The third most populous country in Latin America is the Republic of Colombia, which is located in the northwest corner of South America. In land area, the country is roughly twice the size of France and three times the size of the U.S. state of Montana. Colombia was named in honor of the explorer Christopher Columbus. The capital is Bogotá. Area 440,831 square miles (1,141,748 square kilometers). Population (2017 est.) 49,700,000.
Colombia is bounded on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Peru and Ecuador, and on the northwest by Panama, which was Colombian territory until 1903. Panama separates Colombia’s two coastlines. One coastline is on the Pacific Ocean to the west; the other is on the Caribbean Sea to the north. Colombia also controls San Andrés y Providencia, a group of islands about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the eastern coast of Nicaragua.
In the valleys and high plateaus where most of the people live, modern cities lie next to traditional rural landscapes. There peasant farmers till small plots of coffee, corn (maize), and other crops. In the lowland areas there are many banana and sugarcane plantations. The country is the world’s leading producer of emeralds. Vast differences in income and opportunity divide the small number of rich Colombians from the masses of poor farmers, laborers, and unemployed. Economic, social, and political differences have contributed to the violent conflicts that have plagued the country for decades, and the illicit trade in drugs (mainly cocaine) remains a major disruptive factor in Colombian life.
Colombia’s mountains and its location near the Equator create a diverse landscape and climate. A section of South America’s Andes mountain system dominates the western part of Colombia in three main ranges: the Cordillera Occidental (western range), the Cordillera Central (central range), and the Cordillera Oriental (eastern range). Two great rivers, the Magdalena and the Cauca, separate the mountain ranges. The valleys of these rivers provide transportation routes from the Caribbean coast into the heart of the country.
There are many tall peaks in the mountains of Colombia. Southeast of Cali the peaks of the Cordillera Central reach 18,865 feet (5,750 meters) at Mount Huila. Between the cities of Manizales and Ibagué, the Ruiz and Tolima volcanoes are both more than 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) in height. Much of the world-famous Colombian coffee is produced in this region. In 1985 Mount Ruiz violently erupted, melting the snow and ice that covered it. The ensuing mudflows destroyed the city of Armero and killed some 25,000 people in one of the country’s worst catastrophes.
The highest peak of the Cordillera Oriental is Mount Cocuy (Sierra Nevada del Cocuy), which rises to more than 18,000 feet (almost 5,500 meters). In the northeast the cordillera splits into two narrower ranges. Jutting into the Caribbean is the arid La Guajira Peninsula, the northernmost point on the mainland.
The highest points in Colombia are near the northern city of Santa Marta. The isolated Santa Marta Mountains rise majestically from the Caribbean coast, reaching 18,947 feet (5,775 meters) at the twin peaks of Cristóbal Colón and Simón Bolívar. The Santa Marta Mountains are surrounded inland by a savanna known variously as the Atlantic lowlands or the Caribbean coastal lowlands. Along the border with Panama is a wilderness of wetlands, ravines, and rainforest known as the Darién region. This region is the land bridge between Central and South America.
In the eastern two-thirds of Colombia, tropical lowlands extend more than 400 miles (650 kilometers) from the borders with Venezuela and Brazil to the foothills of the Andes. Differences in rainfall and plant life divide these lowlands into two zones. The northern half, beginning at the Guaviare River, is crossed by tributaries of the Orinoco River. This zone is an extension of the grassy Llanos (plains) of western Venezuela. The southern half is Amazonian rainforest, or selva, extending between numerous tributary rivers and low, isolated mountains and buttes.
Because Colombia straddles the Equator, its climate is mostly tropical, with few seasonal changes except for rainfall. However, there is great variation according to elevation, with cooler temperatures on high plateaus and mountains. The high slopes, or páramos—from about 10,000 to 15,000 feet (3,000 to 4,600 meters)—typically experience temperatures below 50 °F (10 °C), overcast skies, strong winds, and light rain or drizzle.
The Amazon region, the northern Pacific coast, and the central Magdalena valley have rainfall throughout the year that totals more than 100 inches (250 centimeters) and average temperatures above 74 °F (23 °C). A tropical monsoon climate, with one or more dry months but still supporting rainforest vegetation, occurs along the southern Pacific coast, on the Caribbean coast, and at some places inland. The Llanos have a tropical savanna climate with a dry season from November to April. The driest conditions are in the north on La Guajira.
Colombia has an extraordinary range of ecosystems, including mangrove swamps on the coasts, desert scrublands on La Guajira, savanna grasslands, rainforests, and complex highland environments. Hanging plants and vines, including thousands of orchid species, abound in the rainforests. But settlers from the highlands have cut and burned many areas. The forests of the Andes also have been reduced; they now mainly exist only on the most inaccessible and rainy slopes. Pasture for cattle, crops, and degraded scrub and grass have replaced the original cover of broad-leaved evergreen trees.
Animals of the Amazon and Pacific coasts include anteaters, monkeys, tapirs, spectacled bears, pumas, jaguars, and such large tropical rodents as agoutis and capybaras. Colombia has more than 1,500 bird species, including toucans, hummingbirds, and migratory species that fly to North America every year. Reptiles such as caimans and crocodiles abound. Among the more unusual animals are earthworms that grow up to six feet (nearly two meters) in length. Freshwater fish include bocachica (“smallmouth”), characins (small, brightly colored tropical fishes), and electric eels.
With more than 40 million people, Colombia is the most populous country in Spanish-speaking South America. In all of Latin America it is the third most populous country, after Brazil and Mexico. More than three-fourths of Colombians live in cities. The largest cities are located in mountain valleys and high plateaus in the western part of the country. Another densely populated area is the Caribbean seaboard around the port of Barranquilla. Few people live in the Llanos, the southern and eastern lowlands, and the mostly rural Pacific coast. However, new roads from the Andes have encouraged colonists to move to the eastern lowlands, as have oil discoveries.
Colombia, like other Latin American countries, has a complex culture shaped by the mixture of American, European, and African peoples. Its history includes thousands of years of American Indian settlement, Spanish colonial life starting in the 1500s, wars of independence in the early 1800s, and numerous national and local difficulties since then. Colombia’s political, economic, and social difficulties are reflected in every aspect of culture, from language and religion to food and art.
More than half of Colombians are mestizo (of mixed European and American Indian descent). Roughly one-fifth of Colombians are of either mulatto (mixed black African and European) or black African ancestry. About one-fifth of the people are of white European (mainly Spanish) descent. Only about 1 percent of the people are Indian—a much lower percentage than in neighboring Ecuador and Peru—and about another 3 percent are of mixed black and Indian descent.
Blacks and mulattoes live mainly in the coastal regions and in traditional sugar-growing areas such as the Cauca River valley. The remoter parts of the Amazon region were inhabited only by Indians until the 1990s, when growers of coca (the source of cocaine) and rebel forces began to move in.
A large number of Colombians are poor and either lack a steady income or engage in physical labor. Most of the poor are of black African, Indian, or mixed descent. The middle classes, who tend to have European or mixed ancestry, are far more likely to have university degrees and more highly skilled work. The upper class is led by a tiny group of long-established wealthy families, almost all of which are of pure Spanish (and white) descent.
Many Colombians are proud of the relative purity of their spoken and written Spanish, which is the official language. Nevertheless, people from different regions can be recognized by their speech patterns. In addition, there are more than 180 indigenous languages and dialects belonging to such major linguistic groups as Arawakan, Chibchan, and others.
About 80 percent of Colombians are Roman Catholic. Protestants and independent Christians make up more than 10 percent of the population. There are small numbers of Jews and adherents to other faiths. Some Indians have traditional pre-Christian faiths or mixtures of Indian and Roman Catholic beliefs.
Colombia has a mixture of cultures because of the diverse customs, lifestyles, classes, and ethnicities of its people. However, some artistic creations, foods, and entertainment are regarded as national traditions. Others are points of regional pride, such as Colombia’s various speech patterns, cuisines, and clothing styles—though most Colombians wear clothing styles that are common on the streets of Europe and North America.
Colombian poets and novelists have garnered recognition around the world. One of the most influential figures in Latin American literature, Gabriel García Márquez won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. Among his best novels are One Hundred Years of Solitude and The General in His Labyrinth. Other notable writers include R.H. Moreno-Durán, Jorge Isaacs, and Álvaro Mutis.
Fernando Botero, Alejandro Obregón, and Edgar Negret are famous Colombian sculptors and painters. Artisans in many areas produce colorful textiles, ceramics, pottery, baskets, and passementerie, a kind of fancy trimming on clothing or upholstery.
From colonial times, Bogotá has been Colombia’s cultural center. Among its renowned institutions are the Gold Museum, the Museum of Colonial Art, and the National Museum. Numerous cities have cultural and religious festivals. Each year thousands of revelers join the famous Carnival celebrations at Barranquilla, which feature masked pageants, colorful parades, and spirited dances.
The most popular music in Colombia includes dance styles such as bambuco and cumbia. They are often played using stringed instruments such as the tiple (a small 12-stringed guitar), shakers, drums, and flutes. Vallenato music is played with accordions, drums, and rasps. Also heard are Afro-Caribbean and Andean music. Indian and Afro-Colombian communities play traditional and modern songs at festivals, weddings, and wakes.
The most widely played and watched sport is soccer (association football). The Colombian national team has qualified for several World Cup finals. Baseball and basketball also draw many fans and participants. The most common foods are rice, beans, yams, potatoes, cassava, and corn (maize). Popular dishes include tamales; chicken, potato, and corn soups; magras (baked eggs and chicken in tomato sauce); and tropical fruit salads.
Elementary schooling is compulsory, but about 7 out of 100 adults cannot read or write—and even more are illiterate in rural areas. High schools are not available to all students, and many school districts lack basic materials such as books and paper. Colombia has several universities. However, most are located in Bogotá, including the highly prestigious National University of Colombia and the private University of the Andes.
Government social-welfare programs provide health and maternity benefits, workers’ compensation, and allowances for those unable to work. As in most Latin American countries, however, the poor and elderly have difficulty obtaining basic services as well as food. Public health concerns include child malnutrition, basic sanitation, and the shortage of clean drinking water. Colombia has an extremely high murder rate, even if political and drug-related killings are excluded from mortality data.
Colombia was a mostly rural country until the late 20th century. Millions began to migrate from rural to urban areas in the 1940s, attracted by the prospect of jobs, schools, and hospitals. Since then, others have moved to escape violent conflict; however, poverty and violence also have plagued city life. The country’s capital, Bogotá, grew from some 650,000 inhabitants in the middle of the 20th century to more than 7 million in the early 21st century. It is the country’s largest city. The next largest urban areas are Medellín and Cali. Other major cities include Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, and Cúcuta. On the Pacific coast, Buenaventura is the only sizeable city and port.
Colombia has a mixed, largely free-market economy, with many jobs in the government and other services, agriculture, and manufacturing. Its main exports are oil (petroleum), coal, chemicals and chemical products, coffee, other food and drink, textiles and clothing, and base metals. The United States accounts for more of Colombia’s trade than do Venezuela, Mexico, and Brazil combined. Trade with the countries of the European Union also is significant.
Like other developing countries, Colombia has often suffered from high rates of unemployment. Many people have been forced to support their families by working in “informal” jobs, such as street peddling or the growing of illegal crops for cocaine. Although the narcotics trade has brought in billions of dollars from illicit sales in North America and Europe, it has also brought great misfortune to Colombia—including numerous deaths from warfare between drug cartels and cocaine addiction among youth-gang members and other Colombians. In addition, both right-wing paramilitary forces and left-wing rebels buy weapons with drug money.
After Brazil, Colombia ranks as the world’s leading coffee exporter by export value. Coffee requires much manual labor because farm machinery cannot operate on the mountain slopes where coffee flourishes. As a result, many coffee farms are still small and independently owned. Bananas and fresh-cut flowers also are exported. Sugarcane, cotton, plantains, potatoes, rice, cassava, and corn are grown mostly for local use. The Atlantic (Caribbean) lowlands are dominated by extensive livestock ranches and plantations. In the Llanos, cattle herding is a tradition. Dairy cattle and chickens are raised throughout the country.
Although some of Colombia’s peasants make a living from small farms, called minifundia, they are at risk from natural disasters, boom-and-bust economic cycles, and global competition. Many landless farmers labor on extensive estates, called latifundia, which are owned by elite families and corporations. Many poor farmers have turned in desperation to growing coca (for cocaine), opium poppies (for heroin), and marijuana in the eastern valleys and lowlands.
The products of fishing and forestry are mainly used locally. The Magdalena and Cauca rivers supported great fisheries until pollution and unrestrained commercial exploitation devastated many species. The Amazon region still has large zones of rainforest, but since the 1950s settlers on the upper Guaviare, Caquetá, and Putumayo rivers have burned and clear-cut large areas. Lumber and paper manufacturers clear tracts of forest but have replanted some of them.
Colombia’s many factories turn out processed foods, petroleum, chemicals, textiles, motor vehicles, paper, pharmaceuticals, and steel. Coal and natural gas are abundant on La Guajira. Limited reserves of oil are in the eastern lowlands. High-quality emeralds, gold, and ferronickel are also mined. Colombia has major hydroelectric plants on the Magdalena, Cauca, and Guavio rivers.
Many Colombians work in the service sector, such as in government and military institutions, schools, retail stores, restaurants, airlines, utilities, and banks, some of which are foreign-owned. Tourism relies mainly on national parks, beach resorts, and historic sites such as central Bogotá and the old walled city of Cartagena.
Passenger traffic depends on an extensive road network. One of the main highways runs north-south from the Ecuadorian border to the Caribbean coast, and another runs from Cali through Bogotá to western Venezuela. No roads run through Darién to Panama, however, and many secondary routes are in bad condition. Buses are commonly used in the cities and for long-distance travel.
Colombia has several Caribbean ports, but Buenaventura is the only large Pacific port. Colombia’s railroads carry some bulk goods, but more cargo is now carried by air. The main airports are at Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Cartagena, and Barranquilla. Colombians in cities have easy access to the Internet, telephones, radio, and television.
Colombia is a republic with a tradition of democratic elections. The chief of state and head of the government is the president, who is elected to a four-year term and may serve two consecutive terms. The legislature consists of a 102-seat Senate and a 166-seat House of Representatives, all the members of which are elected to four-year terms. Members of Indian groups fill at least two Senate seats. Four courts lead the judiciary: the Supreme Court of Justice, the Superior Judicial Council, the Constitutional Court, and the Council of State.
Indian hunter-gatherers first arrived in Colombia thousands of years ago. Many developed fishing and farming villages in the highland valleys. By the late 1400s the Chibcha had developed the most politically centralized society in the area (see Central American and Northern Andean Indians). They had a complex village life based on farming; produced textiles and other valuables; and had an organized religion. Leaders inherited their titles through matrilineal connections—that is, through the mother’s side of the family. Overland trade routes linked the Chibcha with the Inca empire to the south.
The first Spanish settlement was Santa Marta, which was founded in 1525 on the Caribbean coast by Rodrigo de Bastidas. Spanish conquerors such as Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada made their way inland by way of the Magdalena River and founded Bogotá in 1538. Indian groups resisted their invasions while being devastated by smallpox and other European diseases. Those who survived could do little against the Europeans’ weapons and lust for gold. The Spaniards forced the Indians to accept their language and religion, raise their crops and animals, and labor in mines and plantations. After tens of thousands of Indians died, African slaves were imported to replace them.
Under Spanish colonial rule, what is now Colombia was central to the political region called New Granada. New Granada was created in the 1700s. At its largest, it also included what are now Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. The centralized political authority of New Granada improved administration and communication within the region. These improvements facilitated the development and shipment of trade goods within the Spanish empire. As the region prospered in the 1700s, British pirates frequently attacked Cartagena, Santa Marta, and treasure-laden ships off the coasts. The San Andrés archipelago was a sanctuary for privateers.
Few people advocated independence from Spain even in 1780–81, when José Antonio Galán led the doomed Comunero Rebellion. When French forces occupied Spain and imprisoned its king in 1808, many Colombians felt loyalty to Spain. However, with the Spanish government in crisis, many places in New Granada rebelled and set up their own governments. An uprising at Bogotá on July 20, 1810, is now celebrated as Colombia’s Independence Day.
After the French left Spain, Spanish troops reconquered New Granada, and anti-Spanish sentiment grew there. Rebel troops began fighting the Spanish for independence. Following several bloody setbacks, the armies of Francisco de Paula Santander and Venezuelan Gen. Simón Bolívar won a major battle against the Spanish at Boyacá on August 7, 1819. After the victory, what are now Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama (which was still part of Colombia) were united as the independent country of Gran Colombia, with Bolívar as president. However, the union fell apart in 1830. The nation of Colombia was called New Granada until the 1860s. Santander served as its first president.
Beginning in the 1840s, liberal and conservative political factions vied with each other and instigated several armed struggles. Among these were two of the bloodiest civil wars in the history of the Americas: the War of a Thousand Days (1899–1903) and La Violencia (1946–57).
In 1903 Colombia disagreed with the United States over the terms of a treaty to build the Panama Canal. With support from the United States, Panama gained independence from Colombia and the canal was completed.
Profits from coffee, petroleum, and banana exports grew until the Great Depression devastated the world economy in the 1930s, and prices fell quickly. Banana workers went on strike in 1928, but the army crushed the strike by firing on the workers. In the 1930s, however, the government gave farms to thousands of poor families as part of a series of reforms. In addition, many factories prospered in the 1930s and ’40s. After La Violencia ended in 1957, liberal and conservative political factions began sharing power under an agreement that lasted until 1974.
Beginning in the 1960s and ’70s, Colombia faced guerrilla attacks from left-wing rebel groups that wanted to overthrow the government. Among them were the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and M-19 (which later disarmed). At the same time, Colombia became a leading global supplier of illegal cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Cartels run by Pablo Escobar and other ruthless drug traffickers committed countless murders and bribed police, soldiers, and politicians. In the 1980s right-wing paramilitary units began to emerge from vigilante groups formed to protect drug lords and wealthy landowners from the rebels. Paramilitary units and rebels committed numerous terrorist acts, including kidnapping and murder.
The Colombian government began to combat the illegal narcotics industry more forcefully in the 1980s, as the country received antinarcotics military aid from the United States—a major cocaine-consuming country. However, controversies erupted over the effectiveness of the “war on drugs,” its cost, and the thousands of civilians and combatants killed or wounded.
In the early 2000s Colombia received additional military aid from the United States as part of its “war on terror.” Colombia’s president, Álvaro Uribe, announced that his country would combat right-wing paramilitary groups in addition to left-wing rebels, both of which were financed by the drug trade. Right-wing death squads committed the largest share of terrorist acts, including massacres and torture, sometimes with the help of members of the military. Murders committed by paramilitary units and rebels and warfare between the groups and the government had killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Colombia’s constitution was amended in 2005 to allow a sitting president to run for a second term in office. In 2006 Uribe became the first Colombian president to be reelected in more than 100 years. Scandals erupted in Uribe’s second term, as several government officials who were his allies were arrested on accusations that they had collaborated with illegal paramilitary units. Despite the scandals, Uribe’s approval ratings generally remained strong as the number of crimes, kidnappings, and terrorist attacks in the country decreased significantly. A high point for Uribe was the rescue of former member of Congress and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, perhaps the FARC’s most high-profile hostage, in July 2008 after six years of captivity. The Colombian constitution prevented Uribe from running for a third consecutive term as president. The June 2010 presidential election was won by Juan Manuel Santos, who had served as Uribe’s minister of defense from 2006 to 2009.
Under Santos, the government began direct peace negotiations with the FARC in 2012. At the start of those talks, the FARC initiated a unilateral cease-fire; however, there were accusations that the FARC violated the cease-fire several times. Nevertheless, the peace talks continued, though without a bilateral cease-fire they came under heavy criticism from conservative sectors of Colombian society. The talks were a pivotal issue in the 2014 presidential campaign, which resulted in Santos’s victory in a June runoff election. Talks were suspended in mid-November 2014 when a senior army officer was kidnapped by the guerrilla group, but they resumed immediately when the FARC released him some two weeks later.
In September 2015 Santos and FARC negotiators, meeting in Havana, Cuba, announced that they had pledged to reach a final peace accord. By December most of the important details had been worked out, and in June 2016 Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño signed a permanent cease-fire agreement, laying the groundwork for a final peace treaty. The cease-fire agreement called for FARC forces to demobilize under United Nations monitoring within 180 days of the final treaty’s signing. Santos and Londoño signed a final peace agreement on September 26, 2016. Just one week later, however, Colombians narrowly rejected the agreement in a referendum, 50.2 percent to 49.8 percent. “No” voters generally felt that the agreement was too lenient on FARC rebels, the majority of whom would be granted amnesty. Despite the referendum setback, both the government and the FARC remained committed to the cease-fire agreed upon in June 2016. The two sides continued to negotiate, and a revised peace accord gained the overwhelming approval of Congress in late November. Under the revised agreement, FARC rebels accused of war crimes still would not face prison sentences, but they were to appear before special tribunals and could have certain restrictions placed on their liberty. The FARC also agreed to surrender assets to help compensate victims of the conflict.
Stephen P. Davis
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