Bolivia is a landlocked country, why does it still have a navy?

1. Originally a coastal country

In the 13th century, Bolivia was under the rule of the Inca Empire. In the 15th century, Spanish colonists began to conquer this area, which was called "Upper Peru" and belonged to the Governor's District of La Plata, Spain. During the Latin American War of Independence, Bolí var's comrade-in-arms Sucre won the battle of Ayacucho, thus ending Spain's colonial rule in South America. At this time, Bolivia became independent.

Bolivia was a coastal country at the beginning of its independence, with more than 4 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean in the south. Bolivia attaches great importance to the navy. In 1826, the Constitutional Assembly approved Bolí var's proposal to build a naval force and fleet. After that, Bolivia built ports in coastal areas and formed a navy. By 1879, Bolivia had built four ports with dozens of warships and merchant ships.

Second, bird droppings are controversial

Atacama, which is located on the Pacific coast, is a dry and barren land. Bolivia rarely immigrated to this area, but later rich bird droppings and saltpeter resources were discovered here. Guano is a high-quality organic fertilizer, and saltpeter is an important mineral resource, so Chile began to have a conflict with Bolivia. In 1864, Spain also wanted to seize the resources of this region, so Bolivia temporarily gave up its dispute with Chile and drew an ambiguous boundary.

according to the provisions of the 1866 treaty, the mineral resources between Chile and Bolivia are * * * owned by the two countries, with the boundary of 24 south latitude and the line between 23 south latitude and 25 south latitude. In 1874, the two sides signed a treaty again, and Chile gave up its rights in the area north of the 24 th south latitude line, while Bolivia did not increase taxes on Chilean companies for 25 years. However, in 1878, a coup took place in Bolivia, and the newly elected Hilarion Dasa violated this treaty and confiscated the property of Chilean companies.

III. Pacific War

On February 14th, 1879, Chile sent troops to occupy the port of Antofagasta and continued to advance. On March 1, Bolivia declared war on Chile. Peru and Bolivia are allies and were involved in this war in April this year. Because this war was triggered by saltpeter and bird droppings, it was called "saltpeter war" and "bird droppings war". At the beginning of the war, Peru once mastered the sea power, but this situation only lasted for five months. Then the Peruvian navy suffered a fiasco and the sea power was mastered by Chile.

In land war, Bolivia was also defeated by Chile, and Dasa, who started the war, fled to Europe. In May, 188, the two warring sides launched a fierce battle in Arienza Heights. Bolivia suffered a crushing defeat, with more than 1, troops and more than 5, people killed. In the end, Chile won the war and Bolivia lost all its coastal areas. Bolivia has never forgotten its shame and always yearned for the ocean, so it still attaches importance to the navy. Every year, during the Navy Festival, the slogan "Bolivia wants to go to the sea" can be seen everywhere.