The history of Bolivia involves thousands of years of human habitation.
Lake Titicaca had been an important center of culture and development for thousands of years. The Tiwanaku people reached an advanced level of civilization before being conquered by a rapidly expanding Inca Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Inca themselves were shortly afterward conquered by the Spanish led by Francisco Pizarro in the early sixteenth century. The region that now makes up Bolivia fell under the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was specifically known as Upper Peru, and in 1776, Upper Peru was transferred to the newly established Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata with its capital in Buenos Aires.
A notable but ill-fated indigenous revolt against the Spanish authorities occurred in the late eighteenth century being led by Túpac Amaru II. Upper Peru joined the Spanish American wars of independence in the early nineteenth century and the Bolivian Republic was established in 1825, being named after Simon Bolivar. In the course of the nineteenth century Bolivia fell repeatedly into wars against its neighbors, culminating in a devastating loss in the War of the Pacific which resulted in Bolivia losing its access to the sea, along with rich nitrate fields.
Bolivia faced a further losses in the Chaco War against Paraguay of the 1930s. The Bolivian National Revolution broke out in the 1950s and attempted a program of nationalization of resources and expansion of suffrage. The country fell into military rule and experienced a series of coups until a transition to democratic government in the 1980s which still struggled with a rapidly deteriorating economy.
21st century Bolivian politics would be dominated by Evo Morales until he resigned in the wake of the 2019 Bolivian political crisis.
Pre-Columbian period
Cultures of indigenous peoples in Bolivia developed in the high altitude settings of altiplano with low oxygen levels, poor soils and extreme weather patterns. The better-suited lowlands were sparsely inhabited by hunter-gatherer societies while much of the pre-Columbian population was concentrated in altiplano valleys of Cochabamba and Chuquisaca.
The potato was domesticated near lake Titicaca between 8000 and 5000 BC, quinoa some 3000–4000 years ago and production of copper began in 2000 BC. Llama, alpaca and vicuña were domesticated and used for transport, food and clothing.
Aymara people arrived in the region some 2000 years ago, eventually settling in Western Bolivia, Southern Peru and Northern Chile. Present-day Aymaras associate themselves with the advanced culture of Tiwanaku, which after 600 became an important regional power. According to early estimates, at its maximum extent, the city covered approximately 6.5 square kilometers and had between 15,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. However, satellite imaging was used recently to map the extent of "flooded-raised fields" (suka qullu) across the three primary valleys of Tiwanaku, arriving at population-carrying capacity estimates of anywhere between 285,000 and 1,482,000 people.
William H. Isbell states that "Tiahuanaco underwent a dramatic transformation between AD 600 and 700 that established new monumental standards for civic architecture and greatly increased the resident population." Tiwanaku gained its power through the trade it implemented between all of the cities within its empire. The empire continued to grow with no end in sight. William H. Isbell states "Tiahuanaco underwent a dramatic transformation between AD 600 and 700 that established new monumental standards for civic architecture and greatly increased the resident population." Tiwanaku continued to absorb cultures rather than eradicate them. Archaeologists note a dramatic adoption of Tiwanaku ceramics into the cultures which became part of the Tiwanaku empire. Tiwanaku's power was further solidified through the trade it implemented among the cities within its empire.