Bolivia is a landlocked nation in South America that features mountains, desert and rain forest. Formally the Plurinational State of Bolivia, it’s house to about 12 million individuals in a land of 424,164 sq. miles, or 1,098,581 sq. kilometers.
The nation is bordered by Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Peru, with whom it shares Lake Titicaca, the biggest lake in South America.
Bolivia Fundamentals
Bolivia’s administrative capital is La Paz, which is the place the chief, legislative and electoral branches of presidency are primarily based. The judicial department is in Sucre, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the biggest metropolis.
Bolivia is multiethnic, and whereas Spanish is the official language there are additionally 36 formally acknowledged indigenous languages in use. Earlier than the nation was colonized by the Spanish, it was a part of the Incan Empire. The nation declared independence from Spain in 1825 however it was not formally acknowledged as a free nation till 1847. It’s named for Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan statesman who helped a number of South American nations achieve independence.
Bolivia Nationwide Symbols
The Bolivian flag options horizontal stripes of purple, yellow and inexperienced. It was adopted in 1851 and the colours are stated to signify courageous troopers, the nation’s mineral deposits and the fertility of the land.
In some makes use of the coat of arms additionally seems on the flag; it contains many symbols of the nation together with an Andean condor and a llama, which we’ll get again to in a minute.
The 2009 structure additionally acknowledges the Wiphala as a nationwide image of Bolivia. This flag is made up of squares of a number of totally different colours that signify totally different indigenous individuals from the Andean area.
The nationwide anthem, “Himno Nacional de Bolivia,” often known as “Bolivianos, el Hado Propicio” or, “Bolivians, a Affluent Destiny” was additionally adopted in 1851. The lyrics had been written by a person who signed the declaration of independence and the unique structure.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biWph53e7N4?si=1yxKNQxwrBK0lxWG]
As talked about above, the Andean condor is the nationwide hen of Bolivia (and different nations within the area). This hen has the biggest wingspan of any raptor.
Llamas are thought of an official image of Bolivia, which can also be house to alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña, that are all members of the identical household as camels however don’t have humps.
The kantuta and patujú are each thought of nationwide flowers, as a result of they’re from totally different areas of the nation.
Bolivia Actions for Children
Find out about Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable physique of water. It has loads of wildlife and pre-Colombian archeology. Study extra about its historical past from Britannica and the legend of the lake.
Study extra concerning the Inca from Nationwide Geographic Children and Historical past for Children.
You’ll discover some Bolivia worksheets and Spanish classes associated to Bolivia at Academics Pay Academics.
Seize a few llama coloring pages (opens a PDF) from NPH. And be taught extra about llamas and different camelids from Child World Citizen. (Although that web page does name alpacas and the others species of llama, which isn’t correct.)
Use the patchwork design of the Wiphala to design your individual patchwork flag, or make a grid to paint in like a Wiphala.
Find out about Bolivian artist Roberto Mamani Mamani and different Bolivia-inspired artwork initiatives from Our Artful World.
Let’s Jet Children has a publish about Bolivia that features a recipe, salt flats exercise and a silver relay race.
Talking of recipes, an incredible one to strive is sopa de mani, a peanut soup that’s fairly straightforward to make. Get the recipe (and lots of others) from Bolivian Cookbook. The Our Artful World publish above calls salteñas the nationwide dish of Bolivia (it’s like an empanada), so you possibly can strive these, too. This recipe from Mission Meals seems to be like a superb one.
