Spain immediately recognized the enormous economic
potential of
Upper Peru. The highlands were rich in minerals, and
Potosí had
the Western world's largest concentration of silver. The
area was
heavily populated and hence could supply workers for the
silver
mines. In addition, Upper Peru could provide food for the
miners
on the Altiplano.
Despite these conditions, silver production fluctuated
dramatically during the colonial period. After an initial
fifteen-year surge in production, output began to fall in
1560 as
a result of a severe labor shortage caused by the Indian
population's inability to resist European diseases. Around
the
same time, Potosí's rich surface deposits became depleted,
which
meant that even more labor would be required to extract
silver.
The labor shortage was addressed by Francisco de Toledo,
the
energetic viceroy (the king's personal representative) of
Peru,
during a visit to Upper Peru in the 1570s. Toledo used the
preColumbian mita to extract forced labor for the mines at
Potosí
from some sixteen districts in the highlands, which were
designated as supplying mita. Adult males could be
required to
spend every sixth year working in the mines. Henceforth,
Potosí
mining depended on the mita as well as on a labor system
in which
relatively free men worked alongside those who were
coerced.
Toledo also regulated the mining laws, established a mint
at
Potosí, and introduced the mercury amalgam process.
Adoption of
the amalgam process was particularly important, according
to
Herbert S. Klein, in that it eliminated Indian control
over
refining.
The second problem, the exhaustion of the high-content
surface
ores, required technological innovations. Hydraulic power
took on
increased importance because of the construction of large
refining centers. By 1621 a system of artificial lakes
with a
storage capacity of several million tons provided a steady
supply
of water for refineries. With the labor and technological
problems resolved, silver mining flourished. By the middle
of the
seventeenth century, silver mining at Potosí had become so
important that the city had the largest population in the
Western
Hemisphere, approximately 160,000 inhabitants.
The end of the seventeenth-century boom, however, was
followed
by a major decline in the mining industry. The exhaustion
of the
first rich veins required deeper and more expensive
shafts. The
rapid decrease of the Indian population as a result of
disease
and exploitation by the mita also contributed to the
reduction in
silver output. After 1700 only small amounts of bullion
from
Upper Peru were shipped to Spain.
Kings from the Bourbon Dynasty in Spain tried to reform
the
colonial economy in the mid-eighteenth century by reviving
mining. The Spanish crown provided the financial support
necessary to develop deeper shafts, and in 1736 it agreed
to
lower the tax rate from 20 to 10 percent of the total
output. The
crown also helped create a minerals purchasing bank, the
Banco de
San Carlos, in 1751 and subsidized the price of mercury to
local
mines. The foundation of an academy of metallurgy in
Potosí
indicated the crown's concern with technical improvements
in
silver production. The attempts to revive the mining
sector in
Upper Peru were only partially successful, however, and
could not
halt the economic collapse of Potosí at the beginning of
the
nineteenth century. Nevertheless, mining remained critical
to the
economy of Upper Peru because food supplies sent from the
valleys
to mining centers on the Altiplano influenced agricultural
production.
In the second half of the sixteenth century,
agricultural
production shifted from encomiendas to large estates, on
which
Indians worked in exchange for the use of land. Cochabamba
became
a major producer of corn and wheat, and the valleys
produced coca
leaves in increasing amounts during colonial rule.
In addition to mining and agricultural production,
Indian
tribute (alcabala) became an increasingly important source
of
income for the crown despite Indian migration to avoid
payment.
An early effort to collect tribute from Indians by moving
them
into villages or indigenous communities (comunidades
indígenas)
was unsuccessful because of resistance from both
encomenderos and
Indians. But by the late eighteenth century, an increase
in the
Indian population, the extension of tribute payments to
all
Indian males (including those who owned land), and a
relative
decline in income from the mines combined to make alcabala
the
second largest source of income in Upper Peru. Tribute
payments
also increased because Spanish absolutism made no
concessions to
human misfortune, such as natural disasters. The Indian
tribute
was increased by 1 million pesos annually.
|
Background | | Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and countercoups. Democratic civilian rule was established in 1982, but leaders have faced difficult problems of deep-seated poverty, social unrest, and illegal drug production. In December 2005, Bolivians elected Movement Toward Socialism leader Evo MORALES president - by the widest margin of any leader since the restoration of civilian rule in 1982 - after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor, indigenous majority. However, since taking office, his controversial strategies have exacerbated racial and economic tensions between the Amerindian populations of the Andean west and the non-indigenous communities of the eastern lowlands. In December 2009, President MORALES easily won reelection, and his party took control of the legislative branch of the government, which will allow him to continue his process of change.
|
|
Location | | Central South America, southwest of Brazil
|
|
Area(sq km) | | total: 1,098,581 sq km
land: 1,083,301 sq km
water: 15,280 sq km
|
|
Geographic coordinates | | 17 00 S, 65 00 W
|
|
Land boundaries(km) | | total: 6,940 km
border countries: Argentina 832 km, Brazil 3,423 km, Chile 860 km, Paraguay 750 km, Peru 1,075 km
|
|
Coastline(km) | | 0 km (landlocked)
|
|
Climate | | varies with altitude; humid and tropical to cold and semiarid
|
|
Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Rio Paraguay 90 m
highest point: Nevado Sajama 6,542 m
|
|
Natural resources | | tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower
|
|
Land use(%) | | arable land: 2.78%
permanent crops: 0.19%
other: 97.03% (2005)
|
|
Irrigated land(sq km) | | 1,320 sq km (2003)
|
|
Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 622.5 cu km (2000)
|
|
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 1.44 cu km/yr (13%/7%/81%)
per capita: 157 cu m/yr (2000)
|
|
Natural hazards | | flooding in the northeast (March-April)
|
|
Environment - current issues | | the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and the international demand for tropical timber are contributing to deforestation; soil erosion from overgrazing and poor cultivation methods (including slash-and-burn agriculture); desertification; loss of biodiversity; industrial pollution of water supplies used for drinking and irrigation
|
|
Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation
|
|
Geography - note | | landlocked; shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake (elevation 3,805 m), with Peru
|
|
Population | | 9,775,246 (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 35.5% (male 1,767,310/female 1,701,744)
15-64 years: 60% (male 2,877,605/female 2,992,043)
65 years and over: 4.5% (male 193,196/female 243,348) (2009 est.)
|
|
Median age(years) | | total: 21.9 years
male: 21.3 years
female: 22.6 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Population growth rate(%) | | 1.772% (2009 est.)
|
|
Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 25.82 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 7.05 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -1.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 66% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 2.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
|
|
Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.79 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
|
|
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 44.66 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 48.56 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 40.57 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
|
|
Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 66.89 years
male: 64.2 years
female: 69.72 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 3.17 children born/woman (2009 est.)
|
|
Nationality | | noun: Bolivian(s)
adjective: Bolivian
|
|
Ethnic groups(%) | | Quechua 30%, mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian ancestry) 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
|
|
Religions(%) | | Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
|
|
Languages(%) | | Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
|
|
Country name | | conventional long form: Plurinational State of Bolivia
conventional short form: Bolivia
local long form: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia
local short form: Bolivia
|
|
Government type | | republic; note - the new constitution defines Bolivia as a "Social Unitarian State"
|
|
Capital | | name: La Paz (administrative capital)
geographic coordinates: 16 30 S, 68 09 W
time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
note: Sucre (constitutional capital)
|
|
Administrative divisions | | 9 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Pando, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija
|
|
Constitution | | 7-Feb-09
|
|
Legal system | | based on Spanish law and Napoleonic Code; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; the 2009 Constitution incorporates indigenous community justice into Bolivia's judicial system
|
|
Suffrage | | 18 years of age, universal and compulsory (married); 21 years of age, universal and compulsory (single)
|
|
Executive branch | | chief of state: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006); note - the president is both chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Juan Evo MORALES Ayma (since 22 January 2006); Vice President Alvaro GARCIA Linera (since 22 January 2006)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for a single five-year term; election last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2014); note - per the new constitution, presidents can serve for a total of two consecutive terms
election results: Juan Evo MORALES Ayma elected president; percent of vote - Juan Evo MORALES Ayma 64%; Manfred REYES VILLA 26%; Samuel DORIA MEDINA Arana 6%; Rene JOAQUINO 2%; other 2%
|
|
Legislative branch | | bicameral Plurinational Legislative Assembly or Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional consists of Chamber of Senators or Camara de Senadores (36 seats; members are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (130 seats; 76 members are directly elected from their districts [7 or 8 of these are chosen from indigenous districts] and 54 are elected by proportional representation from party lists to serve five-year terms).
elections: Chamber of Senators and Chamber of Deputies - last held 6 December 2009 (next to be held in 2015)
election results: Chamber of Senators - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 26, PPB-CN 10; Chamber of Deputies - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - MAS 89, PPB-CN 36, UN 3, AS 2
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|
Judicial branch | | Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms); District Courts (one in each department); Plurinational Constitutional Court (five primary or titulares and five alternate or suplente magistrates elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to rule on constitutional issues); Plurinational Electoral Organ (seven members elected by the Assembly and the president; one member must be of indigenous origin to six-year terms); Agro-Environmental Court (judges elected by popular vote from list of candidates pre-selected by Assembly for six-year terms; to run on agro-environmental issues); provincial and local courts (to try minor cases)
|
|
Political pressure groups and leaders | | Bolivian Workers Central or COR; Federation of Neighborhood Councils of El Alto or FEJUVE; Landless Movement or MST; National Coordinator for Change or CONALCAM; Sole Confederation of Campesino Workers of Bolivia or CSUTCB
other: Cocalero groups; indigenous organizations (including Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia or CIDOB and National Council of Ayullus and Markas of Quollasuyu or CONAMAQ); labor unions (including the Central Bolivian Workers' Union or COB and Cooperative Miners Federation or FENCOMIN)
|
|
International organization participation | | CAN, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, LAES, LAIA, Mercosur (associate), MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUC, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
|
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Flag description | | three equal horizontal bands of red (top), yellow, and green with the coat of arms centered on the yellow band
note: similar to the flag of Ghana, which has a large black five-pointed star centered in the yellow band; in 2009, a presidential decree made it mandatory for a so-called wiphala - a square, multi-colored flag representing the country's indigenous peoples - to be used alongside the traditional flag
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|
Economy - overview | | Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. Following a disastrous economic crisis during the early 1980s, reforms spurred private investment, stimulated economic growth, and cut poverty rates in the 1990s. The period 2003-05 was characterized by political instability, racial tensions, and violent protests against plans - subsequently abandoned - to export Bolivia's newly discovered natural gas reserves to large northern hemisphere markets. In 2005, the government passed a controversial hydrocarbons law that imposed significantly higher royalties and required foreign firms then operating under risk-sharing contracts to surrender all production to the state energy company. In early 2008, higher earnings for mining and hydrocarbons exports pushed the current account surplus to 9.4% of GDP and the government's higher tax take produced a fiscal surplus after years of large deficits. Private investment as a share of GDP, however, remains among the lowest in Latin America, and inflation remained at double-digit levels in 2008. The decline in commodity prices in late 2008, the lack of foreign investment in the mining and hydrocarbon sectors, and the suspension of trade benefits with the United States will pose challenges for the Bolivian economy in 2009.
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|
GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $43.38 billion (2008 est.)
$40.88 billion (2007 est.)
$39.08 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP (official exchange rate) | | $16.6 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 6.1% (2008 est.)
4.6% (2007 est.)
4.8% (2006 est.)
|
|
GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $4,500 (2008 est.)
$4,300 (2007 est.)
$4,200 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 36.9%
services: 51.8% (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force | | 4.454 million (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 40%
industry: 17%
services: 43% (2006 est.)
|
|
Unemployment rate(%) | | 7.5% (2008 est.)
7.5% (2007 est.)
note: data are for urban areas; widespread underemployment
|
|
Population below poverty line(%) | | 60% (2006 est.)
|
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 0.5%
highest 10%: 44.1% (2005)
|
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 59.2 (2006)
44.7 (1999)
|
|
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 18% of GDP (2008 est.)
|
|
Budget | | revenues: $8.039 billion
expenditures: $7.5 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 14% (2008 est.)
8.7% (2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of money | | $3.998 billion (31 December 2008)
$3.032 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of quasi money | | $6.339 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.729 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of domestic credit | | $5.433 billion (31 December 2008)
$4.759 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Market value of publicly traded shares | | $NA (31 December 2008)
$2.263 billion (31 December 2007)
$2.223 billion (31 December 2006)
|
|
Economic aid - recipient | | $582.9 million (2005 est.)
|
|
Public debt(% of GDP) | | 45.2% of GDP (2008 est.)
46.3% of GDP (2007 est.)
|
|
Agriculture - products | | soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber
|
|
Industries | | mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing
|
|
Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 10.6% (2008 est.)
|
|
Current account balance | | $2.015 billion (2008 est.)
$1.984 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports | | $6.448 billion (2008 est.)
$4.49 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports - commodities(%) | | natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin
|
|
Exports - partners(%) | | Brazil 60.1%, US 8.3%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
|
|
Imports | | $4.641 billion (2008 est.)
$3.24 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Imports - commodities(%) | | petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans
|
|
Imports - partners(%) | | Brazil 26.7%, Argentina 16.3%, US 10.5%, Chile 9.5%, Peru 7.1%, China 4.8% (2008)
|
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $7.722 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.318 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Debt - external | | $5.931 billion (31 December 2008)
$5.385 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $5.998 billion (31 December 2008)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $NA
|
|
Exchange rates | | bolivianos (BOB) per US dollar - 7.253 (2008 est.), 7.8616 (2007), 8.0159 (2006), 8.0661 (2005), 7.9363 (2004)
|
|
Currency (code) | | boliviano (BOB)
|
|
Telephones - main lines in use | | 690,000 (2008)
|
|
Telephones - mobile cellular | | 4.83 million (2008)
|
|
Telephone system | | general assessment: privatization begun in 1995; reliability has steadily improved; new subscribers face bureaucratic difficulties; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz and other cities; mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly; fixed-line teledensity of 7 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density slighly exceeds 50 per 100 persons
domestic: primary trunk system, which is being expanded, employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; mobile cellular systems are being expanded
international: country code - 591; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2008)
|
|
Internet country code | | .bo
|
|
Internet users | | 1 million (2008)
|
|
Airports | | 952 (2009)
|
|
Pipelines(km) | | gas 4,883 km; liquid petroleum gas 47 km; oil 2,475 km; refined products 1,589 km (2008)
|
|
Roadways(km) | | total: 62,479 km
paved: 3,749 km
unpaved: 58,730 km (2004)
|
|
Ports and terminals | | Puerto Aguirre (inland port on the Paraguay/Parana waterway at the Bolivia/Brazil border); Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay
|
|
Military branches | | Bolivian Armed Forces: Bolivian Army (Ejercito Boliviano, EB), Bolivian Navy (Fuerza Naval Boliviana, FNB; includes marines), Bolivian Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Boliviana, FAB) (2009)
|
|
Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 18-49 years of age for 12-month compulsory military service; when annual number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory recruitment is effected, including conscription of boys as young as 14; 15-19 years of age for voluntary premilitary service, provides exemption from further military service (2009)
|
|
Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 2,295,746
females age 16-49: 2,366,828 (2008 est.)
|
|
Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 1,666,697
females age 16-49: 1,906,396 (2009 est.)
|
|
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 108,304
female: 104,882 (2009 est.)
|
|
Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.9% of GDP (2006)
|
|
Disputes - international | | Chile and Peru rebuff Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, but Chile offers instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities; an accord placed the long-disputed Isla Suarez/Ilha de Guajara-Mirim, a fluvial island on the Rio Mamore, under Bolivian administration in 1958, but sovereignty remains in dispute
|
|
Electricity - production(kWh) | | 5.495 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 44.4%
hydro: 54%
nuclear: 0%
other: 1.5% (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 4.665 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 51,360 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 60,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 10,950 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 6,172 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 465 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 14.2 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 2.41 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 11.79 billion cu m (2008)
|
|
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 750.4 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | 0.2% (2007 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 8,100 (2007 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
|
|
Major infectious diseases | | degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever, malaria, and yellow fever
water contact disease: leptospirosis (2009)
|
|
Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.7%
male: 93.1%
female: 80.7% (2001 census)
|
|
Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 6.4% of GDP (2003)
|
![[JPEG]](/images/frd/cs/bolivia/bo01_02a.jpg)
