BOLIVIA, HISTORY OF

history of the area from pre-Columbian civilizations to the present. Additional reading Historical overviews are provided by Robert Barton, A Short History of the Republic of Bolivia, 2nd ed. (1968); Herbert S. Klein, Bolivia: The Evolution of a Multi-Ethnic Society (1982); and Charles Arnade, Bolivian History (1984). See also Dwight B. Heath, Historical Dictionary of Bolivia (1972).Comprehensive surveys of Andean archaeology include Louis Baudin, L'Empire socialiste des Inka (1928), also available in a Spanish translation, El imperio socialista de los Incas, 5th ed. rev. and expanded (1962); John Alden Mason, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru, rev. ed. (1968, reprinted 1987); and Luis G. Lumbreras, The Peoples and Cultures of Ancient Peru (1974; originally published in Spanish, 1969). A highly praised reconstruction is Nathan Wachtel, The Vision of the Vanquished: The Spanish Conquest of Peru Through Indian Eyes, 15301570 (1977; originally published in French, 1971), also available in a Spanish translation, Los vencidos: los indios del Per frente a la conquista espaola (15301570) (1976). Gustavo Adolfe Otero, Life in the Spanish Colonies, with Particular Reference to Upper Peru, Now Bolivia (1955; originally published in Spanish, 1942), provides information on the influence of Spanish colonization. Negative and positive approaches to Bolivia's history are represented, respectively, by Alcides Arguedas, Obras completas, vol. 2, Historia (1959), a complete history of Bolivia; and Carlos Montenegro, Nacionalismo y coloniaje, 6th ed. (1982). The complex reasons for the emergence of a separate independent Bolivia are given in detail by Charles Arnade, The Emergence of the Republic of Bolivia (1957, reissued 1970). A political geography that explains Bolivia's land loss is J. Valerie Fifer, Bolivia: Land, Location, and Politics Since 1825 (1972). Herbert S. Klein, Parties and Political Change in Bolivia, 18801952 (1969), is a good political history. Augusto Cspedes, El dictador suicida: 40 aos de historia de Bolivia, 2nd ed. (1968), provides coverage of the first half of the 1900s.Histories of the Chaco War include David H. Zook, Jr., The Conduct of the Chaco War (1960); and Roberto Querejazu Calvo, Masamaclay, 4th ed. (1981).A basic introduction to the Bolivian National Revolution is Robert J. Alexander, The Bolivian National Revolution (1958, reprinted 1974); while James Dunkerley, Rebellion in the Veins: Political Struggle in Bolivia, 195282 (1984), is more detailed. James M. Malloy, Bolivia: The Uncompleted Revolution (1970); and James M. Malloy and Eduardo Gamarra, Revolution and Reaction: Bolivia, 19641985 (1987), are penetrating analyses. A history and negative evaluation of the populist rule of the MNR is offered in Christopher Mitchell, The Legacy of Populism in Bolivia: From the MNR to Military Rule (1977). The consequences of the revolution are studied by Jonathan Kelley and Herbert S. Klein, Revolution and the Rebirth of Inequality (1981); and Jerry R. Ladman (ed.), Modern-Day Bolivia: Legacy of the Revolution and Prospects for the Future (1982). Frederick B. Pike, The United States and the Andean Republics: Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador (1977), treats diplomatic relations. Charles W. Arnade The economy 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. The revolutionary program of 195253 included immediate agrarian reform, based upon the breakup of the large estates, and nationalization of the mines. This resulted in an initial decrease in agricultural production, a disastrous drop in mineral output, and wage increases. In a period of political turmoil, government attempts to satisfy the new labour unions delayed urgently needed reduction of the numbers employed in the mines and the promotion of greater efficiency in many other sectors of the economy. Thus, despite the long-overdue political and social reforms embodied in the revolution, the rate of national economic growth, at best, remained extremely low. The wildly fluctuating economy declined severely in the late 20th century mainly as a result of falling world prices for tin, bad harvests, debt repayments, and soaring inflation. Bolivia has received emergency foreign aid, technical assistance, and World Bank loans. In 1993 a 400-acre (162-hectare) concession in southern Peru gave Bolivia its first access to the Pacific ocean in more than 100 years; Bolivia already had duty-free access to Atlantic ports through agreements with Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Resources Bolivia's mineral deposits are its most valuable natural resource. The country is a major producer of tin; it has reserves of zinc, antimony, tungsten (wolfram), silver, lead, and copper, and there are small quantities of gold. Although tin dominates metal production, Bolivia is a high-cost producer compared with Southeast Asia and is thus exceptionally vulnerable to changes in world demand. The state mining corporation, Comibol, reported heavy losses and declining production in the 1980s when, faced with a world surplus, more than two-thirds of the mining work force became unemployed. Development of Bolivia's petroleum resources dates from 1920, when the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey acquired a concession to explore and exploit the Andean foothill zone in southeastern Bolivia. A series of small oil fields was discovered there, but Standard Oil's operation was expropriated in 1937 to form the nationalized Yacimientos Petrolferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). In the mid-1950s U.S. companies were again encouraged to resume operations, and in 1956 the Bolivian Gulf Oil Company (a branch of Gulf Oil Corporation) began a decade of successful oil and natural gas strikes in the Santa Cruz region. In 1966 Gulf began exporting oil to southern California, via the YPFB pipeline to the Pacific port of Arica (Chile), as well as boosting the Bolivian state company's sales to the domestic market and to Argentina. Political uncertainties have disrupted this industry, however, and in 1969 Bolivia nationalized Gulf Oil. Although Bolivia once again encouraged foreign oil companies in 1972, production continued to fall through lack of investment and failure to replace depleted wells. Soaring domestic consumption has forced some oil importation. Natural gas production has been more successful, and, with falling world markets for tin in the late 20th century, natural gas became Bolivia's most important legal export in value by the mid-1980s, accounting for more than half of official total earnings, Argentina being the principal destination. Gas fields are concentrated in the Santa Cruz region, with good reserves. Bolivia is rich in other natural resources, particularly hydroelectric potential, but exploitation has been minimal. The land Relief 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. Between these ranges lies the monotonous, bleak Altiplano (High Plateau). The plateau is a relatively flat-floored depression about 500 miles long and 80 miles wide, lying at elevations between 12,000 and 12,500 feet (3,600 and 3,800 metres). The surface of this great plateau, composed mostly of water- and wind-borne deposits from the bordering mountains, slopes gently southward, its evenness broken by occasional hills and ridges. The margins of the Altiplano are characterized by numerous spurs and interlocking alluvial fans (accumulations of silt, gravel, and other debris that were brought down from the mountains and that have spread out in the shape of a fan), which have built up an almost continuous plain of fairly gentle grade lying at the foot of the mountains. From the high, snowcapped slopes of the Cordillera Real, the descent to the eastern plains is extremely precipitous, plunging through a rainy and heavily forested belt of rugged terrain (deep valleys and gorges separated by high ridges) called the Yungasan Aymara word roughly translated as Warm Lands. The Yungas forms the southern end of an unbroken region that extends along the eastern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and continues as far south as Santa Cruz in Bolivia. South of the Yungas the Andes become much wider and are formed by a high, tilted block called the Puna, with west-facing escarpments and more gentle eastward slopes down to the plains. The region is characterized by a system of valleys and mountain basins called the Valles; these are generally larger and less confined than those in the Yungas. Lying mostly at elevations of 6,000 to 9,500 feet, they contain the so-called garden cities of Cochabamba, Sucre, and Tarija. The area is noted for its fertile valleys and rich, varied agriculture. Beyond the Andes to the north and east is the Oriente region, which covers more than two-thirds of Bolivia. The vast area of the Oriente is composed of low alluvial plains (llanos), great swamps, flooded bottomlands, open savannas, and tropical forests. In the extreme south is the Bolivian Chaco, which forms part of the Gran Chaco; it is a level area that varies strikingly with the seasons. During the rainy season the Bolivian Chaco becomes a veritable swamp, but it is a hot semidesert during the remaining seven or eight months of the year. Northward from the Chaco the relief of the Santa Cruz area is somewhat more varied, exhibiting a gentle downward slope to the north. The Oriente includes the northern departments of Beni and Pando, where the low plains are covered by savanna and, in the far north, by expanses of tropical rain forest. Much of the Beni department suffers from extensive flooding beginning in March or April, toward the end of the summer rainy season. Drainage The rivers of Bolivia belong to three distinct systemsthe Amazon system in the northeast, the Ro de la Plata system in the extreme southeast, and the Lake Titicaca system in the Altiplano. The eastern lowlands of Bolivia have many lakes, most of them little known except through observation from aircraft. The great swampy plains along the Beni and Mamor rivers, which are headwaters of the Amazon, contain several lakes and lagoons, some of them large, such as Lake Rogoaguado. The Amazon headwaters cut deeply into the Andes; even La Paz in the far west is in the Amazon drainage basin. In the vicinity of the Paraguay River (which runs parallel to Bolivia's far eastern border and is part of the La Plata Basin) there are several shallow lakes (partly produced by obstructed outlets such as the Baha Negra), the largest being Cceres, Mandior, Gaiba, and Uberaba. North of these are the great Xarayes swamps. This region, like that in the northeast, is subject to widespread flooding during summer. The third drainage system is that of the Altiplano, which constitutes the largest region of inland drainage in South America. One of the most elevated of all inland basins, it consists of Lake Titicaca near the north end; the Desaguadero River, Titicaca's outlet to the southeast; Lake Poop, into which the Desaguadero flows; the Lacajahuira River, which drains westward into the Coipasa Salt Flat; and the great Uyuni Salt Flat, independent of the rest of the system but receiving the waters of an extensive though generally arid area at the south end. Into this system enter many short streams from the neighbouring heights. Having no outlet to the sea, the water of the Altiplano system is wholly absorbed by the dry soil and by excessive evaporation. Lake Titicaca itself covers 3,200 square miles (8,300 square kilometres) and is South America's largest inland lake. Situated on the Bolivian-Peruvian border at an elevation of 12,500 feet (3,810 metres), it is about 120 miles long and a maximum of 50 miles wide (190 by 80 kilometres); it reaches a maximum depth of more than 900 feet. Many islands dot the lake's surface. The basin's drainage system maintains Titicaca as a largely freshwater lake despite its high evaporation rate. Lake Poop, which is very salty, is quite different in character from Lake Titicaca. Occupying a very shallow depression in the plateau, only a few feet below the general level of the surrounding land, Lake Poop is rarely more than 10 feet deep at its normal level. When its waters are low, it covers an area of about 1,000 square miles; the surrounding land is so flat, however, that at high water the lake reaches sometimes almost to Oruro to the north, fully 30 miles from the low-water shore. The Lacajahuira River, the only visible outlet of Lake Poop, disappears underground for part of its course and empties into the Coipasa Salt Flat, which at high water covers about the same area that Lake Poop does at low water; it usually consists, however, only of wide, marshy, salt-encrusted wastes, with a small permanent body of water in the lowest part. There is no outlet. The Uyuni Salt Flat, which lies to the south of the Coipasa Salt Flat, is similar, but it is much larger. Covering about 4,000 square miles, it consists of a great windswept expanse that is totally arid. The people Ethnic and linguistic groups The population of Bolivia consists of three groupsthe 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 groupsthose 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. The mestizos are well represented in the offices, trades, and small businesses in the cities. The traditional minoritythose of Spanish descenthave long formed the local aristocracy in small towns and rural areas. Their influence remains, although it has diminished since the National Revolution of 1952. Few foreigners have emigrated to, or reside in, Bolivia. Small numbers of Germans arrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, however, and established themselves with notable success as business agents and entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, and accountants. Japanese and Okinawan farmers have been among the most successful colonists in the Santa Cruz region. Arriving in the late 1950s and 1960s as a relatively small but skilled group of pioneers, they have made an important contribution to the economy. Religious groups The Roman Catholic religion has the adherence of nearly 95 percent of the population. At the head of the church hierarchy in Bolivia is a primate cardinalship, located in Sucre. The churches and cathedrals, most of which were built during colonial times, constitute a national architectural treasure. They are generally in the extravagantly ornamented baroque style, although some are in Renaissance (e.g., the cathedral of La Paz) or in later styles. Since the 1940s the Roman Catholic Church has ventured from an almost exclusively ceremonial role into the fields of social aid and education. In the Indian communities of the Altiplano, some of the characteristics of pantheistic pre-Columbian religion have survived. Its deities included the Sun God, legendary creator of the first Inca emperor Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca. The Roman Catholic religion has through the centuries accepted some aspects of the Indian religions by assimilating them into the religious life of these communities. There are also various Protestant denominations, as well as a small Jewish community. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution.