8o SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
revolted against the home government. In 
1809 the Spanish authorities were deposed and 
independence declared in 1825, as a result of 
the Battle of Ayacucho, fought on Dec. 9, 
1824, when the Spanish forces were totally 
defeated. 
Simon Bolivar, the hero of the rebellion 
against Spain, drafted its constitution which 
provided for a President, two Vice-Presidents, 
and two houses of Congress—composed of a 
Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. 
Although Bolivia is entirely within the 
Tropic Zone, it is blessed with a variety of 
climates, due chiefly to its altitude. There 
are two seasons, the rainy from December to 
May and the dry covering the remainder of 
the year. 
Owing to some gigantic convulsion of Na 
ture, ages ago, what evidently was the bottom 
of the ocean was forced upward, and now 
forms an enormous plateau over 500 miles in 
length, covering more than 60,000 square 
miles, at an average altitude of 12,000 feet. 
This is a comparatively barren stretch of land