Presentation of a cool civilization : the Tihuanacota civilization!

        Hello, this is a blog from Alicia and today you will be discovering some interesting facts about Bolivia and what is Aymara. So, Bolivia is where I'm from. I was born and raised there until last year when I moved to France with my family. Naturally, I'm going to share a lot of things about my country on this blog, if I become annoying I apologize from now, but sharing about my culture is very dear to me! :)

 

    Now let's begin with a fun fact, since Bolivia is situated right in the middle of  South America there is this joke of calling it the "heart of Latin America". Sadly, being the heart and having lost the Pacific War (not the European one, but the Latin American one) we have no access to the ocean or sea, but the country is rich in culture, actually it's among the countries with the biggest indigenous population in South America (about 62%). Something to be proud of, indeed in Bolivia our ancestors are the aymara people. 

The flag here shown is actually a flag that represents the diversity of native people from Los Andes, it is called "la Whipala", in Bolivia it is a national symbol since 2009. 

    If you're wondering who Aymara people are, let me explain. You probably have heard of Mayas or Incas so have in mind that Aymaras are like another type of indigenous people in South America, it's also the name of the language. But be careful, it's written aYmara and not in the supposedly correct way ; aImara. Fun fact about aymara, it didn't start to get written until the 60s because it's more of an oral language, meant to be shared in community. Thus it has a ton of variations and not many grammatical rules. There's even people in rural zones that believe it is crazy to write it. Sadly, the language is getting lost in very urban zones of the country, nevertheless they teach it in schools. I was learning it in my school but because I only got to learn it during two years I don't know as much as I wish I did. 

    Now, from where are the Aymara people? Aymara people originate from “La Cordillera de los Andes” a large mountain range in South America that goes all the way down from North Venezuela to Chile. In the intersection between Peru, Bolivia and Chile there is a lake, Lago Titicaca. Aymara people originate exactly from there, they descend from the Tihuanacota civilization, which, to make simple, is a civilization from before the Incas that grew around the lake. 

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More unique things about the culture of the Tihuanacota civilization is the Tiahuanaco. A huge archaeological site that can be considered the capital of the civilization. It is truly beautiful, you have monuments, sculptures and others things representing deities and beliefs from our aymaran culture. 

Anyways, that would be it! Trust that I will write more blogs about Bolivia so see you next time! 

:)

--> pictures of Tiahuanaco