Bolivia (buh-LI-vee-uh), republic (424,162 sq mi/1,098,580 sq km; 1992 population 6,420,792 2004 estimated population 8,724,156), W South America. Sucre is the legal capital and seat of the judiciary, but La Paz is the political and commercial focus of the nation; 17°00'S 65°00'W.
Geography
One of the two inland countries of South America, Bolivia is isolated from the Pacific Ocean in the W by Chile and Peru; in the E and N it borders on Brazil, in the SE on Paraguay, and in the S on Argentina. Bolivia presents a sharp contrast between high, bleak mountains and plateaus in the W and lush, tropical rain forests in the E. In the SE it merges into the semiarid plains of the Chaco. The Andes mountain system reaches its greatest width in Bolivia. Two cordilleras, one (in the W) tracing the border with Chile and one (in the E) running N and S across the center of the country, are divided by a high plateau (Altiplano), most of it 12,000 ft/3,660 m above sea level—barren, windswept, and segmented by mountain spurs. Despite its harsh conditions the Altiplano is the population center of Bolivia. Many sections for want of drainage have brackish lakes and salt beds, notably the extensive Salar de Uyuni in the S. In the N are Lake Titicaca which Bolivia shares with Peru, and Lake Poopó. This region, world famous for its breathtaking scenery, was the home of one of the great pre-Columbian civilizations. Well known are the ruins of Tiahuanaco. The E mountains, consisting of three major ranges, rise to the cold, forbidding heights of the Puna plateau (as high as 16,000 ft/4,880 m) and in the N to the snow-capped peaks of Illimani (21,184 ft/6,457 m) and Illampú (21,276 ft/6,485 m). In these mountains lies the source of the exploited wealth of Bolivia—its minerals. Tin is by far the most important product, but silver was once the chief metal, and copper, wolframite, bismuth, antimony, zinc, lead, and gold are also mined. The names of some mining towns, notably Potosí and Oruro, are world famous. From the mountains, headstreams cut their way eastward, carving deep gorges and finger-like valleys. In these deep-cut valleys are some of the garden spots of Bolivia—Sucre, Cochabamba, and Tarija. Santa Cruz and La Paz are the two main cities of tropical Bolivia. In the E foothills the headstreams gather to form the Beni, the Guaiporé, and the Mamoré (tributaries of the Madeira, in Brazil), which flow through the torrid, humid Yungas, covered with rain forests. The region is the most fertile in the country, yielding cacao, coffee, tropical fruits and timber and in the early 20th century was a major source of wild rubber and quinine. Some of the more accessible valleys, with luxuriant scenery and a pleasantly warm climate, have become popular Bolivian resort areas.
Population
Over half the population of Bolivia is indigenous, although the citizens of European or mixed European and native ancestry maintain economic, political, and social hegemony. The predominant native languages are Aymará and Quechua, although Bolivia’s official language is Spanish. A few tribes have remained isolated from European culture. Most of the population is Roman Catholic, although many native South Americans retain the substance of their pre-Christian beliefs.
Economy
Although Bolivia has much hydroelectric potential, this resource is not utilized fully. To the S, in the Chaco, are major petroleum and natural gas deposits. Despite the importance of its mines, Bolivia still lives by a subsistence economy and supports considerable trade in coca base and cocaine. It is the world’s second-largest producer of coca paste, and 10% of its economy depends on the coca leaf. In the early 1990s, Bolivia was still recovering from the massive deficits of the 1980s, but made progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Growth slowed in the late 1990s, and between 2000 and 2003 there were major civil disturbances that played a part in the slowing economic development even further. A large part of the population makes its living from the growth of coca, which is a primary source of cocaine. Sugarcane, potatoes, corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton, and rice are other major crops. Industry is limited to processing and small-scale manufacturing. Bolivia’s mineral wealth furnishes the bulk of its exports; foodstuffs, manufactured goods, and chemicals are imported. Natural gas is a growing export; in 1990 it provided about one-third of the country’s export income. In 2001it exported an estimated 1.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The tin industry, which is a major component of the economy, has received increasing competition from Southeast Asia, and as a result several tin mines have closed. The U.S. and Argentina are the country’s chief trading partners. In 1990, Bolivia’s per capita GNP was $680; this had risen to over $2,100 by 1996, and $2,400 by 2003. There are eight universities in the country.
History to 1825
Bolivia has had over 190 coups since it became independent in 1825; the latest constitution, providing for a president and a bicameral congress, was adopted in 1967. The Altiplano was a center of native life even before the days of the Inca; the region was the home of the great Tihuanaco empire. The Aymará had been absorbed into the Inca empire long before Gonzalo and Hernando Pizarro undertook the Spanish conquest of the Inca (1532–1538). Uninviting though the high, cold country was, it attracted the Spanish because of its rich silver mines, discovered as early as 1545. Exploiters poured in, bent on quick wealth. Forcing the natives to work the mines and the obrajes [Spanish=textile mills] under duress, they remained indifferent to all development other than the construction of transportation facilities to remove the unearthed riches. Native laborers were also used on great landholdings. Thus began the system of plunder economy and social inequality that persisted in Bolivia until recent years. Economic development was further retarded by the rugged terrain. The revolution against Spanish control began with an uprising in Chuquisaca in 1809, but Bolivia remained Spanish until the campaigns of José de San Martin and Simón Bolívar; independence was won only with the victory (1824) at Ayacucho of Antonio José de Sucre. After the formal proclamation of independence in 1825, Bolívar drew up (1826) a constitution for the new republic.
History: 1825 to 1828
The nation was named Bolivia, and Chuquisaca was renamed Sucre, after the revolutionary hero. Bolivia inherited ambitions and extensive territorial claims that proved disastrous, leading to warfare and defeat. At the time of independence it had a seacoast (the Atacama region), a portion of the Amazon basin (the Acre River area), and claims to most of the Chaco; in little more than a century all these were lost in wars with Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Paraguay. Bolivia has been landlocked since it lost its coastline in the Antofagasta area to Chile in the War of 1879–1884. In 1913, a railroad was built from La Paz to Arica on Chile’s coastline (at the Peruvian border), and Bolivia has sought a territorial claim to Arica ever since. The problem remains unresolved to this day; proposed solutions include the establishment of a zone along the coastline (including Arica) that would constitute a Bolivian port. The issue is complicated by the fact that Peru and Chile have an agreement whereas no change can be made to Arica without Peru’s consent. Another more recent impediment to the negotiations is Bolivia’s dispute with Chile over a dam and hydroelectric project that Chile built on the Lauca River in 1962. Claiming that the project was reducing the flow of water into the country and contributing to the salinity of Lake Coipasa, which was in turn affecting agriculture, Bolivia has broken off relations with Chile. The strife-ridden internal history of Bolivia began when the first president, Sucre, was forced to resign in 1828.
History: 1828 to World War II
A steady stream of egocentric caudillos plagued Bolivia thereafter. Although a few presidents made efforts to reform the administration and improve the economy, honest reform was hard to achieve in the face of wholesale corruption, military coups, dictators, and bankruptcy. Such problems necessitated obtaining foreign loans; this, along with foreign interests in mines and oil fields, led to increased outside influence in the country’s affairs. Attempts to raise Bolivia from its status as an underdeveloped country met with little success, although great personal fortunes were amassed from tin mining. After losing the Chaco War (1932–1935) with Paraguay, Bolivia’s present-day borders were established and the country was granted railroad access to the Parana River. The war and the defeat aggravated internal discontent, and programs, radical, conservative, and moderate, for curing the ills of the nation were hampered by military coups and countercoups.
History: World War II to 1964
World War II proved a boon to the Bolivian economy by increasing demands for tin and wolframite. Bolivia joined the Allied side in 1943, while rising prices aggravated the restiveness of the miners over miserable working conditions; strikes were brutally suppressed. The crisis reached a peak in December 1943, when the nationalistic, pro-miner MNR (Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario) engineered a successful revolt. The regime, however, was recognized only by Argentina until 1944, when pro-Axis elements in the MNR were officially removed. Bolivia then became a member of the UN. The MNR candidate won the 1951 presidential election but was prevented from taking office by a military junta. The MNR, with the aid of the national police, miners, and peasants, then rebelled and took power. The revolutionary government proceeded to expropriate and nationalize the tin holdings and inaugurated a program of agricultural reform. Civil rights and suffrage were extended to the native peoples, and education, health, and construction projects were begun. In 1956 and in 1960 the MNR further consolidated its power by winning presidential elections. The U.S., in spite of losses incurred by American investors, stepped up its program of technical and financial assistance, which temporarily stemmed inflation. Economic and political factors weakened the government, as income from tin exports sank to a post-war low.
History: 1964 to Present
In 1964 the government was overthrown by the military junta and troops occupied the mines without rescinding the important reforms of the MNR. A radical guerrilla movement, led by the Cuban Ernesto “Che” Guevara, was dealt a serious blow when government troops killed Guevara in October 1967. General Alfredo Ovando Candia then seized power and nationalized, with compensation, the Gulf Oil Company facilities in Bolivia, before being overthrown by a rightist military junta in October 1970. After only one day, General Juan José Torres led a leftist coup, strengthening relations with the Soviet Union to the detriment of Bolivia’s ties with the U.S. Torres was overthrown in August 1971, by Colonel Hugo Banzer Suárez, who closed the universities and returned Bolivia to a pro-U.S. foreign policy. In July 1974 the government was reorganized and an all-military cabinet was installed. In July 1978, Banzer was forced to resign by the military, which soon gained control of the government and imposed martial law. From 1980 to 1982, the state was controlled by the military. During the 1980s, laborers’ dissatisfaction with their working conditions led to internal disturbances, which were intensified by various government-instituted austerity programs. The government, however, was credited with making progress in its efforts to suppress the drug trade. Dr. Hernan Siles Zuazo served as president from 1982 to 1985, when he was replaced by Victor Paz Esstensoro. To invigorate the economy, Esstensoro introduced a number of market-oriented policies; as a result, inflation dropped from 11,700% in 1985 to about 20% in 1988. His successor, Jaime Paz Zamora, continued these policies, and during his administration (1989–1993) inflation fell to 9.3% (1993) and Bolivia’s GNP grew by an annual average of 3.25%. In 1991 the government offered tax incentives to attract foreign investment in the mining industry. Zamora was succeeded in August 1993 by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada Bustamente, who was Estenssoro’s planning minister. Businesses that have been privatized thus far include the national railroad, the electric company, the state airline, and the state telephone company.
Government
The current chief of state and head of government is President Evo Moreales, the country's first Indian president. Administratively, the country is divided into nine departments.— Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Oruro, Pando, La Paz, Potosí, Santa Cruz, and Tarija —with a total of 102 provinces.
