Bolivia, officially the Republic of Bolivia, named after Simon Bolivar, is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil on the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west.
At 424,135 mi˛ (1,098,580 km˛), Bolivia is the world's 28th-largest country (after Ethiopia). It is comparable in size to Mauritania, and is half again as large as the US state of Texas. Bolivia has been a landlocked nation since 1879 when it lost its coastal department of Litoral to Chile in the War of the Pacific. However, it does have access to the Atlantic via the Paraguay river. An enormous diversity of ecological zones are represented within Bolivia's territory. The west of the country is situated in the Andes mountains and a large part of this region represents the Bolivian a Altiplano. The eastern lowlands include large sections of Amazonian rainforests and Chaco. The highest peak is Nevado Sajama at 6,542 metres (21,463 ft) located in the department of Oruro. Lake Titicaca is located on the border between Bolivia and Peru. In the west, in the department of Potosí, lies the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. Major cities are La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba.
Bolivian culture has been heavily influenced by the Quechua, the Aymara, as well as by the popular cultures of Latin America as a whole. The best known of the various festivals found in the country is the "carnaval de Oruro", which was among the first 19 "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity," as proclaimed by the UNESCO in May of 2001. Entertainment includes football, which is the national sport, as well as foosball, which is played on street corners by both children and adults. Zoos are a popular attraction with a diverse population of interesting creatures but with lack of proper funding.
