by one account and on 16 April 1540 by another, and its mild climate soon drew the wealthy families who lived off Potosí's silver. La Plata became the seat of the Audiencia of Charcas, which governed a huge territory; the Franciscans founded La Recoleta in 1601, an archbishopric followed in 1609, and in 1624 the University of San Francisco Xavier, one of the oldest in the Americas.

The university made the city a centre of new ideas. On 25 May 1809 the Audiencia, backed by the university's teachers, deposed the Spanish governor in the Chuquisaca Revolution, remembered in Bolivia as the "First Cry of Freedom"; the bell of San Francisco was rung until it cracked. On 6 August 1825 the act founding the republic was signed in the old Jesuit assembly hall now called the Casa de la Libertad, and on 12 July 1839 a law confirmed the city as capital and renamed it after Antonio José de Sucre.

As silver declined, power moved north. In 1898 the seat of government moved to La Paz, leaving Sucre the constitutional capital with the Supreme Court, and the city grew slowly — about 20,000 people in 1900. In 1991 UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site. The transfer of capital functions to La Paz still causes friction and plays a part in local politics.

Sucre calls itself the White City, and by tradition the churches, convents and balconied houses of its historic centre are whitewashed. It is above all a university and court city: the University of San Francisco Xavier draws students from across the country, and the presence of the judges and lawyers of the Supreme Court gives the city a formal, Catholic and somewhat old-fashioned manner. Foreign visitors come in numbers to study Spanish or volunteer, and many stay longer than they planned.

Music and dance follow the valley traditions. The cueca is danced in two forms, a popular one and a slower salon cueca similar to the Argentine zamba, and the thanta morenos is a dance with its own distinctive character. The Quechua communities of the countryside are known for their weaving, sold at the Sunday market in Tarabuco and at the small market at the entry to La Recoleta.

In football, Independiente Petrolero, which has a large fan base, represents the city in the professional league, while Universitario de Sucre, owned by the university and now in the second division, was national champion in 2008 and 2014 and has played in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Feeling about the city's status runs deep: the constitution names Sucre the capital, and the transfer of government to La Paz still causes regional tension.

About 300,000 people lived in the municipality of Sucre at the 2024 census, almost twice as many as in 1992, and the city is the capital of Chuquisaca Department as well as of the country. The municipality is divided into eight districts, five of them urban and three rural, and new neighbourhoods have spread across the hills beyond the colonial grid.

The economy rests on government, the courts and education — besides the old university there are campuses of private universities and the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar — along with cement and the chocolate makers for which the city is famous. The Mercado Campesino is the largest market and the meeting point between city and countryside, where thousands of people work each day and families go shopping together at weekends.

Life moves at a gentle pace. The centre fills in the evening, when students and families walk around Plaza 25 de Mayo and Parque Bolívar, and lunch remains the main meal. The city shares the national worries of the last few years — shortages of dollars and fuel, rising prices and road blockades.

Chuquisaca has its own cooking, and Sucre is where to try it. The most famous dish is chorizos chuquisaqueños, the city's spicy pork sausages. Other local classics include mondongo chuquisaqueño, a spicy pork stew with hominy, c'kocko de pollo and picante de pollo, both chicken dishes, and cazuela de maní, a peanut soup.

Mornings belong to the salteña, the juicy baked pasty usually filled with meat, which Bolivians eat before noon; several small salteña shops sit at the lower end of Calle San Alberto. The Mercado Central is the place for fresh fruit juices, simple lunches and local produce, while the Mercado Campesino supplies the city with the harvest of the surrounding valleys.

Sucre is also Bolivia's chocolate city. Companies such as Chocolates Para Ti and Chocolates Taboada are among the best known, and their shops, together with smaller artisanal confectioners, line the streets between the main square and the Central Market; boxes of bonbons are the classic gift to take home. Coffee, mate de coca and api are the everyday drinks, and singani from the southern valleys is poured in the evening.