Geography of Bolivia

The geography of Bolivia includes the Eastern Andes Mountain Range, which runs from north to south through the middle of the country. To the east of these mountains are vast plains that are part of the Amazon and Paraná river basins. To the west lies the Altiplano, a high plateau that holds Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world that people can sail on, and many wide salt flats.

Bolivia is one of only two countries in South America without a coastline to the ocean, the other being Paraguay. It shares borders with several nations: Brazil to the north and east, Peru to the west, Chile to the southwest, Argentina to the south, and Paraguay also to the south. The land changes a lot, from the jungles of the Amazon to the dry Atacama Desert and many volcanoes.

Most people and work in Bolivia happen along a line from Santa Cruz de la Sierra through Cochabamba to La Paz. In the past, southern cities like Oruro and Potosí were very important because of their tin and silver mines. Today, the area around Tarija in the far south has lots of natural gas. Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the biggest city and a major center for farming.

The country also has rich cultural differences between the highland and lowland regions, known by the names Camba and Colla, with another smaller group called the Chapacoa living in Tarija.

Overview

The Altiplano is a high plateau, and its most famous feature is Lake Titicaca. This lake sits 3,811 meters (12,503 feet) above sea level, making it the world’s highest navigable lake. It covers an area of 9,064 square kilometers (3,500 square miles), bigger than Puerto Rico, and is the second-largest lake in South America. The lake is deep and helps keep the nearby climate mild, allowing crops like maize and wheat to grow in sheltered spots.

Lake Titicaca flows southward into the Desaguadero River, which then leads to Lake Poopó. Unlike the freshwater Lake Titicaca, Lake Poopó is salty and shallow.

Western Bolivia features the Cordillera Occidental, a range of quiet volcanoes and places where sulfurous gases escape. The highest point in Bolivia, Nevado Sajama, sits here at 6,542 meters (21,463 feet). This area is mostly dry and rocky, with very few people living there.

The Altiplano lies between the western and eastern mountain ranges. It has several large flat areas and salt flats, the biggest being the Uyuni Saltpan, which stretches over 9,000 square kilometers.

The Cordillera Oriental runs through eastern Bolivia. Its northern part, the Cordillera Real, has tall, snowy granite peaks, some over 6,000 meters high. Further south, the landscape changes to high plains with fewer trees.

Bolivia has three main areas where water flows:

• The Amazon Basin, covering most of the country’s northeastern part, includes rivers like the Mamoré River and Beni River, which feed into the Amazon River.
• The Río de la Plata Basin in the southeast includes rivers such as the Paraguay River.
• The Central Basin in the highlands contains lakes like Lake Titicaca and Poopó Lake, as well as large salt flats like the Salar de Uyuni.

Valleys

The northeastern side of the Cordillera Real is called the Yungas, meaning "warm valley" in Aymara and Quechua. This area, near La Paz, has steep slopes and beautiful views. It gets a lot of rain, and plants grow well on the sides of narrow valleys. The land is very fertile, but it has been hard to develop because of poor transportation. In 1917, the government tried to build a railway through the Yungas to connect La Paz with the eastern lowlands, but it was stopped after only a part was finished.

The eastern slopes of the Cordillera Central gently go down in a series of ranges and hills. Rivers flowing east have created long, narrow valleys, which are good places for growing crops and for people to live. The soil in these low areas is rich, though some places have lost plants and soil due to erosion. The valleys are between 2,000 and 3,000 metres above sea level, so they have milder temperatures than the high plateau. The cities of Sucre, Cochabamba, and parts of Tarija department are found in this large region.

Lowlands

The eastern lowlands of Bolivia cover the area north and east of the Andes mountains. This region makes up more than two-thirds of the country but has few people and has not been very important for the economy until recently.

The lowlands are divided into three parts by their land and weather. The northern part, including Beni, Pando Departments, and part of Cochabamba Department, has rainforests. The soil here often stays wet because of poor drainage, and heavy rains can turn large areas into swamps. The central part, in the north of Santa Cruz Department, has gentle hills and a drier climate. Forests and open lands called savannas are found here, and much of the land is used for farming. Santa Cruz, the largest city in the lowlands, and most of Bolivia’s oil and gas are located in this area. The southeastern part of the lowlands is part of the Gran Chaco. This area gets very little rain for most of the year but floods during the rainy season. The dry conditions support mostly thorny bushes and cattle, though recent finds of oil and gas have brought some people to live near the Andes foothills.

Many of Bolivia’s important rivers are in the northern lowlands, especially in the Alto Beni area, where crops like coffee and cacao grow well. The big rivers here—the Mamoré, Beni, and Madre de Dios—flow north into the Madeira River in Brazil and then into the River Amazon. Boats travel on the Beni and Mamoré rivers, but rapids on the Madeira stop boats from going further into Brazil. Near the border with Paraguay, small sandy streams carry water into the Pilcomayo or Paraguay rivers. The Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, also extends into Bolivia.

Even though this area is called lowland, there are some mountains here too, like the forested Serranías Chiquitanas in eastern Santa Cruz Department.

Climate

See also: Rainy season in the Altiplano

Bolivia has many different climates because of its varied landscapes. About 28% of Bolivia is Andean mountains, 13% is sub-Andean, and 59% is made up of plains. The weather changes a lot depending on how high you are above sea level. In the east, it is warm and wet, while in the west, it can be very cold, especially in the mountains where snow is common.

Bolivia experiences warm, humid summers in the east and dry, cold winters in the west. A weather pattern called El Niño can change the usual weather patterns, causing surprises. Different areas have their own special climate, from very wet tropical areas to dry desert-like regions.

Statistics

Bolivia has rugged Andes Mountains with a highland plateau called the Altiplano, along with hills and lowland plains in the Amazon Basin.

The country is rich in natural resources such as tin, natural gas, and gold. It shares borders with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. Most people live in urban areas. Bolivia faces natural hazards like flooding in the northeast during certain months. Environmental issues include loss of forests and soil due to farming practices. Bolivia is landlocked and shares Lago Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, with Peru.

Location and extreme points

Bolivia is a country in South America. It shares borders with Peru to the northwest and Chile to the southwest. It also borders Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay to the southeast, and Argentina to the south.

Some of Bolivia's extreme points include its northernmost point at the Madeira River near Brazil, its southernmost point in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, its westernmost point on the border with Peru, and its easternmost point on the border with Brazil. The highest point in Bolivia is Nevado Sajama, which stands at 6,542 meters, and the lowest point is the Rio Paraguay at 90 meters.

Climate policy

Bolivia has created a plan to help fight changes in the world's weather. This plan focuses on four main ideas: making farming and industry cleaner, protecting forests and wetlands, improving energy use, and watching closely for changes in the environment.

Bolivia has about one-fifth of the world's tropical glaciers, but these glaciers are melting because of rising temperatures. Between 1986 and 2014, they lost 43% of their surface area. Scientists warned Bolivia about this problem in the 1990s, and in 2012, Bolivia started protection policies. They set up a project to watch the glaciers using cameras, drones, and satellites. They also created programs to teach people about the effects of global warming and to change harmful farming practices. In February 2017, the government set aside $200 million to fight drought and global warming.