WEBVTT

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Why does Bolivia have a navy when it is a
landlocked country with no access to the sea

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If you look at a map of South America today,
Bolivia sits right in the middle of it

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It's surrounded by land on all sides. No coastline,
no ocean, no ports, and yet they have a navy

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Not just a ceremonial one either. It has naval
ranks, ships, a naval academy, even celebrates an

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annual day of the sea. And at first glance, it
kind of sounds like a joke. Why would a country

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that is landlocked have a navy and celebrate this
day? But the answer lies in a pretty important

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and difficult chapter of Bolivian history. Back
in the 19th century, Bolivia wasn't landlocked

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at all. When it gained independence from Spain
in 1825, it actually inherited a narrow strip of

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coastline along the Pacific Ocean. This coastal
region, known as the Litoral, stretched around the

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Atacama Desert and included several small ports.
It wasn't heavily populated, but it became

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extremely valuable once rich deposits of nitrates
and some other minerals were discovered there

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Plus it was their only access to an ocean for importing and exporting trading with the rest of the
world The problem is that these initial borders of South American countries weren very clearly defined

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Chilean settlers and companies had already begun operating
in the region, especially around the port of Antoasta

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So over time, Chile's economic presence there became
stronger than Bolivia's own administrative control

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Tensions began to rise as both countries
tried to claim the same mineral-rich territory

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It wasn't that Chile wanted more coastline. I mean,
I think they have enough of that to begin with

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They wanted the minerals and the resources of the region. To fight this, in 1878, the
Bolivian government imposed a new tax on a Chilean company mining those nitrates in Litoral

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The company refused to pay, claiming that it violated some
earlier agreements, and Chile's government backed the company

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The dispute quickly escalated and a year later,
Chilean troops occupied the port city, effectively

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seizing Bolivia's coastline and this marked
the beginning of the War of the Pacific

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Bolivia actually wasn't alone in the conflict against Chile. It had a
defensive alliance with Peru, so when they invaded, Peru was pulled into the

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war as well What followed was a series of land and naval battles along the Pacific coast but
Chile had a stronger navy and better logistics so they managed to control the sea early on

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And that allowed its forces to land troops wherever they
wanted, cutting off Bolivian and Peruvian positions

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Bolivia was kind of already struggling with the war at this point,
and they had a lot of internal divisions and other problems

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So as soon as the coastal area was actually
taken, they just dropped out of the war

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Peru continued to fight for a little longer,
but by 1883 the conflict was pretty much over

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Chile had won, and now it controlled Bolivia's
entire coastline, plus a little bit of South Peru

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And of course, for Bolivia, the consequences were huge. Losing access to the Pacific
meant losing direct trade routes, ports, and control over those valuable natural resources

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But most of all, the country became landlocked. In
1904, Bolivia and Chile signed a formal peace treaty

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And it made the loss permanent. Chile kept
the coastal territory and in exchange Bolivia

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received some economic concessions like the
construction of railways to use Chilean ports

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but for many Bolivians it was
never seen as a fair trade

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And since then the loss of the sea has become a court part of the Bolivian identity It not just a footnote in their history it
something that is taught in schools it discussed in politics and it remembered every year when they have that official day of the sea

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It commemorates or reminds them of the loss of their coastline
and the hope of regaining sovereign access to the sea

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So this is where having a navy comes in,
kind of. Because after losing its coast

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Bolivia didn't abandon the idea of a naval
force. Instead, they kind of evolved the concept

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into something symbolic, but also a little bit practical. Bolivia
has major rivers and lakes, especially in the Amazon basin

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and around Lake Titicaca, which it shares with Peru.
These waterways are important for transportation

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border control, and so Bolivia's navy operates
on them. It has patrol boats, training vessels

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and marine units that function more like a
riverine or coast guard. In purely practical terms

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it makes sense. Many countries with large river
systems maintain similar forces. But in Bolivia's

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case, it's also a little more than that. It's a
symbol. Its very existence is a reminder of the

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country's lost coastline and long-standing
claim to regain access to the Pacific Ocean

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Over the years, Bolivia has repeatedly tried to
negotiate with Chile for some sort of sovereign

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access to the sea. They've even offered land swaps
and international mediation. One of the most notable