Pando is a
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in Northern
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, with an area of , in the
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
, adjoining the border with
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Perú
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy fo ...
. Pando has a population 154,355 (2020 census). Its capital is the city of
Cobija
Cobija is a city in Bolivia, capital of the department of Pando, is located about 600 km (373 mi.) north of La Paz in the Amazon Basin on the border with Brazil. Cobija lies on the banks of the Rio Acre across from the Brazilian ci ...
.
The department, which is named after former president
José Manuel Pando
José Manuel Inocencio Pando Solares (27 December 1849 – 17 June 1917) was a Bolivian soldier, politician and explorer. He was also the 25th President of Bolivia from 1899 to 1904. During his government, the Acre War (1899-1903) began, in wh ...
(1899–1905), is divided into five provinces.
Although Pando is rich in natural resources, the poverty level of its inhabitants is high, due largely to the lack of roads effectively linking the province to the rest of the country. In addition, residents suffer from debilitating effects of tropical diseases, typical of life in the Amazonian rain forest. The main economic activities are agriculture, timber and cattle.
At an altitude of 280 metres above sea level in the northwestern jungle region, Pando is located in the rainiest part of Bolivia. Pando has a hot climate, with temperatures commonly above 26 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit).
Pando is the least populous department in Bolivia, the most tropical (lying closest to the Equator in the Amazonian Basin), and the most isolated, due to an absence of effective roads. It was organized at the beginning of the 20th century from what was left of the Acre Territory, lost to Brazil as a result of the so-called
Acre War
The Acre War, known in Brazil as Acrean Revolution ( pt, Revolução Acreana) and in Spanish as ("The War of the Acre") was a border conflict between Bolivia and the First Brazilian Republic over the Acre Region, which was rich in rubber and g ...
(1903). Its capital city of
Cobija
Cobija is a city in Bolivia, capital of the department of Pando, is located about 600 km (373 mi.) north of La Paz in the Amazon Basin on the border with Brazil. Cobija lies on the banks of the Rio Acre across from the Brazilian ci ...
(the smallest of all the Bolivian departmental capitals) was named after the much-lamented Bolivian port of the same name on the Pacific Ocean, part of an area lost to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
following the
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...
.
Although remote, Pando is densely forested and close to navigable waterways leading to the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
and from there on to the Atlantic Ocean. The department had a
rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
boom
Boom may refer to:
Objects
* Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill
* Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation
* Boom (sailing), a sailboat part
* Boom (windsurfi ...
in the late 19th century and early 20th century, along with the northern part of nearby Beni department. The local industry collapsed under competition with rubber cultivated in Southeast Asia, as well as the discovery and manufacture of
synthetic rubber
A synthetic rubber is an artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Synthetic rubbe ...
.
Culturally, the Pandinos are considered part of the so-called
Camba
Camba is a word historically used in Bolivia to refer to the indigenous population in the eastern tropical region of the country, or to those born in the area of Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando. Nowadays, the term "Camba" is used predominantly to ...
culture of the Bolivian lowlands, similar to the people of the country's other two tropical departments,
Beni
is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI).
She was initially best known fo ...
and Santa Cruz. Many of Pando's original settlers moved from nearby Beni.
Autonomy movement
Far from the centers of power in Bolivian society, Pando has recently linked its fate with that of Santa Cruz and Beni, which (along with Tarija and Chuquisaca) are demanding increased autonomy for the departments, with a lessening in central government power. Prefect
Leopoldo Fernández
Leopoldo Fernández Ferreira (born 22 May 1952) is a Bolivian politician. A member of Social and Democratic Power (PODEMOS) Fernández was Prefect (Governor) of the northern Bolivian department of Pando from 2006 to 2008.
Fernández was the f ...
strongly backed autonomy for the department, in alliance with other governors of the eastern ''media luna'' (half-moon, so known for their combined geographic shape). Nationwide referendums on autonomy held on July 2, 2006, were approved in all four departments. A second referendum to approve a statute of autonomy was held by each department in mid-2008, despite being declared illegal by the National Electoral Court in March. Left-wing and pro-Morales social movements boycotted the votes.
Pando's referendum, held on June 1, 2008, won 82% approval among those who voted. But 46.5% of the registered electorate did not vote, the highest abstention rate in the four departments holding such referendums. Considerable social unrest took place in 2008, culminating with the spectacular arrest in September 2008 of Prefect Leopoldo Fernández, stemming from the
massacre at El Porvenir of anti-autonomy backers of President
Evo Morales
Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...
.
Provinces of Pando
*
Abuná
*
Federico Román
*
Madre de Dios
*
Manuripi
*
Nicolás Suárez
Demographics
Languages
The predominant language in the department is Spanish. The following table shows the number of those belonging to the recognized group of speakers.
Places of interest
*
Manuripi-Heath Amazonian Wildlife National Reserve
Manuripi-Heath Amazonian Wildlife National Reserve (''Reserva Nacional de Vida Silvestre Amazónica Manuripi-Heath'') is a protected area in the Pando Department, Bolivia, situated in the Manuripi Province and Madre de Dios Province
Madre de Dio ...
* International Recreational Fishing Championship of
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
, Pando, Bolivia
* El Chivé
(
es)
*
Porvenir (Pando)
Porvenir is a small town in the Nicolás Suárez Province of the Pando Department in Bolivia. It is located 33 kilometers south of Cobija, the department's capital city, at an altitude of 222 m on the left banks of Tahuamanu River, which in i ...
Gallery
File:Cobija-Pando-Bolivia (155).jpg, The Brazil nut
The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. ...
seen near Cobija
File:Standing_jaguar.jpg, A typical Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
in the Amazon
File:COBIJA 142 Monumento a Bruno Racua.JPG, Cobija
Cobija is a city in Bolivia, capital of the department of Pando, is located about 600 km (373 mi.) north of La Paz in the Amazon Basin on the border with Brazil. Cobija lies on the banks of the Rio Acre across from the Brazilian ci ...
is the departamental capital
File:Río_Tahuamanu_aus_der_Luft.JPG, Typical Amazonian meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
s on Tahuamanu River near Filadelfia, Pando, Bolivia
File:Monumento_al_Esfuerzo_Carretero_y_su_Histórico_Carreton.jpg, Monument in Cobija
References
External links
Pando Travel GuideWeather in PandoPando Official website"Bolivia 9/11: Bodies and Power on a Feudal Frontier"by Bret Gustafson, ''Upside Down World'', 14 July 2009
Full information of Pando Department Bolivian Land
Bolivian Amazon
{{Authority control
Departments of Bolivia
States and territories established in 1938