Modern Bolivia was the birthplace of the ancient Tiahuanaco Civilization, one of the earliest civilizations in the Americas, which would later give rise to the Inca Empire that encompassed Bolivia and Andean region of South America. In the 16th century Bolivia and all of Latin America succumbed to military encroachment from Europe and became European colonies.  Spanish colonization in Bolivia followed the same narrative repeated throughout Latin America where the indigenous populations were marginalized and reduced to slavery.  However unlike in other Spanish colonies, Bolivia’s indigenous peoples largely thrived because the country's remote geography protected them from European diseases and conflicts.  The existence of a large indigenous group forced to live under the oppression of their foreign colonizers created a highly stratified and unequal society and set into motion a long, violent history of political, social, and economic conflict that unfortunately continues to the present day.