The Plurinational State of Bolivia is a South American country located in the center of the continent. Its constitutional capital is Sucre, but the government center is in La Paz.
History[]
Independence[]
Bolivia gained independence from Spain in 1825, the last of the South American countries under Spanish rule to gain freedom during the South American Wars of Liberation. Bolivia was named for Simon Bolivar, its first president and the leader of the wars of liberation after Jose de San Martin's resignation in 1822. Bolivia was one of the largest nations in South America and was rivals with Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Paraguay on all sides.
Wars with Argentina[]
In 1840, the Argentine Confederation invaded Alto Paraguay in hopes of adding new lands to their infant nation, which took power only ten years earlier from the collapsing United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. The Argentines, aided by Paraguay, took Alto Paraguay and Bolivian Jujuy from Bolivia, weakening them. But Bolivian general Juan Antonio Abaroa held off invasions by Argentina and Paraguay for years, and in 1845 Bolivia took over one-third of Argentina (provinces with cores) in the north after a failed Argentine invasion of Bolivia's ally of Uruguay. These gains remained in Bolivian hands for ten years, when Bolivia was defeated in the Paraguayan Liberation of Alto Paraguay. Argentina regained all of these lands, and Paraguay gained Alto Paraguay.
Bolivia remained a target that Argentina kept in mind for, and when modern Argentina overthrew the Argentine Confederation in 1861, they set their sights on Bolivia. On 10 April 1862, the Argentinian Liberation of Jujuy began, seeing Bolivia's army's destruction at Santiago del Estero on 4 July and the occupation of their southern provinces with no resistance. On 17 April 1864 Bolivia gave Jujuy to Argentina, drastically decreasing the size of their nation. Bolivia was invaded once more in 1870 when Argentina planned to make it a puppet, and in 1872 it officially became a puppet of Argentina. It became a democracy ruled by the Nationalist Party, and was an ally of Argentina.
Gallery[]
