BO is the abbreviation for Bolivia, the 27th largest country in the world. Officially Plurinational State of Bolivia, Bolivia is a country located in South America, bordering 5 countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru. La Paz is the capital city of Bolivia. Other major cities include Santa Cruz (population: 1,364,389), Cochabamba (population: 900,414), La Paz (population: 812,799), Sucre (population: 224,838), Oruro (population: 208,684), Tarija (population: 159,269), Potosí (population: 141,251), Sacaba (population: 107,628), Montero (population: 88,616), and Quillacollo (population: 87,309).
Country Profile
- Capital: La Paz
- Language: Spanish
- Area: 1,098,581 km2
- Population: 11,428,245
- Currency: Boliviano (BOB)
- Time zone: UTC−4
- Calling code: 591
- ISO 2-Letter Abbreviation: BO
- UN 3-Letter Abbreviation: BOL
- Internet TLD: .bo
- State Government Website:
List of Bolivia Acronyms
The most commonly used abbreviations about Bolivia are BO which stands for Bolivia and BOB which means Boliviano (Bolivia currency). In the following table, you can see all acronyms related to Bolivia, including abbreviations for airport, city, school, port, government, and etc.
Geography
Bolivia has no coast. To the west, the Andes Mountains dominate the landscape. They are divided into two chains here, and between them lies a high plain, Altiplano, where the majority of the population lives. Also on the plateau is Latin America’s largest lake: Lake Titicaca.
North and east of the Andes, lower plains cover two-thirds of the land. Here the vegetation increases northward; from semi-arid landscape in the south, via savannah areas, to tropical rainforest in the northeast. The Cordillera Occidental mountain range consists of inactive volcanoes. Bolivia’s largest mountain peak, Sajama, is 6542 meters above sea level. The climate varies widely due to high altitude differences. It is cold and dry in the west, and tropical climate in the north and east.
Forest logging has led to soil erosion being a major environmental problem. Water quality is poor due to pollution. Bolivia is among the countries in the world with the greatest biodiversity. Climate change is a threat to this diversity. In addition, warmer climates will provide even worse access to water as the glaciers melt.
History
3000 years ago, a farming community grew up around Lake Titicaca. In the 1400s, Bolivia became part of the great Incaric, a Native American empire. The Incarriage coincided with the Spanish invasion of the 1530s, and in 1538 Bolivia was conquered by Spain. Indians were kept as slaves and had to work in the mines. Gradually, a great resistance movement emerged that sought independence. In 1825 Bolivia disassociated himself from Spain with General Sucre and the freedom hero Bolívar at the head. The country was named after Bolívar, and Sucre became the first president.
Military coup and dictatorship characterized the country until the early 1980s, when attempts at democratization were carried out. However, regular economic crises and high unemployment led to large protests from the population, especially from farmers, workers and the middle class. When the socialist Evo Morales was elected president in 2005, he became the country’s first president from a group of indigenous peoples.
Society and politics
Bolivia adopted a new constitution in 2009. Then the rights of the 36 indigenous groups were strengthened, the state gained control over natural resources such as oil, gas and water, and the various regions gained increased autonomy. Bolivia is a republic where the president is head of state and government. The president is elected for five years at a time. Initially, a president can only be re-elected once, but Evo Morales has managed to circumvent this rule. He has been re-elected twice and is likely to run for re-election in 2019.
The traditional parties and the old landowner elite in Bolivia have lost a lot of power in recent years. Today, Morales’ party The Movement for Socialism (MAS) is by far the largest party. It has the strongest support of poor Indians in the countryside, and parts of the middle class. Morales’ policies have strengthened the contradictions between poor Indians in the west and rich landowners in the east. Traditionally, the conflict has been about land rights. Now it is just as much about utilization of natural gas. Trade unions and indigenous groups want greater state control over gas revenues, while landowners want more decentralization. Social and political conflicts continue to characterize Bolivia. The political system is steeped in corruption and the judiciary is weak.
Economics and Commerce
Since Evo Morales became president, economic policy has turned in a socialist direction, and the state has taken over responsibility for the oil and gas sector. Higher taxes and fees have led to increased revenue in the Treasury, which in turn has been used to build the school and health sector in the country. Bolivia has experienced economic growth, the gap between rich and poor has narrowed, and the proportion of extremely poor has narrowed. Still, the country remains among South America’s poorest, relies on aid, and has large foreign loans. The economic development is unevenly distributed within the country. On the plains in the east and south are natural gas and oil fields and high-tech agriculture, while the mountain areas in the west are struggling with poor technological development and poverty.
Bolivia has large deposits of natural gas, minerals and oil. The economy is mainly based on commodity exports. Other important export products are tin, zinc, silver and soy. Brazil is the country’s most important trading partner, followed by Argentina, the United States, Japan and China. There is extensive smuggling of cocaine and cocaine from Bolivia.
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