Bolivia
According to the 2001 Census, Bolivia’s ethnic distribution is
estimated to be 55% indigenous, 15% European, and 30% mixed or
mestizo (all categories are self-identified). The largest of the
approximately three dozen indigenous groups are the Quechua (29% or
2.5 million), Aymara (24% or 2 million), Chiquitano (1% or 180,000),
and Guarani (1% or 125,000). No other indigenous groups represent
more than 0.5% of the population. There are small German, Croatian,
Serbian, Asian, Middle Eastern, and other minorities, many of whose
members descend from families that have lived in Bolivia for several
generations.
Bolivia is one of the least developed countries in South America.
Almost two-thirds of its people, many of whom are subsistence
farmers, live in poverty. Population density ranges from less than
one person per square kilometer in the southeastern plains to about
10 per square kilometer (25 per sq. mi.) in the central highlands.
The annual population growth rate is about 1.39% (2008).
La Paz is the highest of the world’s capital cities—3,600 meters
(11,800 ft.) above sea level. The adjacent city of El Alto, at 4,200
meters (13,800 ft.) above sea level, is one of the fastest-growing
in the hemisphere. Santa Cruz, the nation’s commercial and
industrial hub, located in the eastern lowlands, is also
experiencing rapid population and economic growth.
The great majority of Bolivians are Roman Catholic (the official
religion), although Protestant denominations are expanding rapidly.
Many indigenous communities interweave pre-Columbian and Christian
symbols in their religious practices.
About half of the people speak Spanish as their first language.
Approximately 90% of the children attend primary school but often
for a year or less. The literacy rate is low in many rural areas.
Under President Morales, a number of areas have been declared
“illiteracy free” but the resulting level of literacy is often quite
basic, restricted to the ability to sign names and recognize
numbers.
The socio-political development of Bolivia can be divided into three
distinct periods: pre-Columbian, colonial, and republican. Important
archaeological ruins, gold and silver ornaments, stone monuments,
ceramics, and weavings remain from several important pre-Columbian
cultures. Major ruins include Tiwanaku, Samaipata, Incallajta, and
Iskanwaya. The country abounds in other sites that are difficult to
reach and have seen little archaeological exploration.
The Spanish brought their own tradition of religious art which, in
the hands of local indigenous and mestizo builders and artisans,
developed into a rich and distinctive style of architecture,
painting, and sculpture known as “Mestizo Baroque.” The colonial
period produced not only the paintings of Perez de Holguin, Flores,
Bitti, and others but also the work of skilled but unknown
stonecutters, woodcarvers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths. An
important body of native baroque religious music from the colonial
period was recovered in recent years and has been performed
internationally to wide acclaim since 1994.
Bolivian artists of stature in the 20th century include, among
others, Guzman de Rojas, Arturo Borda, Maria Luisa Pacheco, and
Marina Nunez del Prado. Bolivia has rich folklore. Its regional folk
music is distinctive and varied. The “devil dances” at the annual
carnival of Oruro are one of the great folkloric events of South
America, as is the lesser known carnival at Tarabuco. |
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The Andean region has probably been inhabited for some 20,000 years.
Beginning around the 2nd century B.C., the Tiwanakan culture
developed at the southern end of Lake Titicaca. This culture,
centered around and named for the great city of Tiwanaku, developed
advanced architectural and agricultural techniques before it
disappeared about 1200 A.D., probably because of extended drought.
Roughly contemporaneous with the Tiwanakan culture, the Moxos in the
eastern lowlands and the Mollos north of present-day La Paz also
developed advanced agricultural societies that had dissipated by the
13th century. Around 1450, the Quechua-speaking Incas entered the
area of modern highland Bolivia and added it to their empire. They
controlled the area until the Spanish conquest in 1525.
During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was
called “Upper Peru” or “Charcas” and was under the authority of the
Viceroy of Lima. Local government came from the Audiencia de Charcas
located in Chuquisaca (La Plata—modern day Sucre). Bolivian silver
mines produced much of the Spanish empire’s wealth, and Potosi, site
of the famed Cerro Rico—”Rich Mountain”—was, for many years, the
largest city in the Western Hemisphere. As Spanish royal authority
weakened during the Napoleonic wars, sentiment against colonial rule
grew. Independence was proclaimed in 1809, followed by 16 years of
struggle before the establishment of the republic, named for Simon
Bolivar, on August 6, 1825.
Independence did not bring stability. For nearly 60 years,
short-lived and weak institutions and frequent coups characterized
Bolivian politics. Bolivia’s weakness was demonstrated during the
War of the Pacific (1879-83), when it was defeated by Chile, which
took lands containing rich nitrate fields and which constituted
Bolivia’s access to the sea.
An increase in world silver prices brought Bolivia a measure of
relative prosperity and political stability in the late 1800s.
During the early part of the 20th century, tin replaced silver as
the country’s most important source of wealth. A succession of
governments controlled by the economic and social elites followed
laissez-faire capitalist policies through the first third of the
century.
Living conditions of the indigenous peoples, who then as now
constituted most of the population, remained deplorable. Forced to
work under primitive conditions in the mines and in nearly feudal
status on large estates, they were denied access to education,
economic opportunity, or political participation. Bolivia’s defeat
by Paraguay in the Chaco War (1932-35) marked a turning point. Great
loss of life and territory discredited the traditional ruling
classes, while service in the army produced stirrings of political
awareness among the indigenous people. From the end of the Chaco War
until the 1952 revolution, the emergence of contending ideologies
and the demands of new groups convulsed Bolivian politics. |
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