Pando Department

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Pando Departamento de Pando (Spanish)
Department
Meeting of Waters, Manuripi and Madre de Dios Rivers, Near Sena, Bolivia
Flag
Motto(s):  "Trabajo Industria Progreso" "Work, Industry, Progress" Anthem: Tierra santa, vestida de gloria Holy land, dressed in glory
Pando Department (red) within Bolivia.
Established	September 24, 1938
Named for	José Manuel Pando
Capital	Cobijaa
Provinces	5
Government
• Body	Departmental Legislative Assembly of Pando
• Governor	Regis Germán Richter (MTS)
• Senators	4 of 36
• Deputies	5 of 130
Area
• Total	63,827 km2 (24,644 sq mi)
• Rank	5th in Bolivia
	5.82% of Bolivia
Population  (2024 census)
• Total	130,761
• Density	2.0/km2 (5.3/sq mi)
• % of Bolivia	1.0
• Rank	9th in Bolivia
Time zone	UTC-4 (BOT)
Area code	+(591) 3
ISO 3166 code	BO-N
Official language	Spanish
GDP (2023)	in constant Dollar of 2015[1]
- Total	US$ 0.5 billion Int$ 1.1 billion (PPP)
- Per capita	US$ 2,900 Int$ 6,700 (PPP)
Abbreviations	PA
HDI (2019)	0.743[2] high · 2nd of 9
Website	www.pando.gob.bo
a. Also largest city.

Pando is a department in Northern Bolivia, with an area of 63,827 square kilometres (24,644 sq mi), in the Amazon Rainforest, adjoining the border with Brazil and Perú. Pando has a population of 130,761 (2024 census).^[3] Its capital is the city of Cobija.

The department, named after former president José Manuel Pando (1899–1905), is divided into five provinces.

Although Pando is rich in natural resources, the poverty level of its inhabitants is high, due largely to the lack of roads effectively linking the province to the rest of the country. In addition, residents suffer from debilitating effects of tropical diseases, typical of life in the Amazonian rain forest. The main economic activities are agriculture, timber, and cattle.

At an altitude of 280 metres above sea level in the northwestern jungle region, Pando is located in the rainiest part of Bolivia. Pando has a hot climate, with temperatures commonly above 26 degrees Celsius (80 Fahrenheit).

Pando is the least populous department in Bolivia, the most tropical (lying closest to the Equator in the Amazonian Basin), and the most isolated, due to an absence of effective roads. It was organized at the beginning of the 20th century from what was left of the Acre Territory, lost to Brazil as a result of the so-called Acre War (1903). Its capital city of Cobija (the smallest of all the Bolivian departmental capitals) was named after the much-lamented Bolivian port of the same name on the Pacific Ocean, part of an area lost to Chile following the War of the Pacific.

Although remote, Pando is densely forested and close to navigable waterways leading to the Amazon River and from there on to the Atlantic Ocean. The department had a rubber boom in the late 19th century and early 20th century, along with the northern part of the nearby Beni department. The local industry collapsed under competition with rubber cultivated in Southeast Asia, as well as the discovery and manufacture of synthetic rubber.

Culturally, the Pandinos are considered part of the so-called Camba culture of the Bolivian lowlands, similar to the people of the country's other two tropical departments, Beni and Santa Cruz. Many of Pando's original settlers moved from nearby Beni.