Bolivia

National name

República de Bolivia

Government

Republic

Geography

Landlocked by neighbors, Brazil forms its eastern border; its other neighbors are Peru and Chile on the west and Argentina and Paraguay on the south. The western part, enclosed by two chains of the Andes, is a great plateau—the Altiplano, with an average altitude of 3,658 m. Almost half the population lives on the plateau, which contains Oruro, Potosí, and La Paz. At an altitude of 3,630 m, La Paz is the highest administrative capital city in the world. The Oriente, a lowland region ranging from rain forests to grasslands, comprises the northern and eastern two-thirds of the country. Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 3,812 m, is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world.

Historical 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. 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 majority. On August 10, 2008, President Morales won a recall referendum with 63.5 percent of voters supporting his administration. On Sept. 10, 2008, President Morales ordered the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, to leave the country. In November, 2008, relations between Bolivia and the United States deteriorated further-the U.S. suspended duty-free access for Bolivian exports and President Morales suspended U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration operations, accusing its agents of espionage.

Capital

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Government

Unitary Presidential Republic

President Evo Morales

Vice President Álvaro García

Language

Spanish

Religion

Inca religion

Area

Total 1,098,581 km2 (28th) 424,163 sq mi 

Population

2010 estimate 10,907,778[5] (84th)  

2001 census 8,280,184 

Currency

Boliviano (BOB)