Colombia, republic (439,735 sq mi/1,138,914 sq km; 1990 estimated population 32,299,788; 2004 estimated population 42,310,775), NW South America (cap.) Bogotá; 04°38'N 74°05'W.
Geography
The only South American country with both a Caribbean and a Pacific coastline, Colombia is bounded on the NW by Panama, on the NE by Venezuela, on the S by Ecuador and Peru, and on the SE by Brazil. Colombia has both hot, wet rainforests and majestic, snow-capped mountains. By far the most prominent physical features are the three great Andean chains that fan N from Ecuador. The Andean interior is the heart of the country, where in pre-Columbian days the highly advanced Chibcha and related Indian groups lived. It has the largest concentration of population and is the area of large-scale cultivation of coffee, Colombia’s major crop. One of Colombia’s major cities, Cali, lies just E of the range, in the upper Cauca valley. The Central Cordillera has a towering chain of volcanoes (e.g., Tolima) and is the divide between the valleys of the Magdalena and the Cauca rivers. It was until the 19th century an undeveloped region, but with improved transportation, the introduction of coffee culture, and the exploitation of high-grade coal reserves, its cities of Medellín and Manizales have become the economic and industrial core of the republic. A third major city in the Central Cordillera is Armenia. The Eastern Cordillera is the longest chain. Its W slopes yield coffee, and in its intermontane basins grains and cattle are raised. The area is rich in iron, coal, and emeralds. Among the leading cities of the highland basins are Tunja, Bucaramanga, and Cúcuta, in addition to Bogotá. To the E of the Andes lies more than half of Colombia’s territory, a vast tropical lowland. The plains are crossed by navigable rivers, tributaries of the Orinoco and Amazon systems. The N sections consists of savannas (the llanos), which are devoted to a large extent to cattle grazing. Villavicencio, at the region’s W end, is its major urban center. The dense rainforests of the extreme SE produce wood prodsucts. Some petroleum is found here. Leticia is the country’s southernmost town, and its only port on the Amazon River. A fourth mountain chain, the Cordillera del Chocó, runs parallel to the Pacific N of Buenaventura. The range’s slopes yield dyewoods and hardwoods, rubber, tagua nuts (vegetable ivory) and other forest products, and gold and platinum. On the Pacific are the ports of Buenaventura and Tumaco, terminus of a pipeline from the oil-rich area of Putumayo across the mountains. Colombia’s chief ocean ports, however, lie on the Caribbean coast to the N: Santa Marta, Cartagena, and Barranquilla. In the N, separating the La Guajira peninsula from the rest of the country, is the magnificent Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which contains Colombia's highest peak, Pico Cristóbal (18,947 ft/5,775 m).
Population
About two-thirds of Colombia's population are mestizos; less than 20% are of pure European descent. Native Americans live on the edge of some of the major cities and in remote areas. The small black population is concentrated along the coasts and in the Magdalena and Cauca valleys. Spanish is the official language. The population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. There are universities in all the major cities.
Economy
Agriculture is the chief source of income in Colombia. An extremely wide variety of crops is grown, depending on elevation, but coffee is by far the major crop. Bananas, plantains, cotton, sugarcane, oil palm, rice, and tobacco are grown at lower elevations. Potatoes, vegetables, grains, flowers, and other temperate zone fruit and vegetables are grown in middle elevations. Cannabis and coca are also grown for export in the drug trade. Colombia is rich in minerals, including petroleum and natural gas (rapid growth in oil exportation makes it the third largest Latin American oil exporter), iron, coal, gold, silver, platinum, and emeralds. The saltworks at Zipaquirá, near Bogotá, are world famous. Hydroelectric potential was developed during the 1970s and 1980s. The manufacturing sector of the economy has expanded greatly in recent decades, although it is heavily dependent on imported materials. Beverages and processed foods, textiles, metal products, and chemicals are the chief manufactures. Tourism is also a sizable source of income. Coffee is the main official export; others include petroleum and related products, cotton, bananas, and sugar. Along with coffee, cocaine is a major export, accounting for about 25% of foreign exchange earnings. Although most of the raw materials are grown in Peru and Bolivia, Colombia serves as a major international drug trafficking center for export to the U.S., Italy, and other countries. The U.S. and Germany are the chief trade partners. In 1969, Colombia joined the Andean Group, an economic organization of South American nations. As it entered the 1990s, Colombia’s economy was growing quickly in comparison with other countries. However, labor unrest and internal problems related to Colombia’s drug trade threatened the country’s economic growth.
History to 1830
The Conservative and Liberal parties, formed in the 1800s, dominate political life. To insure stability, the two formed the National Front Coalition in 1957 and agreed to divide the major offices between them and alternate in the presidency. The coalition, which ended in late 1973, was challenged in the 1960s by the Popular National Alliance, formed by the former dictator Rojas Pinilla. Prior to the Spanish conquest, Colombia was inhabited by Chibcha, sub-Andean, and Caribbean peoples, all of whom lived in organized, agriculture-based communities. After the Spanish conquest, which began in 1525, the area of present-day Colombia formed the nucleus of New Granada (for colonial history, see New Granada). The struggle for independence was, as in all Spanish-American possessions, precipitated by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. The revolution was, however, foreshadowed by the rising of the comuneros. Prominent among the first revolutionary leaders was Antonio Nariño, who took part in the uprising at Bogotá on July 20, 1810. The revolution was to last nine years before the victory of Simón Bolívar at Boyacá (1819) secured the independence of Greater Colombia (Spanish Gran Colombia). The new state Bolívar created included what is now Venezuela, Panama, and (after 1822) Ecuador, as well as Colombia. Cúcuta was chosen as capital. While Bolívar, who had been named president, headed campaigns in Ecuador and Peru, the vice president, Francisco de Paula Santander, administered the new nation. Political factions soon crystallized. Santander advocated a union of federal sovereign states, while Bolívar championed a centralized republic. Although Bolívar’s authority prevailed by and large in the constitutional assembly (1828), Greater Colombia soon fell apart.
History 1830 to 1914
In 1830, Venezuela and Ecuador became separate nations. The remaining territory emerged as the republic of New Granada. During the 19th and early 20th century three statesmen stand out—Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, Rafael Núñez, and Rafael Reyes. While Mosquera was president, a treaty was concluded (1846) granting the U.S. transit rights across the Isthmus of Panama. The antifederalist revolution of 1885 during the presidency of Núñez led to the formation of the republic of Colombia and enactment of a conservative constitution. The U.S. had acquired the right to complete the Panama Canal (although the agreement was later rejected by the Colombian congress), the republic of Panama declared and, aided by the U.S., achieved its independence from Colombia (1903). During the semidictatorial administration (1904–1909) of Reyes, internal order was restored and the country’s trade and productivity were vigorously expanded. Reyes, nevertheless, had to resign because of discontent over his handling of the Panama issue. Soon afterward Colombia recognized (1914) Panama’s independence in exchange for rights in the Canal Zone and the payment of an indemnity from the U.S.
History 1914 to Present
For the next four decades political life remained fairly peaceful, although there was economic and social unrest in the 1920s and 1930s. The assassination (1948) of leftist Liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán exacerbated the enmity between social groups and plunged the country into a decade of civil strife, martial law, and violent rule that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. In 1970 Misael Pastrana Borrero of the National Front was elected president. Colombia’s economy began to recover from the setbacks of the early 1970s as economic diversification and incentives to lure foreign capital into the country were initiated. However, a high inflation rate continued to impede economic growth. In 1974 the Liberal party candidate Alfonso López Michelsen won the first presidential election following the end of the Nattional Front. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Colombia’s illegal drug trade grew steadily, as the drug cartels amassed huge amounts of money, weapons, and influence. Many journalists and government officials were killed. The 1980s saw the formation of such leftist guerrilla groups as M-19 and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. In 1990 a seventy-four-member Constitutional Assembly was elected to draft a new constitution; the M-19 group, which chose to lay down its arms and enter the election, won nineteen of these seats. The 397-article document, which came into force on July 5, 1991, included protection for human rights and established citizens’ rights to social security and health care. The U.S. has contributed large amounts of aid to help Colombia reduce its drug trade, but drug trafficking organizations and guerrilla groups continue to be a source of instability, and drug lords continue to hold tremendous amounts of power.
Government
Colombia is governed under the 1991 constitution. The president serves a four-year term. The legislature, subservient to the president, consists of a senate and a house of representatives. The members are apportioned among the departments (states) and popularly elected for four-year terms. The supreme court is chosen by the president and the legislature. Elected in 2002, Alvaro Uribe Velez is both chief of state (President) and head of government.
