Bolivian tours & travel packages include complete information about Bolivia tourist attractions which is useful during Bolivia visit. Famous since Spanish colonial days for its mineral wealth, modern Bolivia was once a part of the ancient Incan empire. After the Spaniards defeated the Incas in the 16th century, Bolivia's predominantly Indian population was reduced to slavery. The remoteness of the Andes helped protect the Bolivian Indians from the European diseases that decimated other South American Indians. But the existence of a large indigenous group forced to live under the thumb of their colonizers created a stratified society of haves and have-nots that continues to this day. Income inequality between the largely impoverished Indians who make up two-thirds of the country and the light-skinned, European elite remains vast.

Landlocked Bolivia is equal in size to California and Texas combined. Brazil forms its eastern border; its other neighbors are Peru and Chile on the west and Argentina and Paraguay on the south. The western part, enclosed by two chains of the Andes, is a great plateau-the Altiplano, with an average altitude of 12,000 ft (3,658 m). Almost half the population lives on the plateau, which contains Oruro, Potosí, and La Paz. At an altitude of 11,910 ft (3,630 m), La Paz is the highest administrative capital city in the world. The Oriente, a lowland region ranging from rain forests to grasslands, comprises the northern and eastern two-thirds of the country.

418,683 sq mi (1,084,389 sq km); total area: 424,164 sq mi (1,098,580 sq km)

8,989,046 (growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 23.3/1000; infant mortality rate: 51.8/1000; life expectancy: 65.8; density per sq mi: 21

Sucre, 204,200; Administrative capital: La Paz, 1,576,100 (metro. area), 830,500 (city proper)

: Santa Cruz, 1,168,700; Cochabamba, 815,800; El Alto, 728,500; Oruro, 211,700

Boliviano

Spanish, Quechua, Aymara (all official)

Quechua 30%, mestizo 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%

Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%

87% (2003 est.)

Tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower.

Soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber.

Required by all except the following, provided traveling for tourist purposes:
(a) 1. nationals of countries mentioned in the chart above (except nationals of Malta who do require a visa).
(b) nationals of Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Holy See, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, New Zealand, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines, Serbia & Montenegro, Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela.
(c) transit passengers (except nationals of China (PR)) continuing their journey by the same or first connecting aircraft within 24 hours, provided holding valid onward or return documentation and not leaving the airport.