UYUNI

town, southwestern Bolivia. It lies on the cold, windswept Altiplano, a high intermontane plateau, at 12,024 feet (3,665 m) above sea level, just east of the vast Uyuni Salt Flat. Founded in 1890, it prospered, with the assistance of Slav and Syrian colonists, as a railroad junction and mining and market centre. Northeast of the town are the Pulacayo and Huanchaca silver mines. From Uyuni a branch of Bolivia's main north-south railroad line runs southwestward to the Pacific Ocean, giving the nation access to port facilities at Antofagasta, Chile. Pop. (1992) 11,372.