Genetic ancestry of the bolivian population

Abstract

The following thesis will explore the genetic ancestry and geographic origin of the Bolivian population. Bolivia or Plurinational State of Bolivia as it is officially known is a multiethnic country located in the center of the South American continent. According to the official governmental website, Bolivia has 36 official languages which are reflected in the multiethnic character of the country. Among the Bolivian population persons of African descendants, or ‘Afro-Bolivians’, respectively, are recognized finally as a constituent ethnic group by the Bolivian government. The term ‘Afro-Bolivia’ will be used throughout this thesis as it was formerly used by Juan Angola Maconde, author of the article “Los afrodescendientes bolivianos”, published in 2008 in The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. The terms African descendant and ‘Afro-Bolivian’ or other ‘Afro-American’, respectively, are here used interchangeable. In this thesis the ‘Afro-Bolivian’ community Tocaña will be the main representative group for all these communities of Bolivia whose history is directly linked to the TAST. Threfore, the community Tocaña will be used here in order to investigate more specifically the African ancestry and geographic origin; however, the African ancestry is present in other localities of Bolivia. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to new evidences about the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.