One of only two land-locked countries in South America, Bolivia is a mountainous country. Here is an overview of the country The official name of Bolivia is the Republic of Bolivia. Bolivia covers an area of 425,000 square miles, a surprisingly large country. The capital is La Paz, which has a population of just over 800,000 people. Santa Cruz is the largest city by population with over 1.4 million residents. The terrain of Bolivia is one of high mountains and plains with some elevations so high as to result in altitude sickness. La Paz, in fact, is located at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet above sea level. This makes the highest capital city in the world. The climate varies from arid in the high elevations to tropical in lower locations. Historically, Bolivia was considered to be part of Peru during the reign of the colonial Spanish. When Spain was weekend through wars with the French, independence was sought by many of their colonies. In 1809, the country known today as Bolivia declared independence, naming itself after a general of the same name. It took another 16 years to actually gain autonomy from the Spanish. Independence did not bring peace or stability to Bolivia. The country was rife with corruption and coups by various factions. This weakness led to disastrous results during the late 1800s when Chile annexed the entire area of coastline held by Bolivia on the Pacific Ocean. Bolivia has never recovered the land in question and has suffered economically for it. The people of Bolivia are known as Bolivians. The total population for the country is 8.973 million as of the last census in 2004. Growth rate is a strong 2.7 percent per year, meaning an additional 230,000 people may have been added from 2004 to 2005. The ethnic breakdown of Bolivians is 62 percent indigenous and 38 percent European and mixed race. The people primarily adhere to the Roman Catholic faith, but a small Protestant group of adherents is present. The official language is Spanish, with Quechua, Aymara and Guarani indigenous languages also used. The literacy rate is 85 percent. Life expectancy figures are currently unknown. Bolivia is a country that seems to sway between chaos and moves towards stability. The future of the country is hard to predict as there appears to be no steadying influence in the region. |
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