BOLIVIA: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC.
One of the two inland Republics of South America, Bolivia has an
enormous area, a section of which is still unexplored in detail. Its
chief towns situated on the lofty Andean plateau or a little over
its eastern edge, it seems wonderful indeed that here in the 16th
century, prior to the existence of New York or Boston, were populous,
wealthy cities, hundreds of miles from the coast and from the seat of
the Viceroy at Lima. In the present day, such a horseback ride across
country as was then and till within a half century common, would by
most persons be considered quite a feat, while a similar descent to the
Atlantic port of Buenos Aires, then not unusual, is an expedition that
would commend itself to few; though this crossing were to the Paraguay
River only, where a steamboat would be available for the remainder of
the journey.
AREA, POPULATION, BOUNDARY
=Area.= Bolivia, with an area variously given as 515,000 to 708,000
square miles, is generally counted third in size of the Republics.
Pending the settlement of the boundary dispute with Paraguay and more
accurate surveys, probably at least 600,000 may be conceded, a larger
territory than the entire Atlantic slope of the United States. Once
possessing a small coast line which included the port of Antofagasta,
Bolivia was deprived of this in 1883 at the close of the war with Chile.
=Population.= The number of inhabitants, mainly an estimate, has been
recently given as nearly 3,000,000. With about four persons to a
square mile, it is the most sparsely peopled of American Republics.
=Boundary.= At the north and east the country borders on Brazil.
Paraguay is at the southeast, Argentina directly south, and Chile and
Peru west.
HISTORY
Known by the name of Alto Peru, the country was ruled for nearly three
centuries by the Viceroy at Lima, and by a Royal Audience of four
men at Chuquisaca, now Sucre, the nominal capital of the Republic.
La Paz is noted as the seat of the earliest effort (July, 1809) in
South America for democratic government. Though abortive, it was the
inspiration of later struggles. The battle of Ayacucho in 1824, which
ended Spanish dominion over the continent, was followed by the entrance
into La Paz of General Sucre with his victorious army, February 7,
1825. The Act of Independence is dated August 6, 1825. The Republic
was named for Bolívar, who was elected President, while Chuquisaca was
made the capital with the name of Sucre. General Bolívar, inaugurated
in November, resigned in January, 1826, and was succeeded by General
Sucre, the first President who really served. More or less troublous
times followed until a war with Chile broke out in 1879 over the export
nitrate tax. At the conclusion of peace Bolivia lost the small coast
section of nitrate land, Antofagasta, which she previously possessed.
Since that time several revolutions have occurred, one in 1920, but
none affecting her credit, her foreign contracts, or the lives of the
people generally.
GOVERNMENT
Bolivia is in form a centralized republic and has the usual three
branches. The President, who with two Vice Presidents is elected for
four years, and is ineligible for a consecutive term, exercises almost
absolute authority, although Congress meets annually on the sixth
of August. The President’s Cabinet is composed of six Ministers:
of Foreign Relations and Worship, Interior and Justice, Treasury,
Promotion (Internal Improvements), Public Instruction and Agriculture,
and War and Colonization.
The Senate has 16 members, the Chamber of Deputies 72. The
administrators of the Departments and of the 63 Provinces, the Prefects
and the Sub-prefects respectively, are appointed by the President.
Municipal Councils regulate the local affairs of the cities. Suffrage
is enjoyed by male citizens over 21 (not domestics) who can read and
write, who have a fixed income of 200 bolivians, and whose names are
registered. The Supreme Court alone of the three branches of government
is located at the nominal capital Sucre. The Judiciary has a Supreme
Court with seven Judges, a Superior Court in each Department, and
Provincial and Parochial Courts.
The Republic comprises eight Departments and three Territories as
follows:
---------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
DEPARTMENTS | AREA, |POPULATION| CAPITALS |POPULATION|ALTITUDE,
|in square| | | | in
| miles | | | | feet
---------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
La Paz | 73,000| 734,000| La Paz | 107,000 | 12,005
Oruro | 27,000| 137,000| Oruro | 31,000 | 12,178
Potosí | 57,000| 515,000| Potosí | 30,000 | 13,251
Cochabamba | 36,000| 512,600| Cochabamba | 35,000 | 8,387
Chuquisaca | 37,000| 320,000| Sucre | 30,000 | 9,328
Tarija | 31,000| 160,000| Tarija | 11,600 | 6,248
Santa Cruz | 140,000| 327,000| Santa Cruz | 25,000 | 1,450
El Beni | 95,000| 50,000| Trinidad | 6,000 | 774
| | | | |
TERRITORIES | | | | |
Colonias del Noroeste| 81,000| 50,000| Riberalta | 3,200 |
Colonias del Gran | | | | |
Chaco | 60,000| 23,000| Villa Montes| 970 |
Delegación Nacional | | | | |
en el Oriente | | |Puerto Suarez| |
---------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
POPULATION
The population of Bolivia, about 2,800,000, as in Peru is in three
classes: the whites, numbering possibly 500,000, Indians and mestizos
most of the rest, the Indians largely in the majority, though there
are more than half a million mestizos. A few thousand are negroes.
Since the coming of the Spaniards centuries ago, there has been no
real immigration, the mass of the people thus continuing Indian. The
whites, many of whom have some admixture of Indian blood, are of course
the ruling class. An aristocratic society exists, the members of which
follow French fashions and customs and in considerable number have
visited Europe. A few persons have inherited or acquired by mining or
otherwise very large fortunes. Some persons of obviously mixed race or
mainly of Indian blood become educated, and acquiring wealth take part
in politics, hold office, and obtain social position; more such than in
Peru. There is a really cultured society in all towns of moderate size.
The plateau Indians are chiefly Aymarás or Quichuas, the former living
around Lake Titicaca and throughout the northern part of the plateau;
while the Quichuas, strange to say, are at the south, farther from
their kindred in Peru. The Aymarás are less prepossessing than the
Quichuas, more churlish, rather darker, similar in mode of life, though
a trifle more backward. They till the soil to some extent, act as
herdsmen, work in mines, and perform heavy labor of any kind, carrying
loads of 60-80 pounds, 20, 30, even 50 miles a day. The women are said
to be stronger than the men; both do spinning and weaving. The men
are inveterate chewers of coca, and men and women both are much given
to drunkenness. Of melancholy aspect, they seem devoid of ambition.
Generally submissive, if aroused they are revengeful and murderous.
Having received little attention from the Government they are probably
in poorer case than when ruled by the Incas; they are believed to be
diminishing in numbers. Plans have been formed for improving their
condition.
The mestizos, also called cholos, feminine cholas, are the industrial
class of the nation, artisans, shopkeepers to some extent, etc. The
men dress in second class European style; the cholas, one might say,
half and half. As a rule the cholos treat the Indians more harshly
than do the real whites, while to the latter they are rather servile.
Some cholos have distinguished themselves as writers and statesmen.
Two thirds of the population are said to live at or above 12,000 feet.
Several mining camps are at 15,000 to 16,000 feet.
EDUCATION
Education is public, official, free, or private. Primary education is
called free and compulsory. The provision, formerly inadequate, has
recently been improved in accordance with a well planned programme.
There are about 900 primary schools with 53,000 pupils, including
private and kindergarten. Fourteen _colegios nacionales_ provide
for secondary education besides private schools under government
supervision; in La Paz and Cochabamba, two under Methodist auspices
have accomplished excellent work. Teachers are trained in four normal
schools, while professional or higher education is afforded by
Universities in La Paz, Sucre, and Cochabamba, Law Schools at Oruro,
Potosí, Santa Cruz, and Tarija, a School of Theology at Santa Cruz.
There are further a Mining School, Institutes of Agronomy, Commerce,
Modern Languages, and Music; and four Schools of Arts and Trades, the
one at Cochabamba giving excellent results from instruction in weaving
wool, and in the use of native dyes. With a view to extending and
modernizing the education of women coeducation is practised in most
institutions and there are two _liceos_ for girls. Students of especial
ability are sometimes sent abroad for study, and foreign instructors
are engaged.
PRESS, RELIGION, ETC.
=Press.= The press, while important, is said to have less influence
than in the neighboring Republics, and it contains less news of the
world.
=Religion.= The religion of the State is Roman Catholic, but freedom is
now granted to other forms of worship. Civil marriage alone is legal,
but is frequently neglected by the Indians.
=Telegraphic Communication.= The Capital is in telegraphic
communication with the rest of the world and with the capitals of all
the Departments. The country has over 200 offices, and 4350 miles of
wire. A powerful wireless station at Viacha, on the plateau 15 miles
from La Paz, communicates with the Pacific Coast and with passing
ships. Other stations are at Villa Bella, Cobija, Trinidad, Santa Cruz,
Ballivián, D’Orbigny, Esteros, Riberalta, Puerto Suarez, and Yacuiba.
Telephone service exists in La Paz and Oruro.
=Money.= The unit of Bolivian money is the _boliviano_, equal to about
40 cents (.389) of our money. English and Peruvian gold pounds are
legal tender, equal to 12.50 _bolivianos_. The latter are divided into
100 centavos. Silver coins are of 20 and 50 centavos. Bank bills of one
and five _bolivianos_ and of higher denominations are in general use.
=Weights and Measures= are of the metric system, but in the interior
the old Castilian system is chiefly employed.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The topography of Bolivia in general is similar to that of Peru save
for the absence of a coast section. The Sierra or plateau region and
the Trans-Andine continue those at the north, though the latter differs
from the Peruvian in that its rivers reach the Atlantic Ocean, some
by way of the Amazon, others by the Paraná and La Plata, while the
_montaña_ of Peru is wholly in the Amazon Basin.
The =Plateau Region= of Bolivia, 90 miles from the Pacific, extends
from northwest to southeast about 460 miles, with an average width of
100 miles and an altitude of 12,500 feet. It is bordered on the west
by the Cordillera Occidental, containing snowclad peaks, several of
which are volcanoes, many dormant or extinct, and on the east by the
Cordillera Oriental, the northern part of which is the Real or Royal,
a name eminently deserved. The two ranges come together at the Knot of
Cuzco or Vilcanota. Northeast of Lake Titicaca is another confused mass
or knot, the _Nudo_ of Apolobamba, where are said to be some of the
highest peaks of the Andes. The central plateau, once an inland sea,
and now including Lake Titicaca, slopes slightly from the north, where
it has a height above 13,000 feet. It is broken in places by ridges and
peaks, one over 17,000 feet high, and is cut by a few cañons. In the
West Cordillera a number of peaks reach an elevation of 19,000, 20,000,
or 21,000 feet; on the east the Cordillera Real contains several above
21,000. Farther south in the lower ranges are some peaks of volcanic
character. A transverse ridge, the Serranía de Lipez, terminates the
Bolivian Plateau.
East of the southern part of the Cordillera Oriental is a mountainous
section of which the Sierra de Cochabamba on the northeast and the
Sierra de Misiones on the east form the limit. Considerably farther
east in the region of the lowlands is the Sierra de Chiquitos between
the Mamoré and Guaporé Rivers, mere hills in comparison, with one
almost attaining 4000 feet. The highland or plateau section, the only
part visited by ordinary tourists or commercial men, occupies hardly
two fifths of the territory, the less known lowlands three fifths.
The =Lowlands=, extending farther north than the Bolivian plateau,
comprise low alluvial plains, swamps, and lands often flooded,
including great forests and llanos. The great forests are at the north
in the Amazon Basin, the open plains in that of the Plata.
=Rivers.= The only rivers of consequence are those which flow towards
the Atlantic, with the exception of the Desaguadero, about 200 miles
long, the outlet of Lake Titicaca. This river flows into Lake Pampa
Aullagas or Poopo, which has no outlet unless it be by an underground
stream to the Pacific, of which there are some indications. The
principal rivers of the Plata system, the Pilcomayo and the Bermejo,
flow southeast into the Paraguay River. More numerous and important are
the streams flowing northeast belonging to the Amazon Basin, the chief
of these, the Beni, and the Mamoré, which form the Madera River. They
have many tributaries, the Beni having the Madre de Dios, the Madidi,
the Cochabamba, and others; the Mamoré receiving the great boundary
river, the Guaporé or Itenez, and many more.
CLIMATE
Bolivia, still within the tropics, has the same variety of climate
as the countries previously described, the difference in altitude
causing the variation. The portion of the table-land where the altitude
is 12,000 to 13,000 feet, called the _puna_ by the natives, has two
seasons which resemble autumn and winter, the summer is so short and
cool. The summer, the season of snows, is from October or November to
May; the winter usually has slight precipitation. Little will grow here
except potatoes, barley, and _quinua_. The higher land up to the snow
line, perhaps 17,000 feet, called the _puna brava_, is still colder,
supporting grass only, where herders alone are found with native
flocks and rare mining settlements. Higher still is eternal snow with
almost Arctic temperature, -20° I found it at night on a glacier on
Mt. Sorata. A professor once told me that at 16,000 feet he was unable
to keep warm at night however much clothing and blankets he used, but
the Indians, moderately clad and with bare feet, endure the cold with
apparent indifference.
The valleys as high as 12,000 feet, as in the case of La Paz, are
comparatively comfortable, being shielded from the bleak winds of the
plateau. From 9500 feet to 11,000 the climate is sufficiently temperate
for the raising of vegetables and cereals. In what is called the
Valley Zone, 5,000 to 9,000 feet, there is slight variation throughout
the year, perpetual summer and subtropical vegetation. Below are the
_yungas_, deep valleys with semitropical climate, and further the
tropical lowlands. Except for the last section the country as a whole
may be called healthful, diseases arising from bad habits, poverty,
ignorance, and unsanitary conditions, rather than as a necessary result
of the climate. In the lowlands, however, tropical fevers and malaria
are likely to exist, while many persons are more or less affected by
_soroche_ on ascending to the plateau from the sea. In La Paz the
weather in winter is cool, with a temperature occasionally below
freezing and ranging from 40° to 50° in the house. Snow though not
uncommon soon vanishes in the sun, and flowers like geraniums blossom
all the year in the open. In summer, with much more precipitation, it
usually rains in the valley, with snow often on the _puna_ and always
on the mountains above.