Famous landmarks in Bolivia

Bolivia is a landlocked country in the heart of South America, stretching from the high Andes to the Amazon rainforest. It has two capitals: Sucre is the constitutional capital, and La Paz, one of the highest cities in the world, is the seat of government. About 12 million people live in Bolivia. It is known for the dazzling Salar de Uyuni salt flat, Lake Titicaca, Indigenous cultures and silver mines.

On My Earth Toy you can explore Salar de Uyuni, the silver mountain of Cerro Rico in Potosí, the Gate of the Sun at Tiwanaku, the Cristo de la Concordia statue and the Basilica of San Francisco in La Paz. Look for the vicuña, a wild relative of the llama.

Geography and nature

Western Bolivia is the Altiplano, a high, cold plateau between two ranges of the Andes. Here lie Lake Titicaca, shared with Peru, and Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat on Earth. Beneath its crust are huge amounts of lithium, used in batteries. Eastern Bolivia drops into warm lowlands of savanna and Amazon rainforest, with jaguars, river dolphins and hundreds of kinds of birds. Vicuñas, flamingos and llamas live on the highlands.

People, languages and culture

Bolivia has one of the largest shares of Indigenous people in the Americas, especially Quechua and Aymara. Its constitution recognises Spanish and dozens of Indigenous languages as official. Many women in La Paz wear bowler hats and layered skirts. The Oruro Carnival, with its devil dances, is listed by UNESCO. Salteñas, juicy baked pastries, are a popular morning snack. Coca leaves are a traditional part of Andean life.

History in a nutshell

The city of Tiwanaku, near Lake Titicaca, was a powerful centre more than a thousand years ago. Later the Inca Empire ruled the highlands. Spain conquered the region in the 1500s, and the silver of Cerro Rico in Potosí made Spain enormously rich. Bolivia declared independence in 1825 and was named after the liberator Simón Bolívar. In the War of the Pacific (1879–1884) it lost its coastline to Chile.