The War of the Pacific lasted from 1879-1883. It was an extremely shitty war for Bolivia, in more ways than one. At the heart of it was the Atacama Desert, rich in high-quality nitrate deposits, such as guano (read: bird poop), and saltpeter, both of which became very valuable resources in 1840s, as fertilizer and gunpowder respectively. Parts of the Atacama Desert lay in both Bolivia and Chile, and border disputes turned into the War of the Pacific, which pitted Chile against a united Bolivia and Peru. Peru capitulated in 1883 and Bolivia followed suit 1884, signing a treaty that ceded Chile their only link to the sea, the Department of Litoral.

Though it happened over a century ago, the War of the Pacific and the loss of their coast still weighs heavily upon many Bolivians; besides maintaining a Navy (their headquarters are the vast, but not exactly oceanic, waters of Lake Titicaca), the annual Miss Bolivia Beauty Pageant always includes a Miss Litoral, and on March 23rd Bolivians celebrate Día del Mar, or “Sea Day,” a very solemn holiday indeed.