Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Brief history
Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded in April 1561 by the conquistador
Nuflo de Chavez
,
who had arrived in the region at the head of a large military expedition accompanied by thou-
sands of indigenous Guaraní. The original city stood 260km east of its present location, close
to
San José de Chiquitos
. The new settlement proved precarious, however, surrounded by a
hostile indigenous population and far from any other outpost of Spanish power. In 1594 it
wasmovedtoitspresentlocation, amoreeasilydefendedsiteonthewestofthe
Río Grande
,
close to the last foothills of the
Andes
. For the next three and a half centuries Santa Cruz
remained an isolated frontier outpost. Things began to change in the 1950s with the construc-
tion of a railway link to Brazil and a road to Cochabamba. Subsequently Santa Cruz became
the main supplier of cotton, rice, sugar, soy and other tropical agricultural produce to the rest
of Bolivia (and, increasingly, foreign markets as well).
The cocaine, oil and gas economy
SantaCruz'seconomicboomreallytookoffinthe1970s,whenthecityemergedasthecentre
of the Bolivian
cocaine industry
. Cocaine brought enormous wealth - as well as corruption
- to the city, much of which was reinvested in land, agriculture, construction and other legit-
imate businesses. Growth was further fuelled by oil and gas revenues from the Chaco, and
generousgovernmentsubsidiestolargelandownersandagro-industrialists.Thepopulationof
Santa Cruz leapt from around 42,000 in 1950 to well over one and a half million today. Since
comingtopower,however,President EvoMoraleshascomethroughwithpledgestoincrease
state control or even nationalize foreign-owned oil fields, refineries and utility companies to
ensure that more revenue and jobs benefit Bolivia's poor. As Latin America's second-richest
country in natural resources, this has caused shockwaves throughout the region - especially
in
Santa Cruz
.
