Bolivia is a landlocked nation in South America that includes mountains, desert and rain forest. Officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, it’s home to about 12 million people in a land of 424,164 square miles, or 1,098,581 square kilometers.
The country is bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru, with whom it shares Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America.
Bolivia Basics
Bolivia’s administrative capital is La Paz, which is where the executive, legislative and electoral branches of government are based. The judicial branch is in Sucre, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the largest city.
Bolivia is multiethnic, and while Spanish is the official language there are also 36 officially recognized indigenous languages in use. Before the country was colonized by the Spanish, it was part of the Incan Empire. The country declared independence from Spain in 1825 but it was not officially recognized as a free nation until 1847. It is named for Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan statesman who helped several South American nations gain independence.
Bolivia National Symbols
The Bolivian flag features horizontal stripes of red, yellow and green. It was adopted in 1851 and the colors are said to represent brave soldiers, the nation’s mineral deposits and the fertility of the land.
In some uses the coat of arms also appears on the flag; it includes many symbols of the country including an Andean condor and a llama, which we’ll get back to in a minute.
The 2009 constitution also recognizes the Wiphala as a national symbol of Bolivia. This flag is made up of squares of several different colors that represent different indigenous people from the Andean region.
The national anthem, “Himno Nacional de Bolivia,” also known as “Bolivianos, el Hado Propicio” or, “Bolivians, a Prosperous Fate” was also adopted in 1851. The lyrics were written by a man who signed the declaration of independence and the original constitution.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biWph53e7N4?si=1yxKNQxwrBK0lxWG]
As mentioned above, the Andean condor is the national bird of Bolivia (and other nations in the region). This bird has the largest wingspan of any raptor.
Llamas are considered an official symbol of Bolivia, which is also home to alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña, which are all members of the same family as camels but don’t have humps.
The kantuta and patujú are both considered national flowers, because they are from different regions of the country.
Bolivia Activities for Kids
Learn about Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable body of water. It has a lot of wildlife and pre-Colombian archeology. Learn more about its history from Britannica and the legend of the lake.
Learn more about the Inca from National Geographic Kids and History for Kids.
You’ll find some Bolivia worksheets and Spanish lessons related to Bolivia at Teachers Pay Teachers.
Grab a couple of llama coloring pages (opens a PDF) from NPH. And learn more about llamas and other camelids from Kid World Citizen. (Though that page does call alpacas and the others species of llama, which isn’t accurate.)
Use the patchwork design of the Wiphala to design your own patchwork flag, or make a grid to color in like a Wiphala.
Learn about Bolivian artist Roberto Mamani Mamani and other Bolivia-inspired art projects from Our Crafty World.
Let’s Jet Kids has a post about Bolivia that includes a recipe, salt flats activity and a silver relay race.
Speaking of recipes, a great one to try is sopa de mani, a peanut soup that’s pretty easy to make. Get the recipe (and many others) from Bolivian Cookbook. The Our Crafty World post above calls salteñas the national dish of Bolivia (it’s like an empanada), so you can try those, too. This recipe from Mission Food looks like a good one.
