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 15th and 16th centuries. The Inca themselves were shortly afterward conquered by the Spanish led by Francisco Pizarro in the early 16th century. The region that now makes up Bolivia fell under the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was specifically known as Upper Peru, and in 1776 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 18th century being led by Túpac Amaru II. Upper Peru joined the Spanish American wars of independence in the early 19th century and the Bolivian Republic was established in 1825, being named after Simon Bolivar. In the course of the 19th 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.
Pre-Columbian period
Cultures of indigenous peoples in Bolivia developed in the high altitude settings of altiplano with low oxygen levels, poor soils and extreme weather patterns. The better-suited lowlands were sparsely inhabited by hunter-gatherer societies while much of the pre-Columbian population was concentrated in altiplano valleys of Cochabamba and Chuquisaca. The potato was domesticated near lake Titicaca between 8000 and 5000 BC, quinoa some 3,000–4,000 years ago and production of copper began in 2000 BC. Llama, alpaca and vicuña were domesticated and used for transport, food and clothing.
Aymara people arrived in the region some 2000 years ago, eventually settling in Western Bolivia, Southern Peru and Northern Chile. Present-day Aymaras associate themselves with the advanced culture of Tiwanaku, which after 600 became an important regional power. According to early estimates, at its maximum extent, the city covered approximately 6.5 square kilometers and had between 15,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. However, satellite imaging was used recently to map the extent of "flooded-raised fields" (suka qullu) across the three primary valleys of Tiwanaku, arriving at population-carrying capacity estimates of anywhere between 285,000 and 1,482,000 people.
William H. Isbell states that "Tiahuanaco underwent a dramatic transformation between AD 600 and 700 that established new monumental standards for civic architecture and greatly increased the resident population." Tiwanaku gained its power through the trade it implemented between all of the cities within its empire. The empire continued to grow with no end in sight. Tiwanaku continued to absorb cultures rather than eradicate them. Archaeologists note a dramatic adoption of Tiwanaku ceramics into the cultures which became part of the Tiwanaku empire. Tiwanaku's power was further solidified through the trade it implemented among the cities within its empire.
Tiwanaku's elites gained their status through the surplus food they controlled, collected from outlying regions, and then redistributed to the general populace. Further, this elite's control of llama herds became a powerful control mechanism, as llamas were essential for carrying goods between the civic center and the periphery. These herds also came to symbolize class distinctions between the commoners and the elites. Through this control and manipulation of surplus resources, the elite's power continued to grow until about AD 950. After 950 a dramatic shift in climate occurred and there was a significant drop in precipitation for the Titicaca Basin. Tiwanaku disappeared around AD 1150 because food production collapses and could no longer sustain the large population. The land was not inhabited for many years after that. Between 1438 and 1527 the Inca empire embarked on a mass expansion, acquiring much of what is now western Bolivia under their 9th emperor, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, whose reign lasted from 1438 to 1471. Pachacuti Yupanqui was succeeded by his son, Topa Inca Yupanqui whose reign also increased the Incan territory and lasted from 1471 to 1493. During the 15th century, the Incas conquered the region of Lake Titicaca and western Bolivia became a part of the Inca territory as province of Qullasuyu.
Spanish colonial period
Conquest by Spain
Francisco Pizarro, Diego de Almagro, and Hernando de Luque led the Spanish discovery and conquest of the Inca empire.. They first sailed south in 1524 along the Pacific coast from Panama to confirm the existence of a legendary land of gold called "Biru" (later altered to Peru). Because the rapidly expanding Inca Empire was internally weak, conquest was remarkably easy. After the Inca Emperor Huayna Capac died in 1527, his sons Huascar and Atahualpa fought over the succession. Although Atahualpa defeated his brother, he had not yet consolidated his power when the conquistadors arrived. Atahualpa did not attempt to defeat Pizarro when he arrived on the coast in 1532 because the Incan ruler was convinced that those who commanded the mountains also controlled the coast. Atahualpa's refusal to accept the permanent Spanish presence and to convert to Christianity led to the bloody Battle of Cajamarca on 16 November 1532. Pizarro in a masterful strike killed Atahualpa's 12-man honor guard and took the Inca captive at the so-called ransom room. One year later, the Inca capital of Cuzco fell and was refounded as a new Spanish settlement.
Despite Pizarro's quick victory, Inca rebellions soon began and continued periodically throughout the colonial period. In 1537 Manco Inca, whom the Spanish had established as a puppet emperor, rebelled against the new rulers and restored a "neo-Inca" state.. This state continued to challenge Spanish authority even after the Spanish suppressed the revolt and beheaded Túpac Amaru in the public square of Cuzco in 1572. Later revolts in the Bolivian highlands were usually organized by the elders of the community and remained local in nature, except for the great rebellion of Túpac Amaru II.
During the first two decades of Spanish rule, the settlement of the Bolivian highlands – now known as Upper Peru (Alto Perú) or Real Audiencia of Charcas – was delayed by a civil war between the forces of Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. The two conquistadors had divided the Incan territory, with the north under the control of Pizarro and the south under that of Almagro. Fighting broke out in 1537 when Almagro seized Cuzco after suppressing the Manco Inca rebellion. Pizarro defeated and executed Almagro in 1538, but was himself assassinated three years later by former supporters of Almagro. Pizarro's brother Gonzalo assumed control of Upper Peru but soon became embroiled in a rebellion against the Spanish crown. Only with the execution of Gonzalo Pizarro in 1548 did the Spanish crown succeed in reasserting its authority; later that year colonial authorities established the city of La Paz, which soon became an important commercial center.
The conquest and colonial rule were traumatic experiences for the indigenous peoples in Bolivia.. Easily susceptible to European diseases, the native population decreased rapidly. However, the resistance of indigenous people of the Bolivian lowlands managed to delay the conquest and settlement of their lands. The Spanish established Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1561, but the Gran Chaco (the colonial name for the arid Chaco region) remained a wild frontier throughout colonial rule. In the Chaco, the Native Americans, mostly Chiriguano, carried out unrelenting attacks against colonial settlements and remained independent of direct Spanish control.
Spanish administration
During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was under the authority of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Local government was implemented by the Real Audiencia of Charcas, located in Chuquisaca or La Plata (modern Sucre). Bolivian silver mines produced much of the Spanish Empires wealth, and Potosí, site of the famed Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain") was for a couple of centuries the largest city in the Western Hemisphere.
The wealth of Upper Peru and its remoteness from Lima convinced the authorities to create a new audiencia in the city of Chuquisaca (present-day Sucre) in 1558.. Chuquisaca had become particularly important as Potosí's administrative and agricultural supply center. The jurisdiction of the audiencia, known as Charcas, initially covered a radius of 100 leagues (1,796 km2) around Chuquisaca, but it soon included Santa Cruz and territory belonging to present-day Paraguay and, until 1568, also the entire district of Cuzco. The president of the audiencia had judicial authority as well as administrative and executive powers in the region, but only in routine matters; more important decisions were made in Lima. This situation led to a competitive attitude and the reputation of Upper Peru for assertiveness, a condition reinforced by the economic importance of the region.
The longevity of Spain's empire in South America can be explained partly by the successful administration of the colonies and the integration of the people conquered. Spain was at first primarily interested in controlling the independent-minded conquerors, but its main goal soon became maintaining the flow of revenue to the crown and collecting the tribute of goods and labor from the Native American population. To this end, Spain soon created an elaborate bureaucracy in the New World, in which various institutions served as watchdogs over each other and local officials had considerable autonomy. Spain exercised its control of smaller administrative units in the colonies through royal officials, such as the corregidor, who represented the king in the municipal governments that were elected by their citizens. By the early 17th century, there were four corregidores in Upper Peru.
In the late 18th century, Spain undertook an administrative reform to increase revenues of the crown and eliminate a number of abuses.. It created an intendancy system, giving extensive powers to highly qualified officials who were directly responsible to the king.. In 1784, Spain established four intendancy districts in Upper Peru, covering the present-day departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosí, and Chuquisaca. Upper Peru was joined to the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata with capital in Buenos Aires) upon its creation in 1776. The viceroy was aided by the audiencia (council), which was simultaneously the highest court of appeal in the jurisdiction and, in the absence of the viceroy, also had administrative and executive powers.
Christianity