History of Bolivia

The history of Bolivia involves thousands of years of human habitation.

Lake Titicaca had been an important center of culture and development for thousands of years. The Tiwanaku people reached an advanced level of civilization before being conquered by a rapidly expanding Inca Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The Inca themselves were shortly afterward conquered by the Spanish led by Francisco Pizarro in the early sixteenth century. The region that now makes up Bolivia fell under the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was specifically known as Upper Peru, and in 1776, Upper Peru was transferred to the newly established Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata with its capital in Buenos Aires.

A notable but ill-fated indigenous revolt against the Spanish authorities occurred in the late eighteenth century being led by Túpac Amaru II. Upper Peru joined the Spanish American wars of independence in the early nineteenth century and the Bolivian Republic was established in 1825, being named after Simon Bolivar. In the course of the nineteenth century Bolivia fell repeatedly into wars against its neighbors, culminating in a devastating loss in the War of the Pacific which resulted in Bolivia losing its access to the sea, along with rich nitrate fields.

Bolivia faced a further losses in the Chaco War against Paraguay of the 1930s. The Bolivian National Revolution broke out in the 1950s and attempted a program of nationalization of resources and expansion of suffrage. The country fell into military rule and experienced a series of coups until a transition to democratic government in the 1980s which still struggled with a rapidly deteriorating economy.

21st century Bolivian politics would be dominated by Evo Morales until he resigned in the wake of the 2019 Bolivian political crisis.