Bolivia, a republican state on the west side of South America, formed in 1825, and deriving its name from Bolivar. Formerly called Upper Peru, it was till 1825 part of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres. It extends between 8° and 23° S. lat., and 57° 30' and 73° W. long., and is inclosed by Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, the Argentine Republic, and Chili. A portion of the Argentine frontier has been for some time undetermined. Its coast provinces Bolivia lost to Chili in consequence of the war between Bolivia and Peru with Chili in 1879-83. The area of the republic—842,729 sq. m. in 1869—was reduced by the disastrous war on the side of Peru against Chili to 536,000 sq. m. (more than four times the size of the United Kingdom). The population is probably under 1,500,000, though some estimates give 2,300,000, of whom rather more than half are native Indians.
Surface and Hydrography.—Prior to the treaty of 1884, Bolivia contained the loftiest and most mountainous district of America; but as since then her western frontier has been bounded by the Andes, this claim would now be only partly true. The Peruvian frontier is, however, unchanged; and the lofty plateau of Oruro, with an average height of 13,000 feet, and about 150 miles broad, is inclosed between the Andes proper and the Cordillera Real, to the east. There are also intermediate ranges and isolated groups; and the volcanoes, confined to the western region, include Sahama, Illampu, and Illimani, all over 21,000 feet high. The great plateau falls into two parts, of which the northern is the more inhabited, the Lake of Titicaca and the many well-watered valleys around making the district not so unproductive as its great elevation would otherwise render it. This lake, with an area of more than 3200 sq. m., and a depth of 120 fathoms, incloses several islands, the largest of which was the home of the founders of the empire of the Incas. The Rio Desaguadero, with a course of 160 miles, connects it with the salt lake and swamps of Aullagas or Paria, scarcely one-third the size of Titicaca; and somewhat to the west lies the Laguna de Coiposa, a basin covered, in the dry season, with a thick crust of salt. The southern and lower tableland is chiefly a desert, where the mountain streams either sink into the sand, or flood, in the rainy season, what are salt pampas throughout the rest of the year. The Cordillera Real system descends abruptly, on the north, to the plain of the Amazon; but its eastern edge is a series of terraces, sinking gently to the plains of eastern Bolivia, which in the north belong to the Amazon basin, and in the south to the pampas of the Plata. This eastern region is a cradle of both rivers, gathering for the latter the Pilcomayo, with its tributary streams, which flows through the Gran Chaco to feed the Paraguay, and for the former the Guapey or Rio Grande, which afterwards becomes the Mamoré, and unites with the Beni (q.v.) to form the Madeira. See AMERICA, ANDES.
Climate and Vegetation.—Although situated entirely within the tropics, Bolivia, from its varied elevation, possesses a wide range of climate and productions. The regions with an elevation of over 11,000 feet are called punas, while the puna brava is the region of snow and ice above 12,500 feet. This division includes the whole tableland of Oruro and the loftier mountain peaks. The climate is cold and dry, but generally healthy, in spite of the cutting winds, the extreme rarity of the atmosphere, and the occasional days of great heat, followed by bitterly cold nights. Vegetation is scanty, and cultivation mainly confined to potatoes, barley, and coarse grasses, which maintain the animals of this zone. Here, and in the higher parts of the next region, the dry and rainy seasons are distinguished, the latter extending from November to March. The cabezas de valles are the heads of valleys descending to the lowlands, in the eastern terraces, between 9500 and 11,000 feet; the deeper valleys, between 5000 and 9500 feet, are called medio yungas. The former have a temperate climate, and wheat and maize are produced in large quantities; in the latter, tropical fruits begin to flourish. East of the inner Cordillera lie the yungas, or plains under the 5000 feet limit. This district, with its numerous streams, its luxuriant tropical vegetation, its rich forests of valuable trees in the north, and its immense open savannas in the south, surpasses most countries of South America in fertility and resources. Coffee, rice, cacao, coca, pine-apples, bananas, tobacco, cotton, and the valuable cinchona are cultivated; and among other important plants are the copal and caoutchouc trees. The rainfall here is uncertain. Intermittent fevers are confined to the northern plains, where the overflowing rivers and rank vegetation are added to a hot and moist atmosphere.
Animals.—In the punas are found the guanaco, llama, alpaca, and vicuña—animals almost as independent of water as the camel—and the chinchilla; in the east, jaguars, tapirs, and other wild animals common to Brazil. The first three are prized for their skins, and are also largely employed as beasts of burden; the vicuña yields a long, soft wool; and the chinchilla skins also form a valuable article of commerce. Large numbers of sheep are herded in the highlands, and of cattle in the plains.
Minerals.—While agriculture and stock-raising have never received proper attention in Bolivia, the development of its mineral resources has always been the most important industry of the country; for its great yields of gold, silver, copper, and tin ores have for centuries given a large profit, in spite of the excessive cost of transport. The mines of Potosi, which have been worked since 1545, are estimated to have produced, up to the present, over £600,000,000 sterling of silver. Since the war of independence (1809–25), the industry has been practically uninterrupted, and specially fostered by favourable fiscal regulations. The want of good roads or accessible seaports, and a lack of better fuel than llama-dung or moss, have seriously impeded the work; but the approach of railways, and the discovery of coal in several provinces, promise to remove these checks. Consequently, a great revival in mining enterprise has been noticeable since 1883, many abandoned mines having been reopened. Potosi still produces about 2,800,000 ounces; Oruro yields as much; and the richest mine, Huanchaca, to the southwest of Potosi, more than twice that amount. The product of all the silver-mines is estimated at over £3,000,000 annually. Lead and quick-silver are frequently found along with the silver. Gold-mining has been abandoned, except by the Indians, who carry it on in a primitive way; but the metal is still washed in grains from the rivers of the eastern slope and foot-hills of the Cordillera Real. The rich copper-mines have recently been less worked, chiefly owing to difficulties of transportation.
Commerce, Communication, &c.—From the land-locked position of the republic, its foreign trade labours under heavy disadvantages, which the nature of its great rivers, rendered unnavigable by rapids, has increased. An uninterrupted route was reported to have been discovered in 1887, by the Acquiri, Purus, and Amazon; but as this would connect Brazil only with the extreme north of Bolivia, beyond the Madre de Dios, its practical value is doubtful. More is to be hoped for from the railways, which are now steadily approaching the country from the south. Prior to the Chilian war, its favourite marts were the Peruvian port of Arica and its own Cobija, in Atacama. But both Argentine and Brazil having granted gratuitous egress through their ports, a great part of Bolivia's productions have since been drained through these countries, chiefly the former. In order to restore the trade to the Pacific, a railway has been made from the now Chilian port of Antofagasta, which forks at Uyuni, in Bolivia, one branch going to Oruro, the other to the Huanchaca mines. The Paraguayan government has granted a concession for a line by the Pilcomayo to Bolivia and Peru; and concessions have been granted by the Argentine Republic for parallel routes through the Gran Chaco, and another road approached Jujuy. A railway to connect Potosi with the Argentine frontier is also projected; meanwhile, the bulk of the trade of La Paz is still by rail to Aygacha (50 miles), and by steamer across Lake Titicaca to Puno, in Peru, and thence by rail to Mollendo. A railway from La Paz to connect with the Mollendo-Puno one is proposed. Concessions granted in 1868, for opening up the Mamoré and Madeira to navigation, produced no result, although the Brazilian government was reported to be willing to render the Madeira navigable for 400 miles from its junction with the Amazon, and to levy no transit dues. There are about 400 miles of telegraph lines, mostly connecting with the Argentine system. Recent customs returns there are none, but a careful estimate would give the annual value of exports at slightly over £2,000,000, and of imports at about £1,400,000. Two-thirds of the exports consist of silver. In one year there have been shipped to various countries through Arica 550 tons of copper, 800 tons of copper ore, 500 tons of tin, and 600 tons of silver in bars and ore. The exports to Great Britain amount to about £200,000; the imports from thence amount to £50,000 or £60,000, being chiefly iron, cotton, woollen, and manufactured goods. A considerable trade is carried on also with Germany and France, but there is no direct commerce with the United States. Bolivian manufactures are very backward, firearms and brandy alone showing any recent advance; but the coca and cinchona plantations are attracting a great deal of attention and capital. In 1885 there were over 5,000,000 cinchona-trees, yielding 200,000 lb. of bark; and the coca-leaf is in large demand, both for home consumption and for export.
Population.—The population of Bolivia is a mixture of various races, half-caste Spaniards and Indians, with some descendants of negro slaves formerly brought from Africa. About a third of the people live in the towns, the remainder in hamlets or in the Campaña. All the Indians are divided into three classes—civilised, semi-civilised, and wild. To the first belong the Quichua and Aymará Indians, chiefly inhabiting the highlands of the west. The former are direct descendants of the Incas, whose language and manners they preserve, and form 50 per cent. of the pure native population; the Aymará are a kindred race, about half as numerous. They are devout Catholics, mild in character, apathetic, with more endurance than energy, and are mostly arrieros, or drivers of llama-trains, or engaged in llama and sheep raising and rude agriculture. The second division is filled by the Chiquito and Moxos Indians of the great north-eastern llanos, who retain part of the civilisation introduced by the Jesuits in the 17th century; while the several tribes of nomadic Indians inhabiting the eastern plains belong to the third. These last are quite wild, but although more or less maliciously disposed towards the Spanish race, their dislike seldom finds expression in overt acts; and in consequence, travel in Bolivia is comparatively safe. The half-bred population is about a third as numerous as the pure Indian; the cholos, a Spanish and Indian mixture, form the most important element, and to them Bolivia largely owes her independence. The religion of the country is Roman Catholic, but others are tolerated; there are four dioceses, including an archbishopric of La Plata. Education is extremely backward. Of the four universities, three are for law students alone; and in 1884 only 5 per cent. of the children of school age attended the schools. Consequently, literature is at a low ebb in Bolivia, and its few newspapers have the least weight of any in South America.
Government, &c.—According to the constitution, the executive is vested in a president, with two vice-presidents, and a ministry divided into five departments; while the legislature consists of a congress of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives, both elected by universal suffrage. In practice, the law requiring the election of the president every four years has seldom been observed; and since the presidency of General Santa Cruz (from May 1828 to January 1839), the history of Bolivia is a record of military insurrections, the supreme power having been almost invariably seized by successful commanders. There have been no returns of the actual revenue and expenditure for several years; in the budget for 1894–95 the receipts were stated at £600,000, the expenditure at over £700,000. The public debt is set down at about £6,000,000, including a 'forced war loan' to equip troops against Chili, and a foreign debt of £1,700,000, contracted in England in 1872 to open up the Madeira route. The best authorities, however, returned the total debt in 1894 at £2,500,000, of which the foreign debt amounted to £1,500,000; though a general uncertainty, in which the Bolivian government seems to share, apparently exists as to the precise amount. Some two-thirds of the annual revenue is expended on the standing army, which consists of about 1400 men, commanded by 8 generals and 1013 other officers. Bolivia is divided into fourteen provinces. The seat of the executive government, formerly La Paz, was transferred in 1869 to Oruro, and is now at Sucre. The chief towns are La Paz (26,000), Cochabamba (14,705), Chuquisaca or Sucre (12,000), and Potosi (11,000).
Bolivia declared its independence 6th August 1825, and took the name of Bolivia on the 11th of that month. The first congress met in the following year, and adopted a constitution prepared by Bolívar (q.v.), which has since, however, been greatly modified. The subsequent history of the state has been largely a series of restless and purposeless revolutions. Slavery was abolished in 1836. In 1879 a war broke out between Chili and Bolivia allied with Peru, of which the issue was disastrous to the allies. The terms of peace were severe, and stripped Bolivia of her seaboard district, with its stores of nitre and guano, besides demanding a heavy war indemnity.