Titicaca
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Titicaca. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a remarkable lake, slightly saline, in the heart of the Andes ; partly in Peru and partly in Bolivia; 12,545 feet above the sealevel. It lies N. W. and S. E. is 120 miles in length, with an average , and width of from 50 to 60 miles. The S. portion, measuring 24 by 21 miles, is almost severed from the main body of the lake by a projecting peninsula. The lake discharges at its S. W. extremity by the Desaguadero into the salt Lake Aullagas, which has no known outlet. The E. shore of Lake Titicaca is abrupt and mountainous, but the W. and S. W. shores are low and level, and are skirted by thick beds of tall rushes swarming with waterfowl, and of floating ing , which affords food to cattle when the weed scanty land pastures are exhausted. The lake is deep and stormy, so that ice forms near the shores only. It contains a number of strange fishes, and eight species of marine crustaceans, which seem to indicate that it was once at the sea-level. There are eight habitable islands, the largest being Titicaca, which gave its name to the lake; and has an area of 20 square miles. It was the sacred island of the Incas, who laid it out in terraces planted with consecrated maize and flowers, and irrigated by channels supplied from the royal bath at the top. According to signi- Squier, the name Titicaca probably signi fies "Tiger Rock," and is due to a fancied resemblance of the rugged crest of the island to a wildcat. The lake is now navigated by steamers, and may be reached by railway from the seaport of Mollendo, 346 miles distant.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
tit-e-ka'ka, the largest lake of South America . It is situated in the great trough of the Andes at an elevation of 12,635 feet. It is about 116 miles long and one-third as wide. Its surplus waters are drained off southward, but are lost in alkali plains, once part of the lake itself, and do not leave the basin. The region is too cold for Indian corn, but it is inhabited and steamers ply on the lake. There are several islands. These and the adjacent shores bear the remains of stone buildings belonging to a prehistoric age. Huge blocks of stone have been cut and fitted with a nicety indicating architectural skill of no mean order. Peruvian engineers are considering the possibility of constructing a canal leading eastward through the Andes. This, with a view to utilizing the water for electric power to be used in lighting and manufacturing. Petroleum fields have been found in this region. See Andes ; Pizarro ; Peru
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's noted in 1921 that Titicaca drains south into "the salt Lake Aullagas, which has no known outlet" — that lake, now called Poopó, dried up almost completely in 2015 and was declared effectively evaporated, its water lost to irrigation withdrawals, mining and a warming climate. Titicaca itself has fallen to record or near-record low levels in recent droughts (notably 2023), and its shallows carry heavy sewage and mine pollution from Puno and El Alto; the endemic Titicaca water frog is now listed as endangered, and introduced trout have displaced native fish. Aiton's "prehistoric" stone ruins are now firmly identified with Tiwanaku, dated by archaeologists to roughly AD 500–1000, and since 2000 divers have recovered Inca gold, shell and llama offerings from a submerged reef near the Island of the Sun. The idea that eight "marine crustaceans" prove the basin once stood at sea level has been dropped; the fauna is understood as freshwater, and the Andes rose beneath the lake rather than the sea draining out of it.
Written for this edition, 2026.