[2] The district is the location of the Cerro de la Sal or Salt Mountain, an important gathering place for indigenous people of the region and a center of Franciscan missionary activity in the 17th and 18th centuries.

[3] The District of Villa Rica is on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains in an area of abundant rainfall and mild temperatures.

[4] [5] The Cerro de la Sal (Mountain of Salt) is located about 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) north of the town of Villa Rica at 10°40′59″S 75°16′01″W / 10.683°S 75.267°W / -10.683; -75.267.

[8] Roman Catholic Franciscan missionaries were attracted to the Cerro de la Sal because of the seasonal congregation of large numbers of indigenous people there.

In 1742, a messianic movement headed by Juan Santos Atahualpa emptied the missions and the Spanish were expelled from Cerro de la Sal for more than 100 years.