The Republican Period (1825–1890)

The consolidation of Bolivia as a state brought with it a series of changes in the way native antiquities were perceived. Still with a colonialist approach, a new interest emerged in ancient cultures and native groups. During the first part of this period, foreign scholars visited Bolivia with a renewed interest in ethnography, ancient monuments, natural sciences, zoology, and botany. Their focus was mostly descriptive, and the value of their documents lies in the extensive descriptive information provided. The most important scholars visiting Bolivia at this time included Alcides D’Orbigny (1839), a French naturalist whose main goal in the 1830s was to compile information about the diversity of the