Beni Department

Beni Department

Department Flag Department Coat of Arms Motto: ¡Ventura, paz y unión! (Venture, peace and union!) Anthem: Canta victorioso pueblo de leyenda
Capital	La Santísima Trinidad
Largest city	La Santísima Trinidad
Official languages	Spanish, Moxeño
Provinces	8
Area  - total  - % de Bolivia	Place nº 2 213,564 km² 19.44%
Population  - Total (2005)  - % of Bolivia  - Density	Place nº 8 411,399 4.48% 1.93 hab./km²
Creation	November 18, 1842
Prefect	Ernesto Suárez (PODEMOS)
Senators	Wálter Guiteras (PODEMOS) Héctor Vargas (PODEMOS) Miguel Majluf (MNR)
Deputies	9 out of 130
Calling Code:	+ (591) 3
ISO 3166-2	BO-B
Abbreviations	BE
Website	boliviaprefectural.org

Beni, sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 sq mi), and it was created by supreme decree on November 18, 1842 during the administration of General José Ballivián. With a population of 362,521 (2001 census), Beni is the second most sparsely populated of the nine departments of Bolivia, after Pando. Its weather is tropical and humid, with a prevalence of warm to hot temperatures. Its capital is Trinidad.

Beni borders upon Brazil to the northeast, and the departments of Santa Cruz to the southeast, La Paz to the west, Pando to the northwest, and Cochabamba to the south. Beni's territory is mainly covered by rainforest (particularly the northern and eastern portions of the department) and pampa (notably the grassland Moxos Plain to the south, closer to the Andean reaches). Some of the country's main lakes are located in the department of Beni, as well as its most formidable rivers, including the Beni, Itenez, Yacuma, and Mamoré, the latter connecting with the Madeira River, the largest tributary to the Amazon.

Although Beni is rich in natural resources, the poverty level of its inhabitants is high, mainly as a result of the absence of adequate roads linking the department to the rest of country. The main economic activities are agriculture, timber and cattle. In addition, an underground economy linked to illegal narcotics activities flourished in the area during the last decades of the 20th century, with many cocaine laboratories hiding behind the facade of remote cattle ranches.

The Beni region features many large mounds connected by earthen causeways which were built by ancient inhabitants. The first European settlers consisted of Spanish Jesuits sent to convert the native inhabitants, chiefly in the southern half of the department, during the 18th century. The religious origins of many of the Beni's towns can be attested to by the centrality of the local church in most of the communities, and in the very names of the towns: Trinidad, Santa Ana, San Borja, Reyes, etc.

The importance of cattle ranching is prominent in the regional culture, and cowboys, or "Vaqueros", still play an important role in Beni society, comprising a large portion of the working class. Other industries significant to the region include logging, small-scale fishing and hunting, farming, and in recent years, eco-tourism.

Though the Beni lies in the southern reaches of the Amazon Basin, an area renown for tropical disease, the population experiences less health problems than in the Andes Region, especially those related to malnutrition.

The inhabitants (Benianos) are mostly descendants of Cruceños (people from Santa Cruz) who streamed north following the course of navigable rivers, and native peoples. The culture is known as lowland Camba (common to Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando) and not Andean. Benianos are simple, straightforward people whose Spanish is likely inherited from Santa Cruz which in turn inherited it from Asunción del Paraguay, the departure point of its founders, among them Ñuflo de Chávez. It has been remarked that the Camba dialect, as well as the customs of the inhabitants of Bolivia's tropical lowlands, are almost purely Andalusian.^{[citation needed]}

The Beniano diet consists largely of rice, bananas, beef and fish. Some popular dishes include Majao, Masaco, and others, many featuring cured/salted meats.

Benianos have traditionally been mistrustful, and often somewhat contemptuous, of Andean culture, considering themselves to be lighter and more purely Spanish than the Quechua and Aymara-speaking populations of the highlands. Considerable resentment existed against the central government, which allegedly did very little to build roads or integrate the Beni into the economy and political life of the country. These attitudes persisted despite the fact that Beni benefited greatly by the Agrarian Reform instituted following the 1952 Revolution, with many citizens coming into ownership of significant tracts of land. Most of these turned to cattle ranching. The absence of a reliable road linking the department to the main centers of power in the country (owing to the difficult terrain) continued to contribute to the Benianos' sense of isolation, as did the a downturn in the cattle industry. This, in turn, translated in an almost automatic support by both the population and departmental authorities for the Santa Cruz-led effort to federalize the country and devolve powers to the departments at the expense of the central government. Considerable social unrest took place in 2007 and 2008, leading some to consider separatism as plausible.

Provinces of Beni

The department is divided into 8 provinces which are further subdivided into municipalities and 48 cantons.

Province	Inhabitants	Area (km²)	Capital	Map
Cercado	93.276	12.276	San Javier
Vaca Díez	134.657	22.434	Riberalta
José Ballivián	80.650	40.444	Santos Reyes
Yacuma	29.397	34.686	Santa Ana del Yacuma
Moxos	23.823	33.316	San Ignacio de Moxos
Marban	15.766	15.126	Loreto
Mamoré	13.638	18.706	San Joaquín
Iténez	20.192	36.576	Magdalena

Languages

The predominat language in the department is Spanish. The following table shows the number of those belonging to the recognized group of speakers. ^[1]

Places of interest

• Beni Biological Station Biosphere Reserve
• Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory
• Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve and Communal Lands

See also

• Beni savanna
• Moxos people
• Yuracaré
• Beni River
• Guaporé River
• Mamoré River

References

• Gonzalez Moscoso, Rene. 1984. Enciclopedia Boliviana: Diccionario Geográfico Boliviano. Editorial “Los Amigos del Libro”, La Paz. 278pp.

External links

• Beni Travel Guide
• Bolivian Music and Web Varieties
• Departmental Government of Beni
• Lots of photos of indigenous fiestas, including San Ignacio de Moxos and San Javier

v • d • e Beni Department Capital: La Santísima Trinidad Provinces Cercado • Iténez • José Ballivián • Mamoré • Marbán • Moxos • Vaca Díez • Yacuma Municipalities and seats Baures (Baures) • Exaltación (Exaltación) • Guayaramerín (Guayaramerín) • Huacaraje (Huacaraje) • Loreto (Loreto) • Magdalena (Magdalena) • Puerto Siles (Puerto Siles) • Reyes (Reyes) • Riberalta (Riberalta) • Rurrenabaque (Rurrenabaque) • San Andrés (San Andrés ) • San Borja (San Borja) • San Ignacio (San Ignacio) • San Javier (San Javier)• San Joaquín (San Joaquín) • San Ramón (San Ramón ) • Santa Ana (Santa Ana del Yacuma) • Santa Rosa (Santa Rosa) • Trinidad (Trinidad)

v • d • e Departments of Bolivia Beni · Chuquisaca · Cochabamba · La Paz · Oruro · Pando · Potosí · Santa Cruz · Tarija

Coordinates: 14°S 65°W / 14°S 65°W / -14; -65