More than 60 percent of Bolivia's citizens are Indian—predominantly

Quechua and Aymara. The Andean nation is poor, but rich in natural
attractions that fuel a growing ecotourism economy.
Photograph by Peter Adams/zefa/CORBIS

Bolivia Information and History

Bolivia—named for Simon Bolívar, liberator of much of South America—

is poor, mountainous, and landlocked. Over 60 percent of Bolivia's people
are Indian, mostly Quechua or Aymara; the rest are European and mixed.
Many are subsistence farmers on the Altiplano (pronounced ahl-tee-
PLAH-noh). Here La Paz, with 1.5 million people, sprawls amid snowy
peaks near Lake Titicaca. The waters of Lake Titicaca help warm the air,
otherwise La Paz, the world's highest capital city at 3,600 meters (11,800
feet), would not be livable. Bolivia has a second capital at Sucre, named
after its first president, where the supreme court resides.

In 1987 Bolivia made the world's first debt-for-nature swap with an

international conservation organization for the 135,000-hectare Beni
Biosphere Reserve—a portion of Bolivia's foreign debt was purchased to
support the reserve. Bolivia continues to conserve its environment with the
1995 creation of the 1,895,750-hectare Madidi National Park. Madidi
includes everything from Andean glaciers to rain forests; it helps Indians,
like the local Quechua, develop ecotourism, which includes watching some
1,000 bird species, tracking tapirs, or white-water rafting.

Large natural gas deposits in the Santa Cruz area and expansion of soybean
cultivation help the economy. But a historic boundary dispute with Chile
and cocaine from the Cochabamba area plague the national government.

ECONOMY

Industry: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages.

Agriculture: soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton; timber.
Exports: soybeans, natural gas, zinc, gold, wood.

Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, 2004

Bolivia Flag and Fast Facts

Population Currency
8,922,000 boliviano
Capital Life Expectancy
La Paz (administrative); 1,477,000 63
—Sucre (constitutional); 212,000 GDP per Capita
Area U.S. $2,500
 1,098,581 square kilometers Literacy Percent
(424,164 square miles) 87
Language
Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Religion
Roman Catholic

’;
The current flag of Bolivia was officially adopted on November 30, 1851.
The red and green colors were part of the original flag of 1825. Red is said to recall valor and green indicates
fertility. The centered band of yellow symbolizes the country's mineral resources, and the coat of arms within that
band is topped by a condor.

Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959 in Orinoca, Oruro), popularly known
as Evo (pronounced [ˈeβo]), has been the President of Bolivia since 2006. He has been
declared the country's first fully indigenous head of state in the 470 years since the
Spanish Conquest.[2]

Morales was first elected President of Bolivia on December 18, 2005, with 53.7% of the
popular vote in an election that saw the participation of 84.5% of the national electorate.
[3]
Two and a half years later he substantially increased this majority; in a recall
referendum on August 14, 2008, more than two thirds of voters (67.4%) voted to keep
him in power. [4]

Morales is the leader of a political party called the Movement for Socialism (Movimiento
al Socialismo, with the Spanish acronym MAS, meaning "more"). MAS was involved in
social protests such as the gas conflict and the Cochabamba protests of 2000, along with
many other groups, that are collectively referred to as "social movements" in Bolivia. The
MAS aims at giving more power to the country's indigenous and poor communities by
means of land reforms and redistribution of gas wealth.[5]

Morales is also titular president of Bolivia's cocalero movement — a loose federation of

coca growers' unions, made up of campesinos who are resisting the efforts of the United
States government to eradicate coca in the province of Chapare in central Bolivia.

Bolivia is one of the few countries that has two capital cities -- Sucre is home to the
judicial branch of the government (making it the constitutional capital), while the
president and congress are stationed in La Paz (the administrative capital).
Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish
rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups
and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have
faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug
production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader
Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of
civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional
political class and empower the nation's poor, indigenous majority. However, since
taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions
between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous
communities of the eastern lowlands.
Location:
Central South America, southwest of Brazil
Geographic coordinates:
17 00 S, 65 00 W
Map references:
South America
Area:
total: 1,098,580 sq km
land: 1,084,390 sq km
water: 14,190 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly less than three times the size of Montana
Land boundaries:
total: 6,940 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km, Paraguay 750 km,
Peru 1,075 km
Coastline:
0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims:
none (landlocked)
Climate:
varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
Terrain:
rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau (Altiplano), hills, lowland plains of the
Amazon Basin
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m
Natural resources:
tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber,
hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)
Irrigated land:
1,320 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources:
622.5 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
total: 1.44 cu km/yr (13%/7%/81%)
per capita: 157 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards:
flooding in the northeast (March-April)
Environment - current issues:
the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical
timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor
cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of
biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation
3,805 m), with Peru

Ethnic groups:
Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%,
white 15%
Religions:
Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
Languages:
Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign
languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.7%
male: 93.1%
female: 80.7% (2001 census)

Bolivia
Population: 9,775,246 (July 2009 est.)
 Climate:

varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid