Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bolivia's first civilian president was
José María Linares
(1857-61), though even he as-
sumed dictatorial powers. Linares opened the country to free trade and foreign investment,
but was unable to control the military and was ousted within four years and replaced by
General José María Achá
(1861-64). Achá's regime was the most violent of Bolivia's
nineteenth-century governments but even his notoriety was exceeded by that of his successor,
General Mariano Melgarejo
(1864-71), the archetypal Bolivian
caudillo
, famous for his
violence, drunkenness, womanizing and corruption - as well as for signing away a vast area
of the Amazon lowlands and Pacific coast to Brazil and Chile. Though his hold on power
proved resilient, he was overthrown in 1871 and killed a year later in Lima.
Surprisingly, the endless succession of military coups, plots and revolts that characterized
the early decades of the republic caused relatively little social and economic disruption. Dur-
ing the middle of the century, the nation's economy actually began to improve, thanks to the
silver-mining industry's revival. From 1870 the growth of Bolivian
silver production
was
phenomenal, and an influential new class of mine owners emerged.
The War of the Pacific and the age of silver
As well as silver exports, economic growth in the second half of the nineteenth century was
also spurred by the export of
guano
and
nitrates
(both used as fertilizer) found on Bolivia's
coastal strip. In 1878, President Hilarión Daza, the latest military
caudillo
, increased export
taxes, ignoring protests by Chilean and British companies - who controlled the nitrates in-
dustry - and offering Chile the excuse to pursue its longstanding expansionist aims. Early
the next year Chilean forces began the
War of the Pacific
, occupying the entire Bolivian
coastline and then invading Peru, which was allied to Bolivia. Bolivian forces sent to fight
alongside the Peruvians were easily defeated, and Bolivia watched helplessly as its coastline
was annexed and its ally Peru defeated and occupied. Though Bolivia officially ceded the
territory to Chile in 1904, the loss of the coast was seen as a
national tragedy
. Ever since,
Bolivian politicians have invoked this loss as a means of cementing national identity.
Havingwitnessedanincompetent militaryregimestumbleintoaconflictthatdisruptedtheir
exports and damaged relations with Chilean investors, Bolivia's new silver-mining elite real-
ized that a stable, financially sound government was vital to their interests. The mining en-
trepreneurs formed a new party, the
Partido Conservador
, which ruled Bolivia for the next
nineteen years. They were opposed by the
Partido Liberal
, initially formed by those against
an early settlement with Chile, but otherwise differing little in ideology. Between 1880 and
1936, the parliamentary system worked fairly well, despite the limited nature of the elect-
orate (a tiny handful of men) and the fact that neither party was ever prepared to relinquish
the presidency when voted out of office, ensuring that limited violence remained a feature of
Bolivian political life.
