In its early days Bolivia was simply a part of the empire of the Incas of Peru. The story of the Incas has been given in Mentor No. 132, “Peru.” After the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, the natives were subjected to a great deal of tyranny and oppression. They were compelled to work in the mines, and endured so many hardships and cruelties that their numbers rapidly diminished.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were many struggles between the native-born inhabitants and their Spanish rulers. The Indian revolt in Cuzco (koos´-ko or kooth´-ko), Peru, which was led by the Inca Tupac Amaru (too´-pahk ah-mah-roo´), stirred up the Bolivian Indians to further efforts. For three months Ayoayo (ei-o-ei´-o) with 80,000 men, besieged the city of La Paz (lah pahth; local pronunciation, lah pahs´). Finally his army was dispersed and the insurrection was crushed.
Injustice had been worked not only upon the Indians, but upon the native born Spanish-Americans. These grew restless at last, and on July 16, 1809, conspirators at La Paz deposed and put into prison the governor, and then proclaimed the independence of the country. One of the leaders, Pedro Domingo Murillo (pay´-dro do-min´-go myr-ril´-o or moo-reel´-yo), was elected president. This was the first effort in South America toward democratic government. The Spanish Viceroy, however, sent a trained army which soon overcame that of the patriots. On January 29, 1810, Murillo perished on the scaffold. In the face of death, however, he exclaimed: “The torch which I have lighted shall never be extinguished.”
From then on until 1825 there was almost uninterrupted warfare. Success was equally divided at first between the Spanish and the revolutionary forces. On December 9, 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho (i-ah-koo´-cho), in lower Peru, finally ended Spanish dominion in South America. General Sucre (soo´-kray) was the victorious general. On January 29, 1825, the last Spanish authorities vacated La Paz. General Sucre and his army made a triumphal entry there on February 7, 1825. This general now assumed supreme command in upper Peru. The first national assembly met in June at the city of Chuquisaca (choo-kee-sah´-kah), now called Sucre. They decided that the part of the country hitherto known as upper Peru should be made a separate and independent nation, with the name of Bolivia. The Act of Independence bears the date of August 6, 1825.