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| Bolivia | Introduction | Back to Top |
Bolivia, officially Republic of Bolivia, republic in central South America, bounded on the north and east by Brazil, on the south-east by Paraguay, on the south by Argentina, and on the west by Chile and Peru. Bolivia and Paraguay are the only landlocked countries in South America. In a north-south direction, the maximum length of Bolivia is about 1,530 km (950 mi); its extreme breadth, in an east-west direction, is about 1,450 km (900 mi). Its area is 1,098,581 sq km (424,165 sq mi), making it the fifth-largest (after Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia) South American country. The constitutional capital is Sucre; the administrative capital and seat of government is La Paz.
Official Name- Republic of Bolivia| Bolivia | Provinces | Back to Top |
9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Beni, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
| Bolivia | People | Back to Top |
The population of Bolivia consists of three groups—the Indians, the mestizos (of mixed Indian and Spanish descent), and the descendants of the Spaniards. After four centuries of intermixing it is, however, virtually impossible to measure accurately the percentage of each, although Indians still form some 60 to 70 percent of the total, the largest group being the Quechua.
The Indians are mainly composed of two distinct groups—those living on the northern Altiplano, who speak the guttural Aymara language, and those who speak Quechua, the language of the Incas. The Quechua are more widely distributed through the Andes, especially in the Valles. Remnants of plains and forest Indians survive in the Oriente. The great majority of the Indians are farmers, miners, and factory or construction workers. Aymara and Quechua have been added to Spanish as the official languages of Bolivia, but increasing numbers of Indians, particularly in the cities, market towns, and new colonies, speak or understand Spanish.
| Bolivia | History | Back to Top |
Civilized cultures have lived in the area of modern-day Bolivia for more than 1,000 years. The ancient Tiahuanaco civilization developed along the shores of Lake Titicaca around ad 600 and left impressive stone monuments. However, little is known about the origins of this group. In about 1300 the Quechua-speaking Incas, who came across the lake from present-day Peru, overran Tiahuanaco. When the Spaniards arrived in South America in the early 16th century, the Inca Empire, of which Bolivia was a part, was divided by civil strife, with two rival nobles claiming the throne. The Spanish took advantage of this strife to conquer the empire.
The territory of Bolivia was conquered in 1538 by Spanish conquistador Hernando Pizarro, younger brother of Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro. The elder Pizarro had subdued Peru, which was the heart of the Inca Empire. Within the next 40 years, Spanish settlements were formed at Chuquisaca (present-day Sucre), Potosí, La Paz, and Cochabamba.
Bolivia was one of the first countries in the Spanish Empire to attempt a break from Spain, but it was one of the last to succeed. The Spanish suppressed the first critical rebellion at Chuquisaca in May 1809. Fifteen years later a revolutionary army under General Antonio José de Sucre liberated Bolivia after defeating Spanish forces at the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru on December 9, 1824. Bolivia declared its independence from Spain on August 6, 1825, and took the name Bolivia in honor of South American independence leader Simón Bolívar. In 1826 a congress at Chuquisaca adopted a constitution drafted by Bolívar. It vested supreme authority in a president, who was chosen for a life term.
| Bolivia | Culture | Back to Top |
In dress, language, architecture, and lifestyle, the large Native American population follows the ways of its ancestors with a mixture of modified Spanish traditions. Clothing is colorful and suited to life in high altitudes. For example, many Bolivian women wear brightly colored Native American clothing and stovepipe or derby hats. Holidays and religious festivals are celebrated by dancing and festivities. The Spanish-speaking population, which is largely European in ancestry, has adopted some of the Native American customs but generally follows Western traditions.
Bolivian culture consists of a mixture of Indian culture with the Mediterranean culture brought by the Spaniards. On religious feast days, for example, pagan pre-Columbian rites are still practiced, and the Indians express themselves through dances and songs that blend the two cultures. In such festivities, some symbolic dress presents the Indian interpretation of European attitudes: the dance of the palla-palla or loco palla-palla caricatures the European invaders, the dance of the waka-tokoris satirizes bullfights, and the morenada mocks white men, who are represented leading imported African slaves. Indian musical instruments are used to accompany these dances. In the music itself, the mixture of cultures is also evident, since many of the tunes are based on Spanish dances. The more commonly used instruments are the sicu or zampoña (panpipes) and the kena, tarka, and pinkillo (vertical flutes). Percussion instruments of various sizes are used, including skin drums, bronze gongs, and copper bells. The costumes, highly embroidered and colourful, imitate the dress of the pre-Columbian Indian or the dress of 16th-century Spaniards. Spain's influence is clearly seen in the charango, a stringed instrument peculiar to Bolivia. It has five double strings and is similar in shape to the guitar, although much smaller. Its sound box is made from the shell of an armadillo.
The daily dress of highland Indian women in both the urban and rural regions remains traditional: very full skirts (polleras) and colourful shawls. The latter are usually stuffed with goods being taken to market for sale, as well as with fresh purchases, extra clothing, and a baby, all in a carefully balanced bundle on the back, leaving both hands free. Hats always complete the outfit, their shapes varying with the different regions of Bolivia.
| Bolivia | Life | Back to Top |
The population of Bolivia (2001 estimate) is 8,300,463, giving the country a population density of 8 persons per sq km (20 per sq mi), one of the lowest in South America. Roughly 55 percent of all the people are Native American, and about 30 percent are mestizo (of mixed Native American and European ancestry). The remaining inhabitants are white, mainly of Spanish descent. Some 36 percent of the people live in rural areas.
| Bolivia | Land | Back to Top |
Bolivia's mountainous western region, which is one of the highest inhabited areas in the world, constitutes the country's heartland. The Andes there attain their greatest breadth and complexity. The system in Bolivia is dominated by two great parallel ranges. To the west along the border with Chile is the Cordillera Occidental, which contains numerous active volcanoes and is crowned by the republic's highest peak, Mount Sajama, at an altitude of more than 21,400 feet (6,523 metres). To the east is the Cordillera Oriental, whose spectacular northern section near La Paz is called Cordillera Real (“Royal Range”). An impressive line of snowcapped peaks, some exceeding 20,000 feet, characterize this northern section, which maintains an average elevation of more than 18,000 feet for over 200 miles.
| Bolivia | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
Because of the wide variations in elevation, plant and animal species of nearly every climatic zone are found in Bolivia. A coarse grass, called ichu, grows on the largely barren high plateau in the west. Para rubber trees, more than 2,000 species of hardwood trees, and vanilla, sarsaparilla, and saffron plants are common in the tropical forests of the east. The llama, found chiefly on the Altiplano, is an efficient beast of burden. Alpaca and vicuña also inhabit the plateau, and monkeys, pumas, jaguars, armadillos, and a variety of reptiles, birds, and insects are found predominantly in the tropical Amazon Basin.
| Bolivia | Economy | Back to Top |
Since early colonial times, mining for precious minerals and metal ores has played an important role in Bolivia’s economy. Although many of the largest mining operations were nationalized during the 1950s, successive Bolivian governments have encouraged private industrial development and actively sought foreign investment capital. Budget figures for 1998 showed revenues of $1.5 billion and expenditures of $1.9 billion. The state airline, Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano, was sold to private interests in 1993. In 1995 Bolivia began implementing a unique privatization program in which additional state-owned companies would not be sold outright; instead, half of the company’s shares and management control would be awarded to the highest private bidder. The remaining shares would be divided among Bolivia’s adult population and held in retirement accounts that would form a new private pension system. Despite these efforts to deflect charges that Bolivia was “selling out” its resources to foreigners, the privatization efforts drew sustained criticism and prompted serious labor strife. In June 1995 Bolivia sold a controlling interest in the state electricity company to three U.S. firms. In 1996 the state railroad was privatized and the state petroleum company was put up for sale. Bolivia’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999 was $8.3 billion.
Bolivia is well endowed with natural resources, but high costs of production, lack of investment, inadequate internal transport, and a landlocked location have limited its development. Average income is low, and Bolivia remains one of the poorest nations in South America.
Bolivia, long one of the poorest and least developed Latin American countries, has made considerable progress toward the development of a market-oriented economy. Successes under President SANCHEZ DE LOZADA (1993-97) included the signing of a free trade agreement with Mexico and joining the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur), as well as the privatization of the state airline, telephone company, railroad, electric power company, and oil company. His successor, Hugo BANZER Suarez has tried to further improve the country's investment climate with an anticorruption campaign. Growth slowed in 1999, in part due to tight government budget policies, which limited needed appropriations for anti-poverty programs, and the fallout from the Asian financial crisis. In 2000, major civil disturbances in April, and again in September and October, held down overall growth to 2.5%.
| Bolivia | Communications | Back to Top |
general assessment: new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile cellular telephone use expanding rapidly domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
| Bolivia | Languages | Back to Top |
The official languages of Bolivia are Spanish and two Native South American languages, Quechua and Aymara; of those the Native American languages are more commonly spoken. Roman Catholicism is the religion of the great majority of the population.
| Bolivia | Politics | Back to Top |
Christian Democratic Party or PDC [leader NA]; Civic Solidarity Union or UCS [Johnny FERNANDEZ]; Conscience of the Fatherland or CONDEPA [Remedios LOZA Alvarado]; Free Bolivia Movement or MBL [Antonio ARANIBAR]; Movement of the Revolutionary Left or MIR [Jaime PAZ Zamora]; Nationalist Democratic Action or ADN [Hugo BANZER Suarez]; Nationalist Revolutionary Movement or MNR [Gonzalo SANCHEZ DE LOZADA]; New Republican Force or NFR [leader NA]; Pachacuti Indigenous Movement [Filipe QUISPE]; United Left or IU [Marcos DOMIC] note: the ADN, MIR, and UCS comprise the ruling coalition Political pressure groups and leaders: Cocalero Groups; indigenous organizations; labor unions
| Bolivia | Government | Back to Top |
Bolivia is a republic governed under a constitution passed in 1967 and since amended.
| Bolivia | Legal | Back to Top |
Legal system: based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single) Executive branch: chief of state: President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 7 August 2001); note - Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez assumed the presidency upon the resignation of former president Hugo BANZER Suarez; Vice President NA; note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez (since 7 August 2001); note - Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez assumed the presidency upon the resignation of former president Hugo BANZER Suarez; Vice President NA; note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held May or June 2002) election results: Hugo BANZER Suarez elected president; percent of vote - Hugo BANZER Suarez (ADN) 22%; Jaime PAZ Zamora (MIR) 17%, Juan Carlos DURAN (MNR) 18%, Ivo KULJIS (UCS) 16%, Remedios LOZA (CONDEPA) 17%; no candidate received a majority of the popular vote; Hugo BANZER Suarez won a congressional runoff election on 5 August 1997 after forming a "megacoalition" with MIR, UCS, CONDEPA, NFR, and PDC; resigned 7 August 2001 and was succeeded by Vice President Jorge Fernando QUIROGA Ramirez Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (27 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; note - some members are drawn from party lists, thus not directly elected) elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 1 June 1997 (next to be held NA June 2002) election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 11, MIR 7, MNR 4, CONDEPA 3, UCS 2; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - ADN 32, MNR 26, MIR 23, UCS 21, CONDEPA 19, MBL 5, IU 4 Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges appointed for 10-year terms by National Congress); District Courts (one in each department); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases)
| Bolivia | organization | Back to Top |
CAN, CCC, ECLAC, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
| Bolivia | Education | Back to Top |
Primary education is nominally free and compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14. However, the public schools, although increasing in number, do not meet the needs of Bolivia. The country’s literacy rate is 96 percent. In 1996 almost all children were enrolled in primary schools. Only 40 percent of secondary school-aged children attended school. Enrollment in institutions of higher education was 24 percent. Bolivia has ten universities: in Sucre, La Paz (two), Cochabamba, Llallagua, Oruro, Potosí, Santa Cruz, Tarija, and Trinidad. San Francisco Xavier University (1624), in Sucre, is one of the oldest in the Americas. The University of San Andrés (1830), in La Paz, is the largest university in Bolivia, with a student enrollment of about 37,000.
| Bolivia | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army (Ejercito Boliviano), Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, includes Marines), Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana), National Police Force (Policia Nacional de Bolivia)
Military manpower - military age: 19 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 2,005,660 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,306,452 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 90,120 (2001 est.)
| Bolivia | International Disputes | Back to Top |
has wanted a sovereign corridor to the South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in 1884; dispute with Chile over Rio Lauca water rights
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