Departments of Bolivia

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Updates: 

A document  issued by the Comunidad Andina  (Andean Community) on 2002-10-02 defines a set of codes for the subdivisions of the member countries: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The codes and subdivision names constitute the Nomenclatura de las Unidades Territoriales Estadísticas de la Comunidad Andina (NUTE ANDINA) (Nomenclature of Statistical Territorial Units). This work appears to be part of a collaboration with Eurostat, the European consortium that developed the NUTS codes for subdivisions of countries.

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia has released the results of the 2001-09-05 census. The departmental populations shown in the primary subdivisions table below were calculated by adding up the populations of the provinces in each department.

Country overview: 

Bolivia has been independent for the whole 20th century. It has had numerous boundary disputes with its neighbors, usually losing. Its boundaries have remained quite stable since 1950.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Bolivia
2. Dutch: Bolivia, Republiek Bolivia (formal)
3. English: Republic of Bolivia (formal)
4. Finnish: Bolivia
5. French: Bolivie, République f de Bolivie f (formal)
6. German: Bolivien n
7. Icelandic: Bólivía
8. Italian: Bolivia f
9. Norwegian: Bolivia, Republikken Bolivia (formal)
10. Portuguese: Bolívia, República f da Bolívia f (formal)
11. Spanish: Bolivia, República f de Bolivia f (formal)
12. Swedish: Bolivia

Origin of name: 

Named in honor of Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), independence fighter.

Primary subdivisions: 

Bolivia is divided into nine departamentos (departments).

Further subdivisions:

See the Provinces of Bolivia page.

The departments are divided into 112 provincias (provinces). The provinces are subdivided into secciones de provincias (sections or subprovinces). The sections are further subdivided into cantones (cantons). A 1995 book says there were 301 sections and 1,408 cantons. There are also administrative divisions known as municipios (municipalities), but they are only defined in urban areas. This document  says that there were 324 municipalities as of 2002-06-30. Among them there were ten newly-created municipalities (since 1999) which had not been completely demarcated yet.

The first three digits of the NUTE codes represent an arbitrary set of statistical areas. 101 is Occidental (Western), 102 is Oriental (Eastern), and 103 is Central.

Territorial extent: 

The border between Cochabamba and El Beni is still not defined.

Origins of names: 

1. El Beni: from the River Beni. Beni is Pano (a native dialect) for river.
2. La Paz: earlier name Nuestra Señora de la Paz, Spanish for "Our Lady of Peace." So named to encourage an end to internecine strife among the conquistadores.
3. Oruro: native word for "black and white," referring to petroglyphs.
4. Potosí: probably from Quechua potojchi: rumbling noise
5. Santa Cruz: city founded by missionaries on 1560-09-14, festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Spanish: Exaltación de la Santa Cruz).

Change history: 

1. 1826-01-23: After achieving independence on 1825-08-06, Bolivia established the departments of Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Potosí, and Santa Cruz (and probably additional territory).
2. 1826-09-05: Oruro department created.
3. 1831-09-24: Tarija department created.
4. 1842-11-18: El Beni department created.
5. 1900-03-23: Acre reconquered by Bolivia after proclaiming its independence on 1899-07-14.
6. 1903-11-17: Brazil purchased the Acre territory from Bolivia for two million pounds in the Treaty of Petrópolis; border demarcated 1909-09-08.
7. ~1924: Madre de Dios territory split from La Paz department.
8. 1925: Bolivia (Potosí department) acquired land from Argentina (Jujuy province).
9. ~1938: Madre de Dios renamed Colonial Territories (Spanish: Territorio de Colonias).
10. 1938: Bolivia and Paraguay had a long-standing dispute over the Gran Chaco, which lay between the Paraguay and Pilcomayo Rivers north into Santa Cruz. Until 1932, it was divided along a line roughly from the split of the Pilcomayo River to Fuerte Olimpo. Oil was discovered. Both countries tried to assert their rights. They fought the Chaco War from 1932 to 1935. In the eventual peace settlement, Bolivia lost most of the disputed territory - parts of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, and Tarija departments - to Paraguay.
11. 1938-09-24: Colonial Territories became Pando department.
12. ~1943: There was a short-lived Chaco department, capital Villa Montes, later annexed to Tarija.
13. There have been minor adjustments to the department boundaries.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. El Beni: Beni (variant)
2. Pando: Colonial Territories, Madre de Dios (obsolete); Territorio Nacional de Colonias (obsolete-Spanish)

Population history:

The Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia has posted department populations from the last four censuses. (The page has been taken offline, and I can't find a redirect.) "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries" listed population estimates for various years, but these are more authoritative. I have retained the 1900 populations from the book.