Bolivia

Bolivia, whose full official name is the Plurinational State of Bolivia, sits landlocked in the middle of South America. Its landscape splits between a western Andean zone and tropical lowlands stretching east and north. The government operates from La Paz—home to the executive, legislative, and electoral branches—while Sucre serves as the constitutional capital, housing the judiciary. The country shares borders with Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay to the southeast, Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west.

The nation’s geography is remarkably varied, featuring the vast Amazonian plain, the Gran Chaco, temperate valleys, the high-altitude Altiplano plateau, snow-capped peaks, and mountains, which together create a wide range of climates and ecosystems. Part of the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, lies along its eastern border. Though most people and urban centers are in the Andean region, the largest city and main industrial hub is Santa Cruz de la Sierra, located in the eastern tropical lowlands.

Bolivia is a constitutionally unitary state split into nine departments. The divide between the Andean highlands and the lowlands is reflected in economic and cultural differences, often marked by the terms camba and colla. About one-third of the country falls within the Andes mountain range. Covering 1,098,581 square kilometers, it ranks as South America’s fifth-largest country—after Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia—and, along with Paraguay, is one of only two landlocked nations in the Americas.

It is the largest landlocked country in the Southern Hemisphere and has inland ports that reach the Atlantic Ocean via two river systems: the Acre-Purus-Amazon and the Paraguay-Paraná. As of the 2024 census, Bolivia’s population stood at 11.4 million. The country is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Mestizos, and descendants of Europeans and Africans. Spanish is the official and most widely spoken language, but 36 indigenous languages also hold official status, with Guaraní, Aymara, and Quechua being the most common.

Long before Spanish colonization, much of what is now Bolivia was part of the Tiwanaku polity, which collapsed around 1000 AD. The Colla–Inca War in the 1440s brought Inca rule to western Bolivia, while the eastern and northern lowlands were home to independent non-Andean Amazonian and Guaraní tribes. Spanish conquistadors, arriving from Cusco, Peru, and Asunción, Paraguay, seized control of the region in the 1500s. During the colonial era, Bolivia was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas.

Spain’s empire relied heavily on silver mined from Cerro Rico in Potosí. After an unsuccessful rebellion in Sucre on May 25, 1809, sixteen years of fighting followed before the republic was established, named after Simón Bolívar. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, Bolivia lost several peripheral territories to its neighbors—including the Acre territory to Brazil after 1899–1903, and its Pacific coastal region to Chile in 1879. An oligarchy of landowners and mining interests ruled Bolivia until the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, which brought universal suffrage, nationalized the lucrative tin mining industry, and enacted limited land reform.

The 20th century saw a series of military and civilian governments, with the last unelected military ruler leaving office in 1982. Today, Bolivia is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, the Organization of American States, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, the Bank of the South, the Union of South American Nations, and the Southern Common Market. It remains a developing country and the second-poorest in South America, though poverty rates have dropped significantly.

Its economy relies on agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, and goods like textiles, clothing, refined metals, and refined petroleum. The country is geologically rich, producing tin, silver, lithium, and copper. It is also known for cultivating coca plants and refining cocaine; in 2021, estimated coca cultivation covered 39,700 hectares, yielding about 317 metric tons of cocaine. Bolivia takes its name from Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan leader of the Spanish American wars of independence.

Antonio José de Sucre, a Venezuelan leader, was given the choice by Bolívar to either merge Charcas (present-day Bolivia) with the newly formed Republic of Peru, unite it with the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, or declare it fully independent. Sucre chose the last option, and on August 6, 1825, with local support, the new state was named in Bolívar’s honor. The original name was “Republic of Bolívar.” A few days later, congressman Manuel Martín Cruz proposed: “If from Romulus, Rome, then from Bolívar, Bolivia.”

The name was officially approved on October 3, 1825. In 2009, a new constitution changed the country’s official name to “Plurinational State of Bolivia” to acknowledge its multi-ethnic character and the strengthened rights of indigenous peoples. History Pre-colonial The area now called Bolivia had been inhabited for more than 2,500 years by the time the Aymara arrived. Present-day Aymara identify with the ancient Tiwanaku Polity, whose capital was Tiwanaku in western Bolivia.

That capital city dates back as early as 1500 BC, when it was a small farming village. The Aymara community grew into an urban center between AD 600 and AD 800, becoming an important civilization.