A sparsely populated country
Bolivia has few inhabitants: only 9.8 per km², one of the lowest densities in the world. But unlike other countries, Bolivia escaped the massacres of Amerindians in the 19th century. As early as the first constitution of Simon Bolivar, in 1825, Bolivia admitted, at least in theory, its ethnic richness. In reality, it was not until the 1952 revolution that serfdom was abolished, which had allowed the landowners and tin barons to share control of the country. 60 years after the 1952 revolution, and despite a former president born on Aymara lands and raised in a Quechua region, it is still the same white "elite" that presides over the destiny of Bolivia. Today, the country still counts several dozen different ethnic groups, most of which have preserved their ancestral ways of life while living on the fringes of the modern world. Some of them are now threatened with extinction.
The different ethnic groups
Here is a list of some of the main ethnic groups in Bolivia. The thirty or so indigenous nations and peoples of the country originate from three distinct geographic areas: the Amazon, the Andes and the Chaco.
The Quechuas. This Andean Amerindian people founded the kingdom of Cuzco in the 12th century, before being incorporated into the Inca Empire. The Quechuas are a little less than 2 million in Bolivia. They speak the homonymous language. Although the descendants of the Quechuas have undergone a certain amount of miscegenation, they are still the custodians of the Inca culture.
The Aymaras. Originally from the Lake Titicaca region, they are the descendants of the Tiwanaku civilization. They number nearly 1.5 million people in the territory. Also known as the Kolla people, the Aymaras fell under the control of the Inca Empire, before being under the domination of the Spaniards. They speak Aymara, a vernacular language. The Aymaras actively participated in the fight for the country's independence in the 19th century, but their living conditions did not improve.
The Chipayas are perhaps the first ethnic group to populate the Altiplano. They live at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters in the desert region of the Coipasa salt flat. Famous for their original irrigation techniques, they are also called the "people of water". Decimated by the Spanish settlers, this community does not count more than 2 000 individuals nowadays.
The Kallawayas are an itinerant people of healers who still practice one of the oldest natural medicines in the world. Originally from the north of Lake Titicaca, they have a great knowledge of medicinal plants and healing rituals. The Kallawayas arouse fear and admiration, as they are considered to be sorcerers who can also predict the future. The Kallawaya culture, more precisely the "Andean cosmovision of the Kallawaya", has been included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2008.
The Chiquitos. This people is in fact an assembly of several indigenous communities gathered by the Jesuit missions in the 16th century. They live in Chiquitania, vast plains in the east of the department of Santa Cruz. The imprint of the passage of the Jesuit missionaries is still alive among the Chiquitos: their common language, Chiquito, is spoken by the different ethnic groups converted to Christianity.
The Moxos are an Amazonian people also evangelized by the Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century, living in the vicinity of the Mamoré river, in the department of Beni in the northeast of the country. Today, they number more than 30,000, mainly grouped around the cities of Trinidad and San Ignacio de Moxos. Their languages are mojeño ignaciano and mojeño trinitario, close to the language of the Arawaks. The colorfulIchapekene Piesta festival, celebrating their conversion to Christianity, was included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.
The Guaraníes are a group of Amerindian peoples living in the Chaco region of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, but also present in Brazil and Uruguay. They have a deep respect for nature and do not know the concept of private property. They live in groups in a Tekoha, which represents much more than a territory where they live and hunt, it is also where the Guaraní culture is transmitted and developed
Europeans arrived in the country in successive waves of immigration. Their presence in the territory is however much less than in Argentina, Uruguay or Chile for example. The first wave arrived in the 16th century with the arrival of Spanish settlers, attracted by the riches of the silver mines of Cerro Rico de Potosí. A second wave, consisting of Germans, French, Portuguese and Italians, arrived in the 19th century during the industrial revolution. Today, Bolivians of European descent are estimated to represent about 15% of the population.
The Métis. Also known pejoratively as cholos or cholas, they are people born of an Indian parent and a European parent. These Creoles represent between 20 and 65% of the population. Why such a large gap? The subject of the Métis is very sensitive in the country, where political and ideological discourse often opposes the Indian to the White. The mestizos cannot claim to have any specific culture. Evo Morales removed the term "mestizo" from the national census, forcing them to claim to be Amerindian or European. Today, the Mestizos are fighting for recognition of their status and identity, especially in order to have a say in political life.
Afro-Bolivians. These are the descendants of the African slaves brought by the Spanish colonists to work in the mines of Potosi. This indigenous community of more than 20,000 people is officially recognized by the State. Living mainly in the Yungas, this community is famous for the Saya, a cultural and political expression of their identity (music, instruments, dance and clothing). The Afro-Bolivian Saya of the Yungas is performed at carnivals and folkloric festivals throughout the country.
Other minorities. Among the other ethnic groups present on the territory, we must mention the Mennonites, a community living in autarky in the department of Santa Cruz, descendants of Dutch, Russians, Germans... Finally, the country would count a little less than 15 000 inhabitants resulting from the waves of Japanese immigration of the 20th century.
