Southwestern Bolivia has five geophysical zones; three high and two low. the Ewetern Range (Cordillera Occidental) of the Andes separates the departments from Chile. Volcanoes rise above 5,000 meters; Nevado (Snowy peak) Sajama tops 6,500 meters. The counterpart to these is the Royal Range (Cordillera Real), whose crests more or less separate La Paz from Chochabamba; and Oruro and Potosí from Chuquisaca and Tarija. Peaks again rise above 5,000 meters; Mount (Cerro) Chorolque gets above 5,600 meters. Between the Western and Royal Ranges is the High Plain (Altiplano). This southern end of the continental feature is drier than the rest: Lakes (Lago) Poopó and Coipasa are salty, and south of the latter are huge salt flats (salars). The south end of the High Plain is marked by the Lípez Range: the mountain with the range's name rises to nearly 6,000 meters.
East of the Royal Range the land falls off. Northeast Cochabamba is tropical forest; eastern Chuquisaca and Tarija are scrublands (chaco).
Chochabamba, northeast Potosí and northwest Chuquisaca are within the Amazon River system; here are headwaters of the Beni and the Mamoré, both tributaries of the Madeira far to the north. The area's southeast contains the sources of the Picomayo, which flows southeast to eventually join the Paraná.
Of the almost four million people most speak Quechua as their first language. City dwellers also learn Spanish. The second most important mother tongue is Aymara, spoken west of Lake Poopó. some of the Aymara speakers are tri-lingual, learning Quechua and Spanish. Spanish is the birth tongue of probably more than one in twenty, mostly in the scrubland.
Nearly everyone is a Roman Catholic Christian, but with much indiginous influences. For example, at the Diablada festival in Oruro, the principal roles are Satan, Lucifer, the Devil's wife (China Supay) and St. Michael the Archangel. The procession is led by representatives of a bear and a condor, and honor is given to Pachamama, the Earth Mother.
The only city with more than half a million people--nearly a million--is Cochabamba. Besides baroque churches (with pre-Baroque starts), the city's chief site is a monument atop La Coronilla hill commemorating local women's resistance to Spanish soldiers in 1812.
The Aymara may have lived here 3,000 years ago; they certainly lived north of here then. The Quechua conquered the area in the late 15th century C.E. Soon after it was conquered by the Spanish. Potosí became, for a time, the largest city in South America due to its proximity to silver mines. The Spanish religion, Roman Catholic Christianity, became much more pervasive than their language.
north and east of Chochabamba Department, and northeast of Chuquisaca Department
east of Chuquisaca and Tarija Departments
south of Tarija and Potosí Departments
southwest and west of Potosí Department, and west of Oruro Department
north of Oruro Department, and west of Cochabamba Department