Sucre holds major national importance and is an educational and government center, as well as the location of the Bolivian Supreme Court.

Some regional tension remains from the historical transfer of capital functions to La Paz, and even today the issue features an important role in local culture and political ideology.

Prior to Spanish colonization, Sucre was an Inca town called Chuquisaca,[5] a name that remains an alternative designation for the city today.

Chuquisaca was the provincial capital of the wamani of Charca, established after Topa Inka Yupanqui conquered the Aymara kingdom that originally occupied the area and imposed the Quechua language on them.

[8] Due to their warrior background, the Charcas were excluded from various state duties and many served as soldiers,[9] being recruited in large numbers by Wayna Qhapaq for northern campaigns.

During Wayna Qhapaq's wars in modern-day Ecuador, the Guarani-speaking Chiriguanos from Paraguay invaded the Charcas frontier, aided by a band of European explorers.

Although the Chiriguanos were repelled by commanders sent by Wayna Qhapaq from Quito,[10] the Portuguese conquistador Aleixo Garcia is believed to be the first European to make contact with Charcas in 1525.

In 1559, the Spanish King Philip II established the Audiencia de Charcas in La Plata with authority over an area which covers what is now Paraguay, southeastern Peru, northern Chile and Argentina, and much of Bolivia.

Sucre remains the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Bolivia, and a common sight is members of religious orders dressed in traditional habit.

For much of its colonial history, Sucre's temperate climate was preferred by the Spanish royalty and wealthy families involved in silver trade coming from Potosí.

[13] After the economic decline of Potosí and its silver industry, the Bolivian seat of government was moved from Sucre to La Paz in 1898.

Together with La Paz, Sucre is one of two governmental centers of Bolivia: It is the seat of the judiciary, where the Supreme Court of Justice is located.

[citation needed] The mayor of Sucre is Enrique Leaño of the Movement for Socialism, who defeated Horacio Poppe in elections held on March 3, 2021.

As of the 2019 Apertura, the 2008 champion club Universitario de Sucre was relegated from the Bolivian professional league, leaving the city without a first-division team.

Other sports are also practiced, such as swimming at la Piscina Bolivariana, basketball at numerous courts around the city, as well as taekwondo, kung fu, volleyball, tennis and racquetball.

The "Pinacoteca" has a vast collection of paintings by Colonial and Republican masters and also by Europeans such as Bitti, Fourchaudt and Van Dyck.

Ornate mausoleums, tombs and gardens with magnificent old trees populate the space that is home to the graves of important people in the arts, sciences and the history both of Bolivia and of Latin America.