Structural mapping, 40Ar/39Ar and fission track thermochronology, U-Pb geochronology, and basin analysis reveal rapid cooling during middle Eocene--late Oligocene and late Miocene--Pliocene exhumation in the central Andean plateau of Bolivia. In the 4--6 km high Cordillera Real, numerous granites and SW directed fold-thrust structures define the central Andean backthrust belt along the Altiplano--Eastern Cordillera boundary. U-Pb zircon analyses indicate Permo-Triassic granitic magmatism, with less extensive magmatism of late Oligocene age. Mapping reveals low magnitudes of slip (5 km depth. The ~26 Ma Quimsa Cruz granite postdated most thrust structures, suggesting that upper crustal shortening in the Cordillera Real had largely ceased by late Oligocene time. Results of 40Ar/39Ar and fission track modeling help constrain the moderate to low-temperature (<350¿C) cooling history, revealing two phases of rapid cooling from 45--40 Ma to 26 Ma and from ~11 Ma onward. Initial cooling coincided with middle Eocene--late Oligocene deformation in the backthrust belt and associated deposition of coarse clastic sediments in the Altiplano basin. Eocene-Oligocene exhumation of ~7.5 km of upper crust is estimated on the basis of thermochronologic data. Rapid late Miocene and younger cooling involved an estimated ~3.5 km of exhumation and occurred in the apparent absence of upper crustal shortening. These findings suggest that crustal shortening and resultant exhumation of middle Eocene--late Oligocene age played a major role in construction of the central Andes. However, for late Miocene exhumation, the importance of alternative, nonshortening mechanisms is difficult to ascertain due to a poor understanding of subsurface structures. We speculate that greater precipitation on the eastern edge of the central Andean plateau north of ~17.5¿S was a key factor in driving rapid, youthful exhumation of the Cordillera Real.