BOLIVIA, or UrrEn PERU, a republican state on the w. side of South America, deriving the former name from Bolivar (q.v.), and the latter from the fact that it had originally been subject to the Incas. It extends between lat. 10° and 23° a., and long. 57' 30' and 10' w., touching the Pacific on the s.w.. Peru on the w. and n., Brazil on the n. and e., and lastly, the Plate Provinces and Chili on the s.; its area, now better defined than formerly. by treaties made with Chili and Brazil in 1866 and 1867, being about 536,000 sq. miles. In 1861, the pop. of European origin was estimated to be 1,742,352; later returns give 2000,000. The aboriginal element is by fur the most important.. B. is divided into the departments of La Paz, Potosi, Oruro, Chuquisaca or Sucre, Cochabamba, Beni, Santa Cruz, Tarija. and Atacama. Hydrographically, the country may be regarded as unique. Its maritime territory, known, in fact, as the Desert of Atacama, is a sandy waste, which, with the inconsiderable exception of the I.oa, does not send a single stream that is worthy of notice into the Pacific. Again, the plateau, chiefly Bolivian. of Titicaca, shut out alike from either ocean, loses its entire drainage in the lake of Paria. Lastly, the region to the c. of the Andes is a cradle at once of the Plata and the Amazon, gathering for the former the Pilcomayo and the Paraguay, and for the latter the Beni, the Mamore, and the Guapai. In each section of B., the hydrog,raphy may be said to be a clue to the rainfall. On the almost riverless shore of the Pacific, the air is nearly as dry as the earth; to the e. of the mountains, the trade wind vapors from the Atlantic are copious enough not only to feed, hut to flood the parent streams of the mightiest rivers on the globe; and within the valley of Titi caca. which has a minimum height of 12,441 ft., the clouds barely supply the compara tively scanty evaporation of so lofty a surface. With regard to temperature. 13., almost entirely a tropical region. may claim to embrace all the zones in the world. Each locality, excepting, of course, the sandy wastes on the Pacific, has its own peculiar vegetation. Even the arid brows of the Andes yield a coarse grass, which forms the favorite food of the guanaca, llama, alpaca, and vicunlia—animals almost as independent of water as the camel. The table-hind of Titicaca produces abundantly maize, rye, barley, and wheat. Hitherto, however, B. has been remarkable mainly for its mineral
productions. The silver mines of Potosi, after having, on a well-founded estimate, completed the full tale of 2000 millions of dollars, are believed to be inexhaustible; while gold, lead, tin, salt, sulphur, niter, and copper are abundant. The foreign trade labors under heavy disadvantages. In the days of Spanish connection, it was almost exclusively carried on—though quite as much by land as by water—along the libe of the Plata; but since then. it has found its most convenient channel through the Peruvian marts of Arica and Tacna. With the aid of steam, however, the external traffic might make for itself great highways of the Plata and the Amazon. The imports, emit:Med to articles of the highest value or of the first necessity, are principally iron, hardware, and silks; and the exports, besides the precious metals, are copper, guano, niter. cacao, Jesuits' bark, skins, tobacco, and native manufactures. The total imports in 1875 were valued at £1,150,000: the exports at £1,000,000. In 1874, B. exported to Great Britain, copper valued at £104,638; silver, at £103,806; niter, at £116,105. The constitution of the republic, as founded by Bolivar, has suffered important modifications. According to the constitution, the executive is vested in a president, elected for four years, while the legislature consists of a congress of two chambers, called the senate and the house of repre sentativc3, both elected by universal suffrage; but in reality, the fundamental law of the republic requiring the election of the president every four years has fallen into disuse; and since the presidency of Marshal Santa Cruz (from May,1828, to Jan., 1839), the history of 13. is a history of military insurrections, the supreme power having been almost invariably seized by successful commanders. In 1873-74. the estimated revenue was £585,915, and the expenditure £901,101. The republic is burdened with an internal debt of £1,600,000, and a foreign debt, consisting of a six per cent loan of £1,700,000 nominal capital—issued at the price of in England in 1872, " to subsidize the National Bolivian Navigation Company." The army consists of about 3000 men. The seat of the executive government, formerly La Paz, was transferred in 1869 to Oruro. In 1879 a war broke out between Chili and B. allied with Peru. There are three short railways in Bolivia.