>>And it's a bit land-locked Bolivia, isn't it? Seems weird that we can visit the whole world with the click of a mouse here but some of us never leave. Was it Bolivia that decided to declare war, simultaneously on all fronts, with all its neighbours, a couple of centuries ago, and, of course, got "bladdered" by everyone?
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>Bolivia only exists as an independent country since 1825.

Yes this is a sketchy thing to me too. I think Simon Bolivar was involved (after whom the country's named?) but, strangely enough, his name seems to me more closely linked to Equador and their struggle for independence, or one of the others.
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>From the little I know about Bolivian history, Bolivia lost territory to all (5) of its neighors, but that was not all at once, and not even all of it as a result of wars.

Maybe it wasn't B. then. Maybe another SAm country. Or maybe my recollections are a bit hazy with time. But it's one of those facts that sort of stick in your head as they're so bizzare.

BTW FYI as we've been on a English language kick again, the expression would be: "Bolivia has only existed as an independent country since 1825"

"Since" and "For" in this sense, takes the perfect tense. e.g. "I have been programming since computers were cardboard boxes filled with pebbles". "I have been driving for 20 years".