The slogan of the last century is black and white.

First, it was originally a coastal country.

In the 3rd century, Bolivia was under the rule of the Inca Empire. In the15th century, Spanish colonists began to conquer this area, which was called "Upper Peru" and belonged to the governor 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 400 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean in the south. Bolivia attaches great importance to the navy. 1826, the constitutional assembly approved the proposal put forward by bolivar to establish a navy 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.

Secondly, bird droppings cause controversy.

Atacama, located in the Pacific coast, is an arid and barren land. Bolivia rarely immigrated to this area, but later it discovered rich bird droppings and saltpeter resources. Guano is a kind of high-quality organic fertilizer, and saltpeter is an important mineral resource, so Chile began to conflict with Bolivia. 1864, Spain also wanted to seize the resources in this area, so Bolivia temporarily gave up its dispute with Chile and drew a vague border.

According to the provisions of the 1866 treaty, the mineral resources between Chile and Bolivia, which are bounded by the 24 south latitude line, and between the 23 south latitude line and the 25 south latitude line, belong to both countries. 1874, the two sides signed a treaty again, and Chile gave up its rights in the area north of the 24th parallel south latitude, 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 Hillary Dasa violated this treaty and confiscated the property of the Chilean company.

Third, the Pacific War.

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

On the land war, Bolivia was also defeated by Chile, and Dasa, who started the war, fled to Europe. 1880 in may, the two warring sides launched a fierce battle in Arrien. Bolivia was defeated, with more than 65438+100000 troops and more than 5000 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. During the annual Navy Festival, the slogan "Bolivia will go to sea" can be seen everywhere.