Map of El Beni
El Beni is a first-level division of Bolivia. Its largest mapped city is Santa Ana, with about 234,478 people in the metropolitan area. The interactive map below is centred on El Beni, and the tables list its 9 mapped cities along with the lakes nearest to them.
- Cities Mapped
- 9
- Largest City
- Santa Ana
- Country
- Bolivia
Interactive Map of El Beni
About El Beni
Beni (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbeni]), sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second-largest department in the country (after Santa Cruz), covering 213,564 square kilometers (82,458 sq mi), and it was created by supreme decree on November 18, 1842, during the administration of General José Ballivián. Its capital is Trinidad.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Beni Department (CC BY-SA 4.0).
El Beni in Depth
History
Beni was a very important center of a pre-Columbian civilization known as the hydraulic culture of Las Lomas (the hills), a culture that constructed over 20,000 man-made artificial hills, all interconnected by thousands of square kilometers of aqueducts, channels, embankments, artificial lakes and lagoons, as well as terraces. Between about 4000 BC (and probably earlier as this date is taken from ceramics that have been carbon dated) and the 13th century AD this region was settled by sophisticated and organized groups of human societies. Their civil structures were based, both environmentally and economically, on the use of specific environmental characteristics (such as the use of aquatic plants as fertilizer, and enormous fishing systems they constructed).
Geography
Beni's weather is tropical and humid, with a prevalence of warm to hot temperatures.
Beni borders upon Brazil to the northeast, and the departments of Santa Cruz to the southeast, La Paz to the west, Pando to the northwest, and Cochabamba to the south. Beni's territory is mainly covered by rainforest (particularly the northern and eastern portions of the department) and pampa (notably the grassland Moxos Plain to the south, closer to the Andean reaches).
Much of Beni is at about 155 meters above sea level. Although most of the department is flat, along the border with La Paz there are two sierra chains called Eva Eva and Pelado. Beni is criss-crossed by numerous rivers, all of which are Amazon tributaries.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Beni Department (CC BY-SA 4.0).
El Beni: Key Facts
| Population | 488,260 (2024) |
|---|---|
| Area | 213,564 km² |
| Capital | Trinidad |
| Established | 1842 |
Facts from Wikidata Q233169 (CC0).
History of El Beni: Empires and States
The atlas records 4 polities whose mapped territory included part of El Beni, from The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) in 1497 CE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.
| Polity | Period here |
|---|---|
| The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) | 1497–1539 CE |
| The Spanish Empire | 1540–1823 CE |
| Gran Colombia | 1824–1829 CE |
| Bolivia | 1825–2024 CE |
Historical Maps of El Beni
El Beni on the world map in each year one of these states held it:
Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.
Largest Cities in El Beni
9 cities mapped. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.
| # | Name | Population | Region | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Ana | 234,478 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 2 | Trinidad | 84,259 | El Beni | Admin-1 capital |
| 3 | Riberalta | 74,014 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 4 | Guayaramerín | 36,008 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 5 | San Borja | 19,640 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 6 | Reyes | 7,376 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 7 | San Ramón | 6,490 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 8 | Magdalena | 3,445 | El Beni | Populated place |
| 9 | Baures | 2,422 | El Beni | Populated place |
Largest Lakes in El Beni
2 lakes mapped. Ranked by mapped surface area. A lake on a border is listed under each country it lies in, with the area of the whole lake. Assigned by the nearest mapped city, so features near the boundary may belong to a neighbouring division.
| # | Name | Surface Area | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laguna Ragaguado | 315 km² | Lake |
| 2 | Laguna Huaitunas | 284 km² | Lake |
El Beni: Quick Answers
- Where is El Beni?
- El Beni is a first-level division of Bolivia, in South America. Its mapped cities centre on 13.2961° S, 65.3947° W.
- What is the largest city in El Beni?
- Santa Ana is the largest city mapped in El Beni, with a metropolitan population of about 234,478.
- How many cities are in El Beni?
- YearMaps maps 9 cities and towns in El Beni, with a combined metropolitan population of about 468,132. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.
- What is the largest lake in El Beni?
- The largest lake mapped in or beside El Beni is Laguna Ragaguado, at about 315 km².