Atlas Trail
Nine South American Capitals in Order of Founding
Seven of these nine capitals were first established by Spanish expeditions within fourteen years, from Quito in 1534 to La Paz in 1548, and this path follows them in that order before turning to Caracas in 1567 and Montevideo in 1726. Each stop adds one fact about where the city sits, who founded it and how large it is today.
Stop 1 of 9.
Cities
Quito was founded by Sebastián de Belalcázar on 6 December 1534, the earliest founding on this path. Its elevation of 2,850 meters makes it either the highest or the second-highest national capital in the world, and it had 1,763,275 residents at the 2022 census.
Stop 2 of 9.
Cities
Lima follows with a founding year of 1535 and became the capital of the new republic after Peru gained independence in 1821. It is a primate city, the political, cultural, financial and commercial center of Peru, with a city population of 9,600,000 as of 2025 across about 2,672 square kilometers.
Stop 3 of 9.
Cities
Buenos Aires was first established by Pedro de Mendoza in 1536, then abandoned, and reestablished by Juan de Garay in 1580. It lies on the southwest shore of the Río de la Plata, covers about 206 square kilometers and had 3,121,707 people in the city proper at the 2022 census.
Stop 4 of 9.
Cities
Asunción was founded on 15 August 1537 on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River and is nicknamed the Mother of Cities. It is one of South America's oldest cities and the longest continually inhabited area in the Río de la Plata Basin, with 462,241 residents at the 2022 census.
Stop 5 of 9.
Cities
Bogotá was founded by the Spanish as Santa Fe de Bogotá on 6 August 1538, on the site of the earlier indigenous settlement of Bacatá. At an average altitude of 2,640 meters it is the third highest capital city in the world, and it had 8,034,649 people at the 2022 census.
Stop 6 of 9.
Cities
Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia on 12 February 1541 and is the capital and largest city of Chile. It houses the presidential palace and the main organs of the executive and judiciary, stands at 570 meters, and had 6,269,384 people at the 2017 census.
Stop 7 of 9.
Cities
La Paz was founded by Alonso de Mendoza on 20 October 1548 and is the seat of government of Bolivia. Its elevation of 3,650 meters is the highest on this path, and its 755,732 residents at the 2024 census make it the third-most populous city in Bolivia.
Stop 8 of 9.
Cities
Caracas was founded by Diego de Losada on 25 July 1567, officially as Santiago de León de Caracas. It lies in a valley of the Venezuelan Central Range along the Guaire River at about 900 meters, and had a city-proper population of 3,242,000 as of 2022.
Stop 9 of 9.
Cities
Montevideo, founded by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala in 1726, is the latest founding on this path. It sits on the northeastern bank of the Río de la Plata at an average elevation of 43 meters, and its 1,287,452 residents at the 2023 census are about 36.8 percent of all Uruguayans.
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