History of Bolivia Timeline

Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia in a conflict sparked by disputes over nitrate-rich territory in the Atacama Desert. Bolivia lost its entire coastal province, becoming landlocked — a grievance that continues to shape Bolivian foreign policy to this day.

Image source: War of the Pacific

Brazilian settlers and separatists contested Bolivian control of the rubber-rich Acre region. Following armed conflict and diplomatic negotiations, the Treaty of Petrópolis transferred roughly 190,000 square kilometers of Acre to Brazil in exchange for compensation and railway concessions.

Image source: Acre War

Bolivia and Paraguay waged a brutal war over the arid Chaco Boreal region, suspected of holding oil reserves. Despite Bolivia's larger army and better equipment, Paraguay prevailed; the 1938 treaty awarded Paraguay most of the disputed territory. The devastating defeat discredited the old political elite and galvanized reform movements.

Image source: Chaco War

Generals David Toro and Germán Busch led governments influenced by socialist ideas, nationalizing Standard Oil's Bolivian holdings and promulgating a constitution emphasizing state responsibility for social welfare. These 'military socialist' regimes marked the beginning of the end for the traditional party order.

Image source: Bourgeois socialism

General René Barrientos overthrew Paz Estenssoro, ending twelve years of MNR rule and initiating two decades of alternating military governments. Barrientos cultivated peasant support but repressed miners harshly, including the 1967 San Juan massacre at Siglo XX.

Image source: René Barrientos

Argentine revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara attempted to foment guerrilla insurrection in Bolivia's Ñancahuazú region. His small band was tracked down by the Bolivian army with CIA assistance; Guevara was captured and executed at Higuera schoolhouse, becoming a martyr for leftist movements worldwide.

Image source: Che Guevara

Colonel Hugo Banzer seized power and ruled for seven years, presiding over economic growth fueled by foreign credit alongside severe repression of leftists, labor leaders, and universities under his 'Banzerato'. Thousands were arrested or exiled, and his regime was linked to Operation Condor.

Image source: Hugo Banzer

After years of military rule marked by coups and fraudulent elections, Congress reconvened and confirmed Siles Zuazo, who had won the 1980 vote annulled by the military. Democracy was restored amid a catastrophic economic crisis of hyperinflation approaching 25,000 percent annually.

Image source: Hernán Siles Zuazo

President Victor Paz Estenssoro, elected to his fourth term, implemented Supreme Decree 21060, ending hyperinflation almost overnight through currency devaluation, price liberalization, and austerity. Tens of thousands of miners lost their jobs as state mines closed, reshaping Bolivia's economy and society.

Image source: Bolivia

Massive protests forced the government to cancel the privatization contract of Cochabamba's water system held by Bechtel subsidiary Aguas del Tunari after sharp rate increases. The Water War became a landmark case of popular resistance to neoliberal policies and globalization.

Image source: Cochabamba Water War

Protests against plans to export natural gas through Chile escalated into nationwide demonstrations met with deadly military force, leaving around sixty dead. President Sánchez de Lozada resigned and fled to the United States, deepening demands for national control of hydrocarbons and indigenous representation.

Sustained protests demanding nationalization of gas resources and regional autonomy conflicts pressured President Mesa to resign. Congressional chief Eduardo Rodríguez assumed the presidency and called early elections, setting the stage for a historic political realignment.

Image source: Carlos Mesa

Aymara coca grower leader Evo Morales of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) won a landslide victory, taking office as Bolivia's first president of indigenous descent. He nationalized hydrocarbons, expanded social programs, and forged close ties with Venezuela and Cuba.

Image source: Evo Morales

Approved by referendum in January 2009 and promulgated at El Alto, the new constitution declared Bolivia a plurinational state recognizing indigenous autonomy, official languages, and collective rights, while expanding state control over natural resources and enabling presidential reelection.

Image source: Constitution of Bolivia

The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that Chile had no legal obligation to negotiate sovereign Pacific access for landlocked Bolivia. While disappointing to Bolivians, the court encouraged dialogue, leaving the century-old dispute unresolved.

Image source: Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean

After contested general elections and a critical report by the Organization of American States, weeks of violent protest and a military request for resignation led Morales to step down and seek asylum in Mexico. Senator Jeanine Áñez assumed interim leadership amid accusations of coup from MAS supporters.

Image source: 2019 Bolivian political crisis

MAS candidate Luis Arce won the October 2020 election decisively, restoring the party of Evo Morales to the presidency. His administration faced the COVID-19 pandemic's severe economic toll and deepening internal divisions within MAS between Arce and Morales factions.

Image source: Luis Arce

Victor Paz Estenssoro and other reform-minded politicians founded the MNR, a nationalist party seeking to end oligarchic rule, incorporate indigenous majorities into political life, and assert state control over natural resources. The MNR would dominate mid-century politics.

Image source: Revolutionary Nationalist Movement

Major Gualberto Villarroel took power with MNR support and convened the first National Indigenous Congress in La Paz, recognizing campesino syndicates. His government was violently ended when a mob hanged him from a lamppost outside the presidential palace in 1946.

Image source: Gualberto Villarroel

The MNR, backed by armed miners and police, overthrew the military junta after days of street fighting in La Paz. One of Latin America's most profound social revolutions, it brought Victor Paz Estenssoro to power and transformed Bolivian society through universal suffrage, land reform, and nationalization of the mines.

Image source: Bolivian National Revolution

President Paz Estenssoro nationalized the tin mines of Patiño, Aramayo, and Hochschild, transferring them to the new state corporation COMIBOL. The move ended the era of the tin barons and placed Bolivia's most valuable industry under worker-influenced public management.

Image source: Corporación Minera de Bolivia

Signed in Ucureña before thousands of peasants, Decree Law 3464 abolished the feudal hacienda system, expropriating large estates and distributing land to indigenous communities. The reform dismantled centuries of servitude and fundamentally reshaped rural Bolivia.