Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHRINKING TERRITORY
At the time of independence Bolivia's boundaries encompassed well over 2 million sq km. But its neighbors soon
moved to acquire its territory, removing coastal access and much of the area covered by its ancient Amazonian
rubber trees.
The coastal loss occurred during the War of the Pacific, fought against Chile between 1879 and 1884. Many
Bolivians believe that Chile stole the Atacama Desert's copper- and nitrate-rich sands and 850km of coastline
from Peru and Bolivia by invading during Carnaval. Chile did attempt to compensate for the loss by building a
railroad from La Paz to the ocean and allowing Bolivia free port privileges in Antofagasta, but Bolivians have
never forgotten this devastating
enclaustramiento
(landlocked status).
The next major loss was in 1903 during the rubber boom when Brazil hacked away at Bolivia's inland expanse.
Both Brazil and Bolivia had been ransacking the forests of the Acre territory - it was so rich in rubber trees that
Brazil engineered a dispute over sovereignty and sent in its army. Brazil then convinced the Acre region to secede
from the Bolivian republic and promptly annexed it.
There were two separate territory losses to Argentina. First, Argentina annexed a large slice of the Chaco in
1862. Then, in 1883, the territory of Puna de Atacama also went to Argentina. It had been offered to both Chile
and Argentina, the former in exchange for the return of the coastal areas, the latter in exchange for clarification
over Bolivia's ownership of Tarija.
After losing the War of the Pacific, Bolivia was desperate to have the Chaco, an inhospitable region beneath
which rich oil fields were mooted to lie, as an outlet to the Atlantic via the Río Paraguay. Between 1932 and 1935,
a particularly brutal war was waged between Bolivia and Paraguay over the disputed territory (more than 80,000
lives were lost). Though no decisive victory was reached, both nations had grown weary of fighting, and peace
negotiations in 1938 awarded most of the disputed territory to Paraguay.
