| Official Name: | Riberalta |
| Settlement Type: | Town and municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Bolivia |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Riberalta town in Bolivia |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Department |
| Subdivision Name1: | Beni Department |
| Subdivision Type2: | Province |
| Subdivision Name2: | Vaca Díez Province |
| Established Title: | Settled |
| Established Date: | 1897 |
| Area Total Km2: | 20.1 |
| Population As Of: | 2018 |
| Population Total: | 99070 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Religions |
| Timezone: | BOT |
| Utc Offset: | -4 |
| Coordinates: | -10.9833°N -72°W |
| Elevation M: | 144 |
| Area Code: | +591 2 |
| Website: | Official website |
Riberalta is a town in the Beni Department in northern Bolivia, situated where the Madre de Dios River joins the Beni River. Riberalta is on the south (south east) bank of the Beni River.
As the capital of the province of Vaca Diez, the city has maintained its charm even after the Brazilian nut trade sparked recent development. Bolivia is the dominant producer of the nuts, in the period 2017/2018, the country accounted for 78% of production. Peru producers 16% while Brazil produces a mere 2%.[1] City life in Riberalta Municipality[2] is punctuated by nature thanks to its location on the banks of the Beni and Madre de Dios rivers and its proximity to the Amazon rainforest. Home to the Bolivian Navy flotilla and the 1st Naval District, the city is also called the Bolivian capital of the Amazon.
Riberalta was originally inhabited by the Chácobo and Pacahuara natives who called it “Pamahuayá”, which means “place of the fruits”. Bolivian anthropologist Wigberto Rivero[3] determined that the area was once populated by indigenous groups of the Pano family; which belong to the native Pacahuara, Chacobos, Caripunas, Sinabos and Perintintin. These same people lived for thousands of years resisting attacks from the Incan Empire and western settlers.
Riberalta’s current name comes from the union of two words in Spanish: “ribera alta” (“high bank” in English.) The city was founded on February 3, 1894 with approximately 2,500 inhabitants established in a red canyon in Northern Bolivia.
It is also known as the city of four names: Barranca Colorada (Red Canyon), La Cruz (The Cross), Ribera-Alta (High Bank), and Riberalta.[4] Starting in the middle of the 19th century, solo explorers and navigators of the Bolivian Northwest penetrated the solitary jungle; They founded barracks more than thirty meters high, erected and blessed by the convergence of two colossal rivers, which turned the municipality into the economic center of the north of the country.
On October 8, 1880, Don Edwin Heath named the city Barranca Colorada. A few years later Frederico Bodo Claussen, manager of House Braillard de Reyes, was informed of the barracks and sent a German subject with resources to install a commercial factory there.[5] Afterwards, it received the name La Cruz on May 3, 1884 when Don Maximo Henicke surveyed a small home built two years earlier in 1882 by Placido Mendez. A little over a year later, on July 7 of 1885, Bodo Claussen baptized the city under the name Ribera-Alta, which later was combined into Riberalta. Nine years later, on February 3 of 1894, Riberalta was founded with an official act under the name Villa Riberalta, after having already existed for twelve years.[6] It was founded by a National Delegate of the Colonies, Lysimachus Gutiérrez, who did so under the orders of President Mariano Baptista and in honor of the birth of the Mcal. Antonio Jose de Sucre.
Riberalta belongs to a transition zone between the tropical savanna climate of the Llanos de Moxos and the tropical monsoon climate of the southwestern amazon rainforest. Precipitation is moderately high, but divided starkly between seasons. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Riberalta has a tropical savanna climate, abbreviated "Aw" on climate maps, with a pronounced wet and dry season.[7]
Riberalta is connected to Cobija by bus and to the rest of Bolivia through the Capitán Av. Selin Zeitun Lopez Airport (RIB), Northern Bolivia.