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Bolivia
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Despite the importance of its mines and its large reserves of natural gas and crude oil, Bolivia is one of the poorest nations in Latin America and still lives by a subsistence economy. A large part of the population makes its living from the illegal growing of coca, the source of cocaine; a government eradication begun in the late 1990s has depressed the economy in those areas where coca-growing was important. Coffee, cotton, soybeans, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes, and wheat are the other major crops; timber is ... important. Industry is limited to processing (largely smelting and petroleum refining) and small-scale manufacturing. Although Bolivia has much hydroelectric potential, it is underutilized.
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The Bolivia national football team is the national team of Bolivia and is controlled by the Federación Boliviana de Fútbol. It is historically one of the weakest teams in CONMEBOL. After playing in the 1930 and 1950 World Cups, they qualified just once -- in 1994. There, playing champions Germany in the tournament's opening game in Chicago, Bolivia lost 1-0 as Marco Etcheverry, considered the nation's best player of the 1990s, got sent off just three minutes after coming on as a substitute. They never advanced past the first round of any World Cup, but did win the Copa América once, in 1963.
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Since the close of the war with Chile in 1881, Bolivia has had no sea-coast. It is bounded on the west, north-west, and north by Peru; on the north-east and east by Brazil; on the south-east by Paraguay; on the south by the Argentine Republic, and on the south-west by Chile. Its communications with the outer world were still defective in 1905. A line of steamers on the Lake Titicaca then plied between the Peruvian port of Puno and the Bolivian of Huaqui, and stage lines, between La Paz and the Chilian frontier. On the east side of the Andes, in the Basin of the Amazon, rivers, which are often interrupt ed in their upper course by rapids (cachuelas) afford the only means of transit. Bolivia had two short railroad lines of its own, besides the Chilian line to Oruro, of which the terminus is upon Bolivian soil.
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Bolivia has had a troubled history. Aside from numerous internal struggles, the country first lost its access to the Pacific Ocean in a conflict with Chile. It then lost its northern territory of Acre to Brazil in a dispute involving the rubber industry in the Amazon Basin. On top of all that, Bolivia was forced to give up 55,000 square miles of southeastern Gran Chaco territory to Paraguay. Bolivia has reactivated its claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, to secure sovereign maritime access for Bolivian natural gas.
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The western parts (Andean region) of what is today Bolivia formed part of the Inca empire when the first Spaniards reached this part of South America. Most if the indeginous Indian population lived in the highlands, mainly in clusters of comparatively dense habitation in the Altiplano (especially around and south of Lake Titicaca) and in the valleys of the Cordillera Oriental. The Spaniards, whose main interest was precious metals, discovered in 1544 rich silver deposits in a mountain at the foot of which they founded the settlement of Potosi at an altitude of 4,200 meters (13,800 feet) above sea level. By the end of the sixteenth century, Potosi had a population of 120,000, the largest urban center in South America. It held its position troughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when its population exceeded 160,000. Potosi was preceded by Chuqisaca, later renamed Sucre, which was founded in 1538 and later became the administrative capital of the Spanish colonial rule.
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In 1836, Bolivia, under the rule of Marshal Andres de Santa Cruz, invaded Peru to reinstall the deposed president, General Luis Orbegoso. Peru and Bolivia formed the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, with de Santa Cruz as the Supreme Protector. Following tensions between the Confederation and Chile, war was declared by Chile on December 28, 1836. Argentina, Chile's ally, declared war on the Confederation on May 9, 1837. The Peruvian-Bolivian forces achieved several major victories: the defeat of the Argentinian expedition and the defeat of the first Chilean expedition on the fields of Paucarpata near the city of Arequipa.
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