APOLISTAS, a tribe or small group of tribes of South American Indians, regarded as forming an independent linguistic stock. The Apolistas lived in the first half of the 19th century, near Apolo in the province of Caupolican, in Bolivia, on the east ern slopes of the Andes in the latitude of the northern end of lake Titicaca. Their original home is unknown. They have been so long under the influence of the missions, that even in the early century, nothing of their original culture survived.
See A. D'Orbigny, L'Homme Americain (Paris, 1839) ; N. Armentia, Relation historica de las Misiones Franciscans de Apolobamba (La Paz, 1903) ; E. Nordenskiold, Beitrage zur Kenntnis einiger India nerstamme des Madre de Dios Gebietes (Ymer, 1905, vol. xxv., pp. 265-312).