Bolivia

Bolivia (officially called Plurinational State of Bolivia) is a country in South America. It is land locked by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. Evo Morales became the president of Bolivia in January 2006. The population of Bolivia is 10.67 million (2013).

Bolivia is named after Simón Bolívar. The main languages are Spanish and Quechua, but there are other languages too.

History
Bolivia used to be a colony of Spain. The silver mines in Bolivia made most of Spain's money, and Spain used Bolivians as slaves to work in the mines. After many wars, Simón Bolívar helped Bolivia to be an independent country.

Geography


Bolivia is 424,135 mi² (1,098,581 km²). This means that Bolivia is the world's 28th-largest country (after Ethiopia). It is the same sort of size as Mauritania.

Bolivia is a landlocked nation, which means every border of Bolivia is a border with another country, and so it does not have a sea. It used to own some of the Pacific coast, but it lost it in 1879 in the War of the Pacific. The west of Bolivia is on the Andes mountain range. The highest mountain in Bolivia is called Nevado de Sajama and it is near the city of Oruro. Although this part of the country is very high with lots of mountains, there are also parts of Bolivia which are very flat, and parts of the country which are very near sea level. There is also a bit of Bolivia covered by the Amazon rainforest, and a big lake which is the highest lake in the world. This lake is called Lake Titicaca.

The major cities are La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba. For other places in Bolivia see List of cities in Bolivia.

Demographics
The population of Bolivia is approximately 10,907,778 people. The ethnic composition of the country is like the following:
 * 62%: Native American.
 * 26%: Mestizo.
 * 10%: White.
 * 2%: Black

Economy
Bolivia suffers from poverty, with 75.7% of the population living below the poverty line.

Divisions
Bolivia is divided into nine departments. The departments are divided into 112 provinces. The provinces are divided into 339 municipalities and into native community lands.

Culture
Bolivian culture has many Inca, Aymara and other native influences in religion, music and clothing. There is a big festival in Oruro, which is called "El carnaval de Oruro". People in Bolivia like playing football, and football, which is often played in the street. Zoos are also very popular, but they do not have much money.

National symbols
The Cantuta (often spelled kantuta or qantuta) (Cantua buxifolia or Fuchsia buxifolia) is a flower found in the Yungas, and is the national flower of Bolivia along with the patujú (Heliconia rostrata) found in the tropical regions of Bolivia.

Related pages

 * Bolivia at the Olympics
 * Bolivia national football team
 * List of rivers of Bolivia

Other websites

 * Bolivia map