San Matias, was founded on 24 February 1844 by Colonel Sebastian Ramos (According to some other historians it was ex-prefect of Santa Cruz Col. Fermin Ribero). It is located some 800 km from the city of Santa Cruz and has a population of about 6,000 inhabitants. It is one of the gateways to the Bolivian forest rich in fauna and flora. 110 km from San Matias, is situated the Brazilian city of San Luis de Caceres, which is linked by proximity and history. In 1867 the then President Mariano Melgarejo of Bolivia signed an international treaty of friendship, Navigation limits, Commerce and Extradition, with the Empire of Brazil, through which (in peacetime) Bolivia ceded to Brazil over seven thousand square miles of land on the banks of the rivers Paraguay and Maderas. In this way many indigenous of Chiquitania became part of the neighbouring country.

Around the year 1900 San Matías began to acquire importance as a result of rubber exports from the north of the Velasco province. The rubber was transported by land until San Matias, from where it was shipped through the Paraguay River, to the Argentinean and Uruguayan ports to be exported to the whole world.

In 1948, Mr. Viador Moreno Peña presented a letter to the Republican Congress requesting to create a new province of the Angel Sandoval with San Matias as its capital. This initiative was accepted and signed by the constitutional President Enrique Hertzog on 1 December, 1948.

In the beginning of the year 1963, the Sisters of the New Family opened a Convent in San Matias. The same year the Presbytery was built and they laid the foundation for the new church.

The economic activities of San Matias are: growing livestock and eco-tourism in the Pantanal, one of the most bio diverse regions on the planet.