City Beni - Bolivia

Beni is one of the nine departments that make up the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Its capital is Trinidad. It is located in the center of the country, bounded on the north by Brazil, on the east by Santa Cruz, on the south by Cochabamba, on the west by La Paz and on the northwest by Pando. With a territorial surface of 213,564 km², Beni is the second largest department in Bolivia- behind Santa Cruz-.

According to the last official census carried out in 2012, the department has a population of 422,008 inhabitants. The density is of 2.0 hab / km² being the second less densely populated department - only in front of Pando-. The department was founded on November 18, 1842 by the marshal of Ingavi José Ballivián Segurola.

Administratively, the department of Beni is made up of 8 provinces, which, at the same time, are divided into 19 municipalities. The municipality of Trinidad is the most populated with a population of 106,596 inhabitants, concentrating 25.25% of the total departmental population. Other municipalities also of importance for the amount of population they have are the following respectively: Riberalta, Guayaramerin, San Borja, Rurrenabaque, Reyes, Santa Ana de Yacuma and San Ignacio de Moxos.

The economy of the Department of Beni has traditionally been characterized by being a department supported in the Livestock sector being that Beni owns most of the head of cattle of the country's total. Beni is the eighth departmental economy of the country (penultimate) - after Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba, Tarija, Potosí, Chuquisaca and Oruro only above Pando.

According to official data from the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia, in 2016 the economy of the entire Department of Beni (Gross Domestic Product) reached US $ 939 million dollars, which represents 2.76% of the Total Economy of Bolivia (34,053 million). In terms of per capita income (GDP per capita), the department closed 2016 with US $ 2,060 dollars on average for each Beniano.

History

Prehispanic era

Since before 4000 a. C. The region was the settlement of organized human groups in pre-state societies (in some cases very centralized), defined as curacazgos, led by curacas.

Towards the IV century a. In the plain of Moxos an important pre-Columbian civilization was established, known as hydraulic culture of the hills (until the XIII century AD). They were based on the use of environmental characteristics (use of aquatic plants as fertilizers and gigantic fishing systems) and on the construction of large hydraulic works that allowed the connection between human nuclei in any season, besides allowing the cultivation during the time of floods (creation of high cultivation fields, visible even today from the air), using embankments, dams, canals and lagoons with different functions.

Colonial period

Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, the region was already in full decline for three centuries. In the same way, the region remained one of the centers of origin and propagation of many agricultural products of worldwide diffusion: tobacco, peanuts, cotton, cassava (Manihot esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

After a season of intense interest on the part of the Spanish in the first phase of the colonial era, when it was believed that in the region could be one of the headquarters of the mythical El Dorado (or Paititi), the region will remain in a state of strong marginality for some centuries.

Republican era

In tribute to the first year of the Bolivian victory at the Battle of Ingavi on November 18, 1841, it is founded and detached from the department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and the department of Beni is created that all the Beni formerly the territory of the Governorship of the Department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra on November 18, 1842 by law promulgated by the Marshal and President of Bolivia José Ballivián y Segurola, on the basis of the Missions of Moxos: San Ignacio, Trinidad, Magdalena, Baures, San Joaquín , Santa Ana and Loreto, among others, all of them were part of the department of Santa Cruz at the time of the Republic of Bolivia. Ballivián paid tribute, in that way, to the first anniversary of the victorious battle of Ingavi, which not only definitively sealed national independence, but also mutilated all glimpses of a Pan-Peruvian project and remembered for the death of the Peruvian leader Agustín Gamarra.

In the Republican era, between the mid-nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the north of the department was the protagonist of the economic boom of rubber or rubber in the country and the world. The abundance of syringa trees (Hevea brasiliensis) called a large number of people to the region, many adventurers and workers, most of whom were indigenous, who worked in conditions of semi-slavery. For decades, the area became one of the most active and dynamic regions of Bolivia. Cachuela Esperanza and an important rubber transit center, on the bank of the Beni River, had at the end of the 19th century one of the most equipped hospitals in Bolivia.

At the moment the syringuera exploitation practically has disappeared of the area for lack of profitability in front of the production of the South Asia: many of the old rubber barracks have been transformed into cattle ranches. Only small local producers of gummed ponchos for river navigation and other objects of traditional use survive.

Government and administration

According to the current Political Constitution of Bolivia, the highest authority of the department is the governor. Since 2005 the governor is elected by direct popular vote for a term of 5 years (previously the position was designated by the president of Bolivia).

In the same way, the department of Beni also has a Departmental Legislative Assembly (similar to a departmental legislature, but with restricted functions) of 12 members, called "assembly members". Each province of the department receives a minimum of 1 counselor, with the remaining councilors assigned according to the number of inhabitants. The election of the councilors corresponds by law to the municipalities.

As of 2010, a governor and a departmental legislative assembly are elected, in accordance with the provisions of the new Bolivian constitution.