BOLIVIA
The Story of Bolivia
ONE
With the exception of Paraguay, Bolivia is the only entirely inland State in South America. It is really a manufactured nation. When the War of Independence of that part of South America ended, the revolutionary leaders set up this country as an independent State, and gave it the name of Bolivia, in honor of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, himself a native of Venezuela. Bolivia is bounded on the north and east by Brazil, on the south by Paraguay and Argentina, and on the west by Chile and Peru.
In its early days Bolivia was simply a part of the empire of the Incas of Peru. The story of the Incas has been given in Mentor No. 132, “Peru.” After the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, the natives were subjected to a great deal of tyranny and oppression. They were compelled to work in the mines, and endured so many hardships and cruelties that their numbers rapidly diminished.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were many struggles between the native-born inhabitants and their Spanish rulers. The Indian revolt in Cuzco (koos´-ko or kooth´-ko), Peru, which was led by the Inca Tupac Amaru (too´-pahk ah-mah-roo´), stirred up the Bolivian Indians to further efforts. For three months Ayoayo (ei-o-ei´-o) with 80,000 men, besieged the city of La Paz (lah pahth; local pronunciation, lah pahs´). Finally his army was dispersed and the insurrection was crushed.
Injustice had been worked not only upon the Indians, but upon the native born Spanish-Americans. These grew restless at last, and on July 16, 1809, conspirators at La Paz deposed and put into prison the governor, and then proclaimed the independence of the country. One of the leaders, Pedro Domingo Murillo (pay´-dro do-min´-go myr-ril´-o or moo-reel´-yo), was elected president. This was the first effort in South America toward democratic government. The Spanish Viceroy, however, sent a trained army which soon overcame that of the patriots. On January 29, 1810, Murillo perished on the scaffold. In the face of death, however, he exclaimed: “The torch which I have lighted shall never be extinguished.”
From then on until 1825 there was almost uninterrupted warfare. Success was equally divided at first between the Spanish and the revolutionary forces. On December 9, 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho (i-ah-koo´-cho), in lower Peru, finally ended Spanish dominion in South America. General Sucre (soo´-kray) was the victorious general. On January 29, 1825, the last Spanish authorities vacated La Paz. General Sucre and his army made a triumphal entry there on February 7, 1825. This general now assumed supreme command in upper Peru. The first national assembly met in June at the city of Chuquisaca (choo-kee-sah´-kah), now called Sucre. They decided that the part of the country hitherto known as upper Peru should be made a separate and independent nation, with the name of Bolivia. The Act of Independence bears the date of August 6, 1825.
Simon Bolivar (bo-lee´-var) was elected the first president; and Chuquisaca was made the capital under the name of Sucre. When General Bolivar arrived in the city of La Paz on August 18th, he was greeted with wild enthusiasm. He was inaugurated at Sucre in November; but resigned in January, 1826, to return to Lima (lee´-mah) in Peru.
There was no peace for the people of Bolivia yet, however. Troublous times followed, and finally came the war with Chile. This war arose over the collection of an export tax on nitrate. Chile sent troops to occupy Bolivian territory; and then Peru, linked to Bolivia by secret treaty, together with that country, declared war on Chile on April 5, 1879. Both Peru and Bolivia were entirely unprepared, and Chile was completely victorious in this war. As a result Bolivia lost what little coastline the country had previously possessed.
During the last thirty years internal dissensions in Bolivia have for the most part ceased. There was a brief time of trouble in 1898 over the question of the capital city. It had been the custom for the cities of Sucre, La Paz, Cochabamba (ko-chah-bahm´-bah), and Oruro (o-roo-ro) to take turns in being the seat of government. In December, 1898, however, the Bolivian Congress attempted to pass a law making Sucre the permanent residence of the president and cabinet. La Paz protested, and the people of the city rose in open revolt. On January 17, 1899, a battle was fought between the insurgents and the government forces. The insurgents were completely victorious. As a result, La Paz was made the real seat of government, although Sucre retains the name of capital. General Pando, (pahn´-do), commander of the revolutionary forces, was elected president. In 1903 a boundary dispute with Brazil over some rich rubber country was settled by the cession by Bolivia of a part of the province of Acre, (ah´-kray), in return for a cash payment of $10,000,000.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 5, No. 18, SERIAL No. 142
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
PHOTOGRAPH BY E. M. NEWMAN
HOUSE OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA