one, Bolivar decided to resume his functions, and he repaired to Bogota to take the oaths. Before his arrival, however, he issued simultaneously three separate decrees—one granting a general amnesty, another convoking a national convention at Ocaña, and a third for establishing constitutional order throughout Colombia. His arrival was accelerated by the occurrence of events in Peru and the southern departments which struck at the very foundation of his power. Not long after his departure from Lima, the Bolivian code had been adopted as the constitution of Peru, and Bolivar had been declared president for life on the 9th of December 1826, the anniversary of the battle of Ayacucho. At this time the Colombian auxiliary army was cantoned in Peru, and the third division, stationed at Lima, consisting of veteran troops under Lara and Sands, became distrustful of Bolivar’s designs on the freedom of the republic. Accordingly, in about six weeks after the adoption of Bolivar’s new constitution, a counter-revolution in the government of Peru was effected by this body of dissatisfied veterans, and the Peruvians, availing themselves of the opportunity, abjured the Bolivian code, deposed the council appointed by the liberator, and proceeded to organize a provisional government for themselves. After this bloodless revolution the third division embarked at Callao on the 17th of March 1827, and landed in the southern department of Colombia in the following month. Intelligence of these events reached Bolivar while in the north of Colombia, and he lost no time in preparing to march against the refractory troops, who formerly had placed such implicit confidence in him. But he was spared the necessity of coming to blows, for the leaders, finding the government in the hands of the national executive, had peaceably submitted to General Ovando. In the meanwhile Bolivar had accepted the presidency, and resumed the functions belonging to his official position. But although Colombia was, to all external appearance, restored to tranquillity, the nation was divided into two parties. Bolivar had, no doubt, regained the personal confidence of the officers and soldiers of the third division; but the republican party, with Santander at their head, continued to regard with undisguised apprehension his ascendancy over the army, suspecting him of a desire to imitate the career of Napoleon. In the meanwhile all parties looked anxiously to the convention of Ocaña, which was to assemble in March 1828, for a decided expression of the national will. The republicans hoped that the issue of its deliberations would be favourable to their views; whilst the military, on the other hand, did not conceal their conviction that a stronger and more permanent form of government was essential to the public welfare. The latter view seems to have prevailed. In virtue of a decree, dated Bogota, the 27th of August 1828, Bolivar assumed the supreme power in Colombia, and continued to exercise it until his death, which took place at San Pedro, near Santa Marta, on the 17th of December 1830.
Bolivar spent nine-tenths of a splendid patrimony in the service of his country; and although he had for a considerable period unlimited control over the revenues of three countries—Colombia, Peru and Bolivia—he died without a shilling of public money in his possession. He achieved the independence of three states, and called forth a new spirit in the southern portion of the New World. He purified the administration of justice; he encouraged the arts and sciences; he fostered national interests, and he induced other countries to recognize that independence which was in a great measure the fruit of his own exertions. His remains were removed in 1842 to Caracas, where a monument was erected to his memory; a statue was put up in Bogota in 1846; in 1858 the Peruvians followed the example by erecting an equestrian statue of the liberator in Lima; and in 1884 a statue was erected in Central Park, New York.
Twenty-two volumes of official documents bearing on Bolivar’s career were officially published at Caracas in 1826–1833. There are lives by Larrazabal (New York, 1866); Rojas (Madrid, 1883); and Ducoudray-Holstein (Paris, 1831). Two volumes of his correspondence were published in New York in 1866.
BOLÍVAR, till 1908 a department of Colombia, bounded
N. and W. by the Caribbean Sea, E. by the departments of
Magdalena and Santander, S. by Antioquia and S.W. by Cauca.
It has an area of 27,028 sq. m., composed in great part of low,
alluvial plains, densely wooded, but slightly cultivated and
unsuited for north European labour. The population, estimated
at 323,097 in 1899, is composed largely of mixed races; in some
localities the inhabitants of mixed race are estimated to constitute
four-fifths of the population. The capital, Cartagena on the
Caribbean coast, was once the principal commercial entrepôt of
Colombia. Other important towns are Barranquilla and
Mompox (8000), on the Magdalena river, and Corozal (9000)
and Lorica (10,596 in 1902), near the western coast.
BOLÍVAR, an inland state of Venezuela, lying S. of the
Orinoco and Apure, with the Yuruari territory on the E., the
Caroni river forming the boundary, and the Amazonas territory
and Brazil on the S. Frequent political changes in Venezuela
have led to various modifications in the size and outlines of this
state, which comprises large areas of uninhabited territory. It
is a country of extensive plains (llanos) covered in the rainy
season with nutritious grass which disappears completely in the
dry season, and of great forests and numerous rivers. Its
population was given in 1894 as 135,232, but its area has been
largely reduced since then. The capital is Ciudad Bolívar,
formerly called Angostura, which is situated on the right bank
of the Orinoco about 240 m. above its mouth; pop. 11,686.
Vessels of light draught easily ascend the Orinoco to this point,
and a considerable trade is carried on, the exports being cocoa,
sugar, cotton, hides, jerked beef and various forest products.
BOLIVIA, an inland republic of South America, once a part
of the Spanish vice-royalty of Peru and known as the province
of Charcas, or Upper Peru. It is the third largest political
division of the continent, and extends, approximately, from
9° 44′ to 22° 50′ S. lat., and from 58° to 70° W. long. It is
bounded N. and E. by Brazil, S. by Paraguay and Argentina,
and W. by Chile and Peru. Estimates of area vary widely and
have been considerably confused by repeated losses of territory
in boundary disputes with neighbouring states, and no figures
can be given which may not be changed to some extent by
further revisions. Official estimates are 640,226 and 703,633
sq. m., but Supan (Die Bevolkerung der Erde, 1904) places it at
515,156 sq. m.
Boundaries.—The boundary line between Bolivia and Brazil has its origin in the limits between the Spanish and Portuguese colonies determined by the treaties of Madrid and San Ildefonso (1750 and 1777), which were modified by the treaties of 1867 and 1903. Beginning at the outlet of Bahia Negra into the Paraguay river, lat. 28° 08′ 35″ S., the line ascends the latter to a point on the west bank 9 kilometres below Fort Coimbra, thence inland 4 kilometres to a point in lat. 19° 45′ 36″ S. and long. 58° 04′ 12.7″ W., whence it follows an irregular course N. and E. of N. to Lakes Mandioré, Gaiba or Gahiba, and Uberaba, then up the San Matias river and N. along the Sierra Ricardo Franco to the headwaters of the Rio Verde, a tributary of the Guaporé. This part of the boundary was turned inland from the Paraguay to include, within Brazilian jurisdiction, Fort Coimbra, Corumbá and other settlements on the west bank, and was modified in 1903 by the recession of about 1158 sq. m. to Bolivia to provide better commercial facilities on the Paraguay. The line follows the Verde, Guaporé, Mamoré and Madeira rivers down to the mouth of the Abuna, in about lat. 9° 44′ S., as determined by the treaty of 1903. This is a part of the original colonial frontier, which extended down the Madeira to a point midway between the Beni and the Amazon, and then ran due W. to the Javary. The treaty of 1867 changed this starting-point to the mouth of the Beni, in lat. 10° 20′ S., and designated a straight line to the source of the Javary as the frontier, which gave to Brazil a large area of territory; but when the valuable rubber forests of the upper Purús became known the Brazilians invaded them and demanded another modification of the boundary line. This was finally settled in 1903 by the treaty of Petropolis, which provided that the line should ascend the Abuna river to lat. 10° 20′ S., thence along that parallel W. to the Rapirran river which is followed to its principal source, thence due W. to the Ituxy river which is followed W. to its source, thence to the
