CHAPTER YIII. 



BOLIVIA. 



I. 



Boundaries — Extent. 



HE former territory of Charcas or " High Peru," which depended on 

 the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres from 1776 till the War of 

 Independence, and which constituted itself a republic under the 

 name of Bolivia, in honour of Bolivar, presents of all the South 

 American states the most eccentric political frontiers. On the 

 conclusion of the struggle with Spain, Bolivia had already been sacrificed to Peru, 

 to which were assigned her natural communications with the sea. She sustained 

 a still greater loss when she was deprived by Chili of the roundabout route by 

 which the coast could be reached from the Bolivian plateaux. The little section 

 of the seaboard owned by her before the Chilian war lay almost beyond her 

 territory proper, at its south-west extremity, and separated from the better- 

 peopled inland provinces, not only by the volcanic cordillera and the parallel 

 coast rano-es, but also by arid, uninhabitable desert spaces. Hence this remote 

 and almost worthless region was little utilised by Bolivian commerce, and all the 

 foreign trade passed through the Peruvian seaports of Islay, MoUendo, Arica, 

 Pisagua and Iquique. 



But despite their inhospitable character, these coastlands were, unfortunately 

 for Bolivia, extremely rich in nitrates and other chemical substances of great 

 value in the modern industries. A war, caused b}^ a conflict of interest in these 

 mineral treasures, broke out between Chili and Peru ; Bolivia, unable to remain 

 neutral, lost the stakes, and being the weakest of the three states, suffered most. 



In virtue of an " indefinite truce," Chili seized all the coast provinces, and 

 took the place of Peru as the intermediary of Bolivian commerce. Henceforth 

 Bolivia has to forward her produce through the Chilian seaports of Iquique and 

 Antofagasta. 



On the north-east the frontier towards Peru coincides fairly well with the 



