Bolivia

Where the name comes from

Bolivia honours Simón Bolívar, a leader of Spanish America’s independence wars; it shortened the original “Republic of Bolívar”.

First people

Aymara- and Quechua-speaking societies lived here, and Tiwanaku near Lake Titicaca was a major city from about AD 500.^1,2

Known for

Bolivia is known for the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.³

Outside rule

Spain conquered Upper Peru, founding La Plata in 1538, and the silver of Potosí made it one of the empire’s richest colonies.⁴

The modern country

Spanish rule ended in 1825. Bolivia’s 2009 constitution recognises 36 Indigenous languages alongside Spanish and calls the country a Plurinational State.⁵