LOCATION MAP 



BOLIVIA 796 



development of its resources, one of the fore- 

 most among them. 



As to the sue of Bolivia, there are various 

 estimates ranging from 510,000 to 730,000 square 

 miles, for the boundary lines on the south and 

 east remain uncertain. But the best authori- 

 ties at the present day give the area as approx- 

 imately 512.000 

 square miles, and 

 Bolivia thus ranks 

 as the third larg- 

 est South Amer- 

 ican state. It is 

 almost as large as 

 all the states bor- 

 dering both sides 

 of the Mississippi, 

 with California 

 added, but 

 whereas the com- 

 bined population 

 of those states is 

 over 27,440,000, 

 the population of 



Bolivia is only about 2,267,000, or less than that 

 of California alone. The great Canadian prov- 

 inces of Ontario and Quebec are only a little 

 larger. The average density of population is 

 less than four to the square mile, and so 

 unevenly are the inhabitants distributed that 

 over vast tracts they average less than one to 

 the square mile. 



The People. About twenty per cent of the 

 inhabitants are of Spanish origin; the rest are 

 of pure Indian and of mixed blood, the latter 

 called m< xtizus. The Indians are the descend- 

 ants of the old Inca Empire; those of the 

 northern part of the high plateau speak 

 "aymara," and those of the southern section, 

 "quichua." The descendants of the Spaniards 

 fill the leading professional and commercial 

 positions and hold the public offices of impor- 

 tance. 



Education and Religion. Great impulse has 

 been given in late years to public instruction. 

 Primary education is imparted to more than 

 80,000 children. The schools are well pro- 

 vided with desks and other accessories imported 

 from the United States. High schools for train- 

 ing in commerce, mining and agriculture, and 

 normal colleges for teachers have been estab- 

 lished. In the American institutes at La Paz 

 and at Cochabamba English is included in the 

 courses of study. Special schools for Indians 

 are also in operation, where manual training 

 is taught. 



BOLIVIA 



Religiously, Bolivia is Roman Catholic, and 

 most of the Indians as well as the whites belong 

 to this Church, but other faiths are not mo- 

 lested. 



Government and Cities. The government is 

 republican in form, with the executive power 

 vested in a President elected by the people for 

 four years. He may not succeed himself, nor 

 may the two Vice-Presidents succeed them- 

 selves. The Congress has a Senate of eighteen 

 members and a Chamber of Deputies of sev- 

 enty-five members, all elected for four years. 

 Division into nine departments facilitates local 

 government, and these are in their turn sub- 

 divided. There is a Supreme Court and a 

 system of inferior courts. 



Military service is compulsory, and the coun- 

 try has an army of about 80,000, all but about 

 3,150 of whom are reservists and guards. The 

 chief cities are La Paz, the capital; Cocha- 

 bamba, Potosi, Oruro and Sucre. See LA PAZ. 



The Land and Its Rivers. The western part 

 of Bolivia is called, not without reason, the 

 "South American Switzerland," for here two 

 great ranges of the Andes stretch for hundreds 

 of miles, and with their lofty peaks, covered 

 with eternal snow, afford some of the most 

 picturesque scenery to be found in all the 

 western hemisphere. The eastern range, the 

 Cordillera Real, is much the loftier of the two, 

 and contains some giant peaks Illampu and 

 Illimani, each over 21,000 feet, and Chorolque, 

 18,500 feet. By far the tallest of the western 

 peaks is Sajama, 21,000 feet high. Between 

 these ranges lies the Bolivian . plateau, the 

 region in which the largest cities are located 

 and the most progressive people are to be 

 found. The altitude of this plateau is from 

 12,000 to 13,000 feet, and a number of small 

 mountain ranges cross it. At its northwestern 

 end, part in Bolivia and part in Peru, is Lake 

 Titicaca, the most elevated large lake in the 

 world. Deep, clear and icy cold, it lies at an 

 altitude but 1,500 feet below that of Pike's 

 Peak. See TITICACA. 



Stretching east and northeast from the 

 mountains are the great plains, which slope 

 from a height of 3,000 feet in the foothills to 

 300 feet at the Brazilian boundary, ^ery flat 

 and well-watered, these plains contain large, 

 grassy tracts, and along the river margins are 

 dense tropical forests. When the heavy rains 

 set in much of this eastern region is a great 

 morass, but it is this very overflowing of the 

 rivers which makes the soil so fertile and gives 

 promise of future grazing and agricultural de- 



