The Bolivia–Brazil border is the international border between the territories of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It extends from

Corumbá Corumbá is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 112,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, animal ...

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay, to the southwest, a ...

, to

Assis Brasil Assis Brasil () is a municipality located in the south of the Brazilian state of Acre. Its population is 7,534 (2020 est) and its area is . The municipality contains part of the Rio Acre Ecological Station. It also contains part of the Chic ...

, in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

. The boundary line crosses a variety of terrains, going from large urban areas by inhospitable deserts and forests. It begins in the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and po ...

and ends in the Amazon rainforest. The length of the border is 3,423 km.

History

The first treaty of limits between Brazil and Bolivia was signed in 1867, without properly knowing the geographical location of rivers in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

; so much so that one of his articles established the boundary line out of the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( pt, Rio Madeira, link=no ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is ...

, a

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of I ...

west to the headwaters of the

Javari River The Javary River, Javari River or Yavarí River ( es, Río Yavarí, links=no; pt, Rio Javari, links=no) is a tributary of the Amazon that forms the boundary between Brazil and Peru for more than . It is navigable by canoe for from above its ...

- setting even if those sources were north of the parallel (what actually happened), the line should follow "from the same latitude" to that source. In 1898, it was found that according to the 1867 Treaty, the Acre region originally belonged to

, but that region had a sizeable population of Brazilian origin. This caused many clashes, since the population did not want to submit to the Bolivian government, which tried to lease the land to the Anglo-Americans. Several riots emerged, and the situation of noncompliance lasted until 1903, when Brazil militarily occupied the territory until it finally decided the issues. Then Acre was pacified, and a fine was paid to the Anglo-American tenants, who declared the withdrawal. In the same year, 1903, the negotiations reopened after Brazil's suggestion of an agreement on the basis of a fair exchange of territory, as was the interest of Brazil to keep under its control a population that was Brazilian, despite the territory was, according to the Treaty of 1867, belonging to Bolivia. Finally the talks began and after series of proposals and counter-proposals, the Treaty of Petropolis was signed, agreed that getting through territorial compensations elsewhere in the border, the construction due to the Brazil of a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

(the Madeira-Mamoré Railway), freedom of transit by rail and by river to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

and a two million pounds compensation, Bolivia would give Acre. This time, according to Rio Branco, a real territorial expansion was going on (since according to him the previous elections were only held the "national heritage").

Border regions

Brazil

Acre (state) Acre () is a state located in the west of the North Region of Brazil and the Amazonia Legal. Located in the westernmost part of the country, at a two-hour time difference from Brasília, Acre is bordered clockwise by the Brazilian states of A ...

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighborin ...

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso ...

Bolivia

* Beni * Pando * Santa Cruz

Links

Information on Brazil's border with Bolivia
(in Portuguese)

(in Portuguese)

References