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Bolivia

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I

Introduction

Bolivia, republic in central South America, nicknamed the Rooftop of the World because of its high elevation in the Andes Mountains. Bolivia has a landscape of snow-topped mountain peaks and broad, windswept plateaus. To the east of the mountains, vast grassy plains give way to lowland tropical rain forests. The official capital of Bolivia is Sucre; La Paz is the administrative capital and seat of government. At an altitude of about 3,600 m (11,900 ft), La Paz is the highest capital in the world.

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. Although Native Americans make up the majority of the country’s population, a small Spanish elite has traditionally dominated the political and economic life of the country and held most of the wealth. The minerals of the Andes were long the source of this wealth, but petroleum and natural gas overtook them in the late 1900s. Coca leaves, the source of the drug cocaine, also became an important export in the second half of the 1900s. As the 21st century began, the discovery of Bolivia’s vast lithium reserves—accounting for nearly half of the world’s reserves—promised to make the country a key source of the mineral used in lithium-ion batteries to power hybrid and electric cars and electronic devices such as laptop computers.

Most of Bolivia’s people live on a plateau between two ranges of the Andes Mountains, which occupy a third of the country. Since the 1950s, however, the sparsely settled, eastern lowland plains have gradually become more heavily populated, in part because of discoveries of significant deposits of oil and natural gas there. In addition, the region’s fertile farmland was opened to settlement. Santa Cruz, the region's center of trade and commerce, surpassed La Paz to become Bolivia’s largest city in the early 2000s.

From the 16th to the early 19th century, Bolivia was a colony of Spain. The country became independent in 1825. In 1952 Bolivia underwent a political revolution that brought far-reaching changes to the country. The leaders of that revolution introduced programs designed to provide greater political, economic, and social opportunities for Native Americans. The government extended the vote to all Native Americans, promoted education in rural villages, and redistributed land, breaking up the large estates established during colonial times and giving small plots of land to Native American farmers. Economic problems continued, however, and a military coup in the 1960s led to a succession of military governments. Subsequent regimes tried to privatize large segments of the economy, and Bolivia’s social, political, and economic situation remained unstable. By the early 21st century, Bolivian leaders were once again nationalizing natural resources, and the country’s first Native American president, Evo Morales, sought a series of socialist-style reforms. Under the Morales government, Bolivia eliminated illiteracy. See also Socialism; Literacy.



II

Land and Resources

The principal physical feature of Bolivia is the Andes mountain range, which extends generally north to south across the western part of the country. The Andes form two ranges in Bolivia, the western range (Cordillera Occidental), which runs along the Chilean border, and the eastern range (Cordillera Oriental), the main range, which crosses the west central part of Bolivia. The Cordillera Oriental contains some of the highest Andean peaks, notably Ancohuma (6,388 m/20,958 ft), Illampu (6,360 m/20,867 ft), and Illimani (6,462 m/21,201 ft).

Bolivia is bounded on the north and east by Brazil, on the southeast by Paraguay, on the south by Argentina, and on the west by Chile and Peru. Bolivia and Paraguay are the only South American countries without direct access to the sea. The maximum length of Bolivia from north to south is about 1,530 km (about 950 mi); its maximum breadth is about 1,450 km (about 900 mi). It has an area of 1,098,581 sq km (424,164 sq mi), which makes it about the size of the states of Texas and California combined. Among South American countries Bolivia ranks fifth in area (after Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia).

A

Natural Regions

Bolivia is divided into three distinct regions. The Altiplano, or plateau region, and the Cordilleras of the Andes cover the western third of the country. The Yungas, a series of densely forested and well-watered valleys, embrace the eastern mountain slopes and dip down to the eastern plains. The plains, or the Amazon-Chaco lowlands, spread over the eastern part of Bolivia.

The Altiplano lies between the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Oriental at an elevation between 3,620 m and 4,270 m (11,900 ft and 14,000 ft) above sea level. It is about 800 km (about 500 mi) long and about 130 km (about 80 mi) wide. The bulk of Bolivia’s people and industries are found in the northern part of the Altiplano. So is Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. Bolivia shares this lake with Peru. The southern part of the Altiplano is arid.

The region known as the Yungas descends steeply to the plains, falling 4,350 m (14,250 ft) in only 80 km (50 mi). Precipitous slopes, isolated valleys and basins, and mile-deep canyons characterize the Yungas. However, there is also fertile soil in the Yungas, and bananas, coffee, and citrus fruits are grown here.

Stretching east and northeast from the mountains are the great Amazonian plains (“llanos” in Spanish). The region contains large grassy tracts and, along the tributaries of the Amazon, dense tropical forests. Much of it becomes swampland during the wet season (December through February). However, large areas lie above the flood line and provide rich grazing lands. In the southeast, separated from the Amazonian plains by the Chiquitos highlands (about 1,070 m/about 3,500 ft), are the dry, semitropical plains of the Chaco (see Gran Chaco).

B

Rivers

In the northern and northeastern valleys and plains, the drainage system consists of the Beni River and its main tributary, the Madre de Diós River; the Guaporé River, which forms part of the boundary with Brazil; and the Mamoré River. These rivers flow north to join the Amazon River. The Pilcomayo River, the chief river of southeastern Bolivia, flows through the Chaco to feed the Paraguay River, eventually draining into the Río de la Plata, a large estuary that empties into the Atlantic Ocean between Argentina and Uruguay. The Desaguadero River, outlet for Lake Titicaca, feeds Lake Poopó to the southeast.

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