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Bolivia, officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile by the south west, and Peru by the west. Prior to European colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire – the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called Upper Peru and was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of Spain's South American colonies. After declaring independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Bolivia has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic woes.

Bolivia has been governed by democratically elected governments since 1982, when a long string of military coups came to an end. Presidents Hernán Siles Zuazo (1982–85) and Víctor Paz Estenssoro (1985–89) began a tradition of ceding power peacefully which has continued, although two presidents have stepped down in the face of popular protests: Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in 2003 and Carlos Mesa in 2005. Bolivia's multiparty democracy has seen a wide variety of parties in the presidency and parliament, although the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement, National Democratic Action, and the Revolutionary Left Movement predominated from 1985 to 2005. The current president is Evo Morales, the first indigenous Bolivian to serve as head of state. Morales' Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples party was the first to win an outright presidential majority in four decades, doing so both in 2005 and 2009.

Although the great majority of Bolivians are Roman Catholic, Protestant denominations and traditional ethnic Inca religion are expanding rapidly. According to a 2001 survey conducted by the National Statistical Institute, 78% of the population is Roman Catholic, 16% is Protestant and 3% follow other Christian denominations. Islam is practiced by the descendants of Arabs and local converts, constituting a small minority of just over 2000 adherents. There is also a small Jewish community that is almost all Ashkenazim in origin. The state has no official religion.

Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2%. According to Instituto Nacional de Estadística de Bolivia 28.1% of the population of Bolivia spoke an indigenous language as a first language in 2007. This had increased to 29.4% in 2008. Approximately 90% of the children attend primary-school but often for a year or less. Until the 2001 census the literacy rate was low in many rural areas, but, according to the CIA, the literacy rate was 87% nationwide, which is similar to Brazil's but below the South American average. Nevertheless in 2008 after the campaign "Yes I can", Bolivia was declared illiteracy-free under the UNESCO standards. "a first language" is questionable as it fails to make a distinction of whether this means only language spoken, or one of multiple learned nearly simultaneously, or one first and then others later (in which case it would be more insightful to put the percentages for "first language" as well as "total speaker" percentages). Also indigenous languages have historically been underrepresented and the 2001 census statistics are too old (especially given Bolivia's recent history) and requires a newer inquiry.