Bolivia's Rise: From Colony To Sovereign Country

Bolivia has a rich history that dates back thousands of years. The earliest known ancient civilization in Bolivia was the Tiwanaku culture, which was located south of Lake Titicaca and built a great city called Tiwanaku around 2000 BC. The region that is now Bolivia was once part of the Inca Empire, which conquered the area in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1533, the Incas were conquered by Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro, and the region fell under Spanish rule. For almost 300 years, the Bolivians lived under Spanish colonial rule, during which time silver was discovered and the local population was forced to work in cruel and brutal conditions in the mines. In 1809, the people of Bolivia declared their independence, inspired by the weakening of Spanish authority due to the Napoleonic Wars. This sparked a 16-year struggle for independence, during which several revolts and battles took place. Finally, on August 6, 1825, Bolivia became an independent republic, named after the Venezuelan general and liberator Simón Bolívar. The early years of the republic were marked by economic depression, political instability, and boundary disputes with neighboring countries, which resulted in the loss of territory, including its coastline during the War of the Pacific with Chile in 1879. Despite these challenges, Bolivia has endured and, in recent years, has seen economic growth and a transition to democratic governance.

The Tiwanaku/Tiahuanaco Empire

The Tiwanaku empire was centred around the city of Tiwanaku, which served as its capital. The city was located at an altitude of roughly 3,800-3,850 meters (12,500-12,600 feet) above sea level, making it the highest state capital of the ancient world. The city covered an area of roughly 4 square kilometres (1.5 square miles) and had a peak population of between 10,000 to 20,000 individuals, although some estimates place the population as high as 70,000.

The growth of the city and the empire was due to its complex agropastoral economy, supported by trade. Tiwanaku was a multi-cultural network of powerful lineages that came together to build large monuments and hold work feasts and powerful ceremonies. These ceremonies were likely a central dynamic that attracted people from hundreds of kilometres away, who travelled via llama caravans to trade, make offerings, and honour the gods.

The architecture of Tiwanaku is characterised by large stones of exceptional workmanship. The city featured large religious buildings, gateways, and sculptures, with the layout of the city centre constructed on an east-west axis in a grid design. The whole city was surrounded by a moat on three sides, which linked with Lake Titicaca on the fourth side. Outside the moat were residential buildings arranged in compounds and built using mud bricks, with irrigation provided by canals, aqueducts, and dikes that brought water from the lake.

Tiwanaku's influence extended beyond the Lake Titicaca Basin, with colonies established in the Moquegua Valley in Peru and smaller colonies in Chile's Azapa Valley. The Tiwanaku diaspora is also evident in the adoption of Tiwanaku temples and ceramics in these regions.

The Tiwanaku empire collapsed around 1000 CE, possibly due to attacks from the Aymara Kingdoms, a collective group of states, and excessive drought brought about by regional climate change.

The Inca Conquest

The Inca Empire, officially known as the 'Realm of the Four Parts' (or 'Tawantinsuyu' in Quechua), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The Inca civilisation rose from the Peruvian highlands in the early 13th century.

The Inca were able to conquer Bolivia relatively easily due to the internal weakness of the Tiwanaku people, who inhabited the region at the time. The Inca took advantage of power struggles between the various ethnic groups living in the region, and the fact that the Tiwanaku people had not yet fully assimilated the Aymara kingdoms into their society.

The Inca established agriculture and mining practices in Bolivia, which rivalled those put in place many years later by European conquerors. They also established a strong military force and centralised political power. Despite their best efforts, however, the Inca never completely controlled the nomadic tribes of the Bolivian lowlands.

The Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532, and by 1572, the last Inca state was fully conquered.

Spanish Rule

The Spanish colonial period in Bolivia lasted for almost 300 years, from 1525 until 1809 when the country declared its independence.

Spanish Conquest

The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro first glimpsed the "New World" in 1524. Visions of a land of gold led to aggressive colonisation. The Inca Empire was already floundering when Pizarro and his men arrived, and after initial defeats, the Incas were unable to put up much resistance. In 1538, the Spaniards defeated Inca forces near Lake Titicaca, allowing them to penetrate central and southern Bolivia. Although Indian resistance continued, Spanish imperialists pushed forward, founding La Paz in 1548 and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1561.

Upper Peru

The region that now makes up Bolivia fell under the Viceroyalty of Peru and was known as Upper Peru. In 1776, Upper Peru was transferred to the newly established Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata with its capital in Buenos Aires.

During the Spanish colonial period, Bolivian silver mines produced much of the Spanish Empire's wealth. Potosí, the site of the famed Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain"), was for a couple of centuries the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. A steady stream of enslaved Indians served as the mining labour force. In the 1570s, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo introduced a coercive form of labour, the mita, which required Indian males from highland districts to spend every sixth year working in the mines.

Resistance and Revolt

The conquest and colonial rule were traumatic experiences for the indigenous peoples in Bolivia. They were easily susceptible to European diseases, and their population decreased rapidly. However, the resistance of the indigenous people of the Bolivian lowlands managed to delay the conquest and settlement of their lands.

A notable but ill-fated indigenous revolt against the Spanish authorities occurred in the late 18th century, led by Túpac Amaru II. In 1780, Túpac Amaru II led nearly 60,000 Indians against the Spaniards near the Peruvian city of Cuzco. Spain put down the revolt in 1783 and executed thousands of Indians as punishment, but the revolt illustrated the precarious nature of Spanish colonial rule in the Andes.

Independence

In the late 18th century, a growing discontent with Spanish rule developed among the criollos who began to assume active roles in the economy, especially in mining and agricultural production. As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic Wars, sentiment against colonial rule grew. Independence was proclaimed in 1809, but 16 years of struggle followed before the establishment of a republic named for Simón Bolívar.

The Bolivian War of Independence

The Spark

The First Battles

The first battles of the war took place in the cities of Sucre and La Paz, where government juntas were established after the Chuquisaca Revolution and the La Paz Revolution, respectively. However, these juntas were quickly defeated and the cities fell back under Spanish control.

Guerrilla Warfare

The conflict then evolved into a guerrilla war known as the War of the Republiquetas, with six guerrilla bands forming in the backcountry of Charcas (modern-day Bolivia) and controlling various regions of the country. These bands, known as republiquetas or "petty republics," were led by caudillos and were able to maintain a stalemate with royalist regions for 15 years, despite being isolated from each other.

The Final Battles

The fight for independence gained new momentum after the Battle of Ayacucho on December 9, 1824, where a combined army of Gran Colombian and Peruvian troops under the command of Antonio José de Sucre defeated the royalist army. The remaining royalist forces were easily defeated, except for General Pedro Antonio Olañeta, who attempted to surrender Upper Peru to Brazil in a last-ditch effort to maintain Spanish control. On April 9, 1825, Olañeta and Sucre met in a final battle, in which Olañeta was killed by his own troops, who then surrendered to the rebels.

Independence

On August 6, 1825, a constitutional congress declared Bolivia an independent republic, naming the country after Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan political leader who played a key role in Latin America's struggle for independence. Bolívar served as the country's first president for five months before being succeeded by Sucre.

The Bolivian Republic

During the mid-nineteenth century, Bolivia was beset by political instability, authoritarian rule, economic stagnation, and a growing sense of geographic isolation. The country also became embroiled in several debilitating regional conflicts, which resulted in the loss of over half of its territory. During the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), Bolivia lost its coastline and access to the sea, along with rich nitrate fields. This loss contributed to Bolivia's landlocked status and sense of nationalist sentiment.

In the late nineteenth century, the silver industry in Bolivia revived with capital from Britain and Chile, as well as new technology. The country experienced economic prosperity, with tin mining booming and replacing silver mining as the main industry. Railways were built, linking different parts of Bolivia. However, politically, the country was divided between Conservatives and Liberals, with frequent changes in leadership.

In 1899, the Bolivian Liberals rose in rebellion, seizing power in what was known as the Federal Revolution. In the early twentieth century, rubber tappers in the Acre region rebelled, supported by the Brazilians, leading to the Bolivian government selling Acre to Brazil in 1903. In 1920, the Conservatives staged a coup and regained power.

The early twentieth century was marked by fluctuations in Bolivia's economy and political landscape. While mining flourished in the 1920s, the country suffered economically after the Wall Street Crash in 1929. In the 1930s, Bolivia was engaged in the Chaco War with Paraguay, which resulted in significant loss of life and territory. This war, along with a series of military coups, marked a turning point in Bolivian politics, stirring political awareness among the indigenous population.

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