A Brief History of Bolivia

A land of sharp contrasts, Bolivia is bordered on the west by the Andes and on the north and east by the Amazon jungle. It is one of two landlocked countries in South America. Three-quarters of the population live either in the Western mountains or on the high plain, the altiplano, where the potato was first domesticated about 4,000 years ago.

Previously known as “upper Peru,” what is now Bolivia was conquered by the Spanish in 1538. Silver was discovered in Potosí in 1545, and for many years Potosí was both the largest and the richest city in the Western hemisphere, and it made Bolivia the world's largest silver producer from 1545 to 1745. Independence from Spain was achieved in 1824 at the battle of Ayacucho, and the new country was named after the general of its liberating army, Simón Bolívar.

Since independence Bolivia has been politically unstable, with approximately 250 governments and 16 constitutions in 170 years. In 1932 a border dispute with Paraguay grew into a war. Bolivia lost, and two-thirds of the 90,000 people killed in action were Bolivians.

In 1952 the MNR (National Revolutionary Movement) took power and accomplished several important changes during its 12 years in power: It initiated a serious agrarian reform that settled almost 600,000 families; it nationalized the tin industry; and it extended suffrage to indigenous peoples and women (previously, only literate men could vote, fewer than 10 percent of the population). A military coup in 1964 ended this experiment.