Bolivia, republic in central South America, nicknamed the Rooftop of the World because of its high elevation in the Andes Mountains. Bolivia has a landscape of snow-topped mountain peaks and broad, windswept plateaus. To the east of the mountains, vast grassy plains give way to lowland tropical rain forests. The official capital of Bolivia is Sucre; La Paz is the administrative capital and seat of government. At an altitude of about 3,600 m (11,900 ft), La Paz is the highest capital in the world.

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. Although Native Americans make up the majority of the country's population, a small Spanish elite has traditionally dominated the political and economic life of the country and held most of the wealth. The minerals of the Andes were long the source of this wealth, but petroleum and natural gas overtook them in the late 1900s. Coca leaves, the source of the drug cocaine, also became an important export in the second half of the 1900s.