El Alto

History

The dry and inclement plain above La Paz was uninhabited until 1903 when the newly built railways from Lake Titicaca and Arica reached the rim of the canyon, where the La Paz terminus, railyards and depots were built along with a settlement of railway workers (a spur line down into the canyon opened in 1905). In 1925, the airfield was built as a base for the new air force, which attracted additional settlement. In 1939, El Alto's first elementary school opened. El Alto started to grow tremendously in the 1950s when the settlement was connected to La Paz's water supply (before this, all water had to be transported from La Paz in tanker vehicles) and building land in the canyon became more and more scarce and expensive. In an administrative reform in March 1985, the district of El Alto and its surroundings were politically separated from the City of La Paz (this date is officially referred to and celebrated as the city's "founding day"). In 1987, El Alto was formally incorporated as a city. In 1994, the city became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Alto. Since then, the city has expanded rapidly and can be described as a more urbanized area, with the influx of population occurring in informal environments. Many residents lack access to basic infrastructure, including potable water, connected sewage systems, good roads, and transportation, as the population is expected to surpass 1 million people by 2025. Furthermore, with new urban growth, the city's infrastructure requires improvement. El Alto is on the path to urban expansion, with new sustainable urban development projects from organizations such as the IDB and the World Bank supporting the development of infrastructure. On 27 February 2026, a Bolivian Air Force C-130 cargo plane crashed into a road…

Geography

The city contains La Paz’s El Alto International Airport. El Alto is one of the highest major cities in the world, up to 4,300 meters (13,615 feet) above mean sea level. It has a cold climate, with the highest average monthly maximum temperature being in November. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in Bolivia, due to immigration from Bolivia’s rural areas to the La Paz region which started with the rural reform of 1952 and increased in the last 10 years. Some migrants say the difficulty of growing crops in the countryside drove them to move to the city. El Alto features a cold subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwc, Trewartha: Eolk), typical of the tropical Andes at high altitude. Temperatures are typically cool during the day and crisp at night year-round, due to the thin atmosphere and strong radiative heat loss at elevation. Average daytime temperatures generally range between 13–17 °C, while nighttime temperatures frequently approach or fall below 0 °C, particularly during the winter months. Snowfall is possible throughout the year. The water supply in El Alto has been impacted by drought caused by shrinking glaciers. In 2016 the three main dams supplying water to the city were almost dry due to lack of glacial melt water.

Most-observed species

• Rufous-collared Sparrow

  Zonotrichia capensis (P.L.S.Müller, 1776) · Aves
  1,780
• Eared Dove

  Zenaida auriculata (Des Murs, 1847) · Aves
  1,663
• Chiguanco Thrush

  Turdus chiguanco Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1837 · Aves
  1,527
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  1,198
• Spot-winged Pigeon

  Patagioenas maculosa (Temminck, 1813) · Aves
  1,181
• Corryocactus melanotrichus (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose

  Corryocactus melanotrichus (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose · Magnoliopsida
  1,093
• Peruvian Sierra-Finch

  Phrygilus punensis Ridgway, 1887 · Aves
  1,011
• Indian-Fig

  Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. · Magnoliopsida
  971

Most recent

• M 4.5 — 2025-01-18
  13 km SSE of Yunguyo, Peru
• M 5 — 2024-04-10
  60 km W of Patacamaya, Bolivia
• M 4.3 — 2014-11-18
  35 km NNW of Coroico, Bolivia
• M 4.9 — 2014-10-01
  26 km S of Chulumani, Bolivia
• M 4.5 — 2008-11-15
  23 km SSW of Tiahuanaco, Bolivia
• M 4 — 2008-09-05
  29 km N of Viloco, Bolivia