Colombia (pronounced /kəˈlʌmbiə/ ( listen)), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish Countries where Spanish has official status. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 25% or more of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 10-20% of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 5-9.9% of the population: República de Colombia, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja] ( listen)), is a constitutional republic A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over citizens in northwestern South America South America is the southern continent of America, situated in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela Venezuela (pronounced /ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ ; Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is[6] and Brazil Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ; Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical;[7] to the south by Ecuador Ecuador (pronounced /ˈɛkwədɔr/ ), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor]), literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to and Peru Peru (pronounced /pəˈru/ ; Spanish: Perú, Quechua: Piruw, Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south;[8] to the north by the Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean situated in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded to the southwest by the Central American countries of Panama, to the west by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico, to the north by The Greater Antilles , and to the east by the Lesser Antilles; to the northwest by Panama Panama (pronounced /ˈpænəmɑː/ ), officially the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá; pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe panaˈma]), is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east. Colombia also shares maritime borders with Venezuela Venezuela (pronounced /ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ ; Spanish: [beneˈswela]), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It is a continental mainland with numerous islands located off its coastline in the Caribbean Sea. The republic is, Jamaica Jamaica (pronounced /dʒəˈmeɪkə/ ) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 mi) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 mi) in width, amounting to 11,100 square kilometres (4,300 sq mi). It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of Hispaniola,, Haiti Haiti (pronounced /ˈheɪti/ ; French Haïti, pronounced: [a.iti]; Haitian Creole: Ayiti, Haitian Creole pronunciation: [ajiti]), officially the Republic of Haiti (République d'Haïti ; Repiblik Ayiti) is a Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago. Ayiti (land, the Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic (pronounced /dɒmˌɪnɪkən rɨˈpʌblɪk/ ; Spanish: República Dominicana, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðominiˈkana]) is a nation on the island of Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two, Honduras Honduras (pronounced /hɑnˈdʊrəs/ , Spanish: República de Honduras, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe onˈduɾas]) is a republic in Central America. It was formerly known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras (now Belize). The country is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by, Nicaragua Nicaragua (pronounced /ˌnɪkəˈrɑːɡwə/ nik-ə-RAH-gwə) officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe nikaˈɾaɣwa] ( listen)), is a representative democratic republic. It is the largest country in Central America with an area of 130,373 km2. The country is bordered by Honduras to the and Costa Rica Costa Rica (pronounced /ˌkoʊstə ˈrikə/ ), officially the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkosta ˈrika]) is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea to the.[9][10] With a population of over 45 million people, Colombia has the 29th largest population This is a list of countries by population. The list includes independent countries and inhabited dependent territories based on the ISO standard ISO 3166-1. Also given, as a percentage, is each country's population compared to the population of the world, which is currently 6,820,800,000 in the world and the second largest in South America, after Brazil Brazil (pronounced /brəˈzɪl/ ; Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America and the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical. Colombia has the third largest Spanish-speaking Countries where Spanish has official status. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 25% or more of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 10-20% of the population. States of the U.S. where Spanish has no official status but is spoken by 5-9.9% of the population population in the world after Mexico In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory, which was administered as the viceroyalty of New Spain which would eventually become Mexico and Spain Spain (pronounced /ˈspeɪn/ spayn; Spanish: España, pronounced [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.[note 6] Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for.

The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous nations The indigenous peoples in Colombia comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country's present territory prior to its discovery by Europeans around 1500 including the Muisca Muisca refers to a nation of the Chibchan Culture that formed the Muisca Confederation encountered by the Spanish in 1537, at the time of the conquest of what is now part of central Colombia. The Muisca comprised two confederations: the Hunza, whose sovereign was the Zaque, and the Bacatá, whose sovereign was the Zipa. Both confederations were, Quimbaya The Quimbaya civilization is a South American civilization, noted for spectacular gold work characterized by technical accuracy and detailed designs. The majority of the gold work is made in tumbaga alloy, with 30% copper, which imparts beautiful color tonalities to the pieces. The Quimbaya inhabited the areas corresponding the modern departments, and Tairona Tairona is a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America, which goes back at least to the 1st century AD and had significant demographic growth around the 11th century. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization Spanish conquest of the Chibchan Nations refers to the conquest by the Spanish monarchy of the Chibchan speaking nations, mainly the Muiscas and Taironas that inhabited what is nowadays Colombia to eventually begin the Spanish colonization of the Americas killing or taking as slaves almost 90% of the native population, and then creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada The Viceroyalty of New Granada was the name given on 27 May 1717, to a Spanish colonial jurisdiction in northern South America, corresponding mainly to modern Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Before the 19th century independence struggles, the Viceroyalty of New Granada existed as a political and administrative entity which also extended (comprising modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the northwest region of Brazil and Panama) with its capital in Bogotá Bogotá, Distrito Capital (Spanish pronunciation: [boɣoˈta] ), formerly called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital city of Colombia, as well as the most populous city in the country, with an estimated 7,304,384 inhabitants as of 2009. Bogotá and its metropolitan area, which includes municipalities such as Chía, Cota, Soacha, Cajicá and La.[11] Independence from Spain was won Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada of 1819-1820 was part of the Colombian and Venezuelan wars of independence and was one of the many military campaigns Simón Bolívar fought in them. Bolívar's victory in New Granada secured the eventual independence of northern South America. It provided Bolívar with the economic and human resources in 1819, but by 1830 "Gran Colombia Gran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed a great part of the territory of northern South America and part of southern Central America during the years 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic encompassed the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. The first three were the successor states to" had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada The Republic of New Granada was a centralist republic consisting primarily of present-day Colombia and Panama with smaller portions of today's Ecuador, and Venezuela. It was created after the dissolution in 1830 of Gran Colombia. It was later abolished in 1858 when the Granadine Confederation was created. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation The Granadine Confederation was a short-lived federal republic established in 1858 as a result of a constitutional change replacing the Republic of New Granada. It comprised the present day nations of Colombia and Panama. It was replaced by the United States of Colombia after another constitutional change in 1863 (1858), and then the United States of Colombia The United States of Colombia was the name adopted in 1863 through the Rionegro Constitution for the nation which had been known as the Republic of New Granada since the dissolution of the federation of Great Colombia in 1830-1831 (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886.[2] Panama seceded The Separation of Panama from Colombia was formalized on 3 November 1903 with the establishment of the Republic of Panama from the Republic of Colombia's Department of Panama in 1903 under pressure to fulfill financial responsibilities towards the United States government to build the Panama Canal.

Colombia has a long tradition of constitutional government. The Liberal The Colombian Liberal Party is a center-left party in Colombia. The ideology of this party is the social democracy and social liberalism and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas. However, tensions between the two have frequently erupted into violence, most notably in the Thousand Days War The Thousand Days War (Spanish: Guerra de los Mil Días), was a civil armed conflict in the newly created Republic of Colombia, (including its then province of Panama) between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and its radical factions. In 1899 the ruling conservatives were accused of maintaining power through fraudulent elections. The (1899–1902) and La Violencia, beginning in 1948. Since the 1960s, government forces The Military of Colombia, officially the Military Forces of Colombia is the armed forces of Colombia, left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in the continent's longest-running armed conflict. Fuelled by the cocaine trade Illegal drug trade in Colombia refers to the practice of producing and distributing illegal drugs with psychoactive effects in the Republic of Colombia. Colombia has had four major drug trafficking cartels which eventually created a new social class and influenced several aspects of Colombian culture. Coca, marijuana and other drugs had been part, this escalated dramatically in the 1980s. However, in the recent decade (2000s) the violence has decreased significantly. Many paramilitary groups have demobilized as part of a controversial peace process with the government, and the guerrillas have lost control in many areas where they once dominated.[2] Meanwhile Colombia's homicide rate List of countries by intentional homicide rate per year per 100,000 inhabitants for the years from 2000 onwards. The reliability of underlying national murder rate data may vary. A comparative analysis of intentional homicide data must be conducted carefully. This is because the legal definition of ‘intentional homicide’ differs among, for many years one of the highest in the world, has almost halved since 2002.[12] Assassinations of trade union members have also been significantly reduced since the 1990s but unionists continue to be threatened and murdered, albeit at a lower rate than the general population.[13]

Colombia is a standing middle power Middle power is a term used in the field of international relations to describe states that are not superpowers or great powers, but still have large or moderate influence and international recognition. There is no single specific definition of which countries are middle powers[14] with the fourth largest economy This article includes a list of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product , the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. The GDP dollar estimates presented here are calculated at market or government official exchange rates in Latin America. However, inequality and unequal distribution of wealth are still widespread. In 1990, the ratio of income between the poorest and richest 10 per cent was 40-to-one. Following a decade of economic restructuring and a recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity over a period of time. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way. Production as measured by Gross Domestic Product , employment, investment spending, capacity utilization, household incomes, business profits and inflation, this ratio had climbed to 80-to-one in the year 2000.[15] By 2009, Colombia had reached a Gini coefficient The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini and published in his 1912 paper "Variability and Mutability" . It is commonly used as a measure of inequality of income or wealth. It has, however, also found application in the study of inequalities in disciplines as diverse as of 0.587, which was the highest in Latin America.[16] According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The office was established by the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1993 in the wake of, "there has been a decrease in the poverty rate in recent years, [but] around half of the population continues to live under the poverty line" as of 2008-2009.[17] Official figures for 2009 indicate that about 46% of Colombians lived below the poverty line and some 17% in "extreme poverty".[18][19] Other analysts have cited higher estimates.[20]

Colombia is very ethnically diverse, and the interaction between descendants of the original native The indigenous peoples in Colombia comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country's present territory prior to its discovery by Europeans around 1500 inhabitants, Spanish Spanish people or Spaniards constitute the European nation and ethnic group native of Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula, which forms the southwest of Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain. Spain, in its current boundaries, was formed out of a number of predecessor colonists, Africans Afro Colombians refers to Colombians of African ancestry, and the great impact they have had on Colombian culture. Famous Afro-Colombians include Luis Gilberto Murillo brought as slaves and twentieth-century immigrants from Europe The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe and the Middle East The Arab diaspora in Colombia refers to the Arab immigrants and their offspring in the Republic of Colombia. Most of the Middle Easterners came from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine escaping from the repression of the Ottoman Empire and financial hardships has produced a rich cultural heritage. This has also been influenced by Colombia's varied geography. The majority of the urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains, but Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. Ecologically, Colombia is one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries (the most biodiverse per unit area).[21]

Contents

Etymology

The word "Colombia" comes from Christopher Columbus (Spanish: Cristóbal Colón). It was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those territories and colonies under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was later adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819, formed out of the territories of the old Viceroyalty of New Granada (modern-day Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador).[22]

In 1835, when Venezuela and Ecuador broke away, the Cundinamarca region that remained became a new country — the Republic of New Granada. In 1858 New Granada officially changed its name to the Grenadine Confederation, then in 1863 the United States of Colombia, before finally adopting its present name — the Republic of Colombia — in 1886.[22]

Geography

Main article: Geography of Colombia See also: Natural Regions of Colombia and Geology of Colombia Shaded relief map of Colombia Chicamocha canyon in the Department of Santander.

Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by Panama and the Caribbean Sea; and to the west by Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean.

Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region of the world subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, Colombia is dominated by the Andes mountains. Beyond the Colombian Massif (in the south-western departments of Cauca and Nariño) these are divided into three branches known as cordilleras (from the Spanish for "rope"): the Cordillera Occidental, running adjacent to the Pacific coast and including the city of Cali; the Cordillera Central, running between the Cauca and Magdalena river valleys (to the west and east respectively) and including the cities of Medellín, Manizales, Pereira and Armenia, Quindío ; and the Cordillera Oriental, extending north east to the Guajira Peninsula and including Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Cúcuta. Peaks in the Cordillera Occidental exceed 13,000 ft (3,962 m), and in the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental they reach 18,000 ft (5,486 m).[23] At 8,500 ft (2,591 m), Bogotá is the highest city of its size in the world.

East of the Andes lies the savanna of the Llanos, part of the Orinoco River basin, and, in the far south east, the jungle of the Amazon rainforest. Together these lowlands comprise over half Colombia's territory, but they contain less than 3% of the population. To the north the Caribbean coast, home to 20% of the population and the location of the major port cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena, generally consists of low-lying plains, but it also contains the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range, which includes the country's tallest peaks (Pico Cristóbal Colón and Pico Simón Bolívar), and the Guajira Desert. By contrast the narrow and discontinuous Pacific coastal lowlands, backed by the Serranía de Baudó mountains, are covered in dense vegetation and sparsely populated. The principal Pacific port is Buenaventura.

Colombian territory also includes a number of Caribbean and Pacific islands.

Environmental issues

Main article: Environmental issues in Colombia

The environmental challenges faced by Colombia are caused by both natural and human hazards. Many natural hazards result from Colombia's position along the Pacific Ring of Fire and the consequent geological instability. Colombia has 15 major volcanoes, the eruptions of which have on occasion resulted in substantial loss of life, such as at Armero in 1985, and geological faults that have caused numerous devastating earthquakes, such as the 1999 Armenia earthquake. Heavy floods both in mountainous areas and in low-lying watersheds and coastal regions regularly cause deaths and considerable damage to property during the rainy seasons. Rainfall intensities vary with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation which occurs in unpredictable cycles, at times causing especially severe flooding.

Human induced deforestation has substantially changed the Andean landscape and has started to creep into the rainforests of Amazonia and the Pacific coast. Deforestation is also linked to the conversion of lowland tropical forests to oil palm plantations. However, compared to neighbouring countries rates of deforestation in Colombia are still relatively low.[24] In urban areas industry, the use of fossil fuels, and other human produced waste have contaminated the local environment. Demand from rapidly expanding cities has placed increasing stress on the water supply as watersheds are affected and ground water tables fall. Nonetheless, Colombia has large reserves of freshwater and is the fourth country in the world by magnitude of total freshwater supply.[25]

Participants in the country's armed conflict have also contributed to the pollution of the environment. Illegal armed groups have deforested large areas of land to plant illegal crops, with an estimated 99,000 hectares used for the cultivation of coca in 2007,[26] while in response the government has fumigated these crops using hazardous chemicals. Insurgents have also destroyed oil pipelines creating major ecological disasters[citation needed].

History

Main articles: History of Colombia and Timeline of Colombian history Villa de Leyva

Pre-Columbian era

Approximately 10,000 BC, hunter-gatherer societies existed near present-day Bogotá (at "El Abra" and "Tequendama") which traded with one another and with cultures living in the Magdalena River Valley.[27] Beginning in the first millennium BC, groups of Amerindians developed the political system of "cacicazgos" with a pyramidal structure of power headed by caciques. Within Colombia, the two cultures with the most complex cacicazgo systems were the Tayronas in the Caribbean Region, and the Muiscas in the highlands around Bogotá, both of which were of the Chibcha language family. The Muisca people are considered to have had one of the most developed political systems in South America, after the Incas.[28]

Spanish discovery, conquest, and colonization

Attack on Cartagena de Indias

Spanish explorers made the first exploration of the Caribbean littoral in 1499 led by Rodrigo de Bastidas. Christopher Columbus navigated near the Caribbean in 1502. In 1508, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa started the conquest of the territory through the region of Urabá. In 1513, he was the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean, which he called Mar del Sur (or "Sea of the South") and which in fact would bring the Spaniards to Peru and Chile.

The territory's main population was made up of hundreds of tribes of the Chibchan and Carib, currently known as the Caribbean people, whom the Spaniards conquered through warfare and alliances, while resulting disease such as smallpox, and the conquest and ethnic cleansing itself caused a demographic reduction among the indigenous people.[29] In the sixteenth century, Europeans began to bring slaves from Africa.

Independence from Spain

Main article: Colombian Declaration of Independence Francisco de Paula Santander, Simón Bolivar and other heroes of the Independence of Colombia in the Congress of Cúcuta.

Since the beginning of the periods of Conquest and Colonization, there were several rebel movements under Spanish rule, most of them either being crushed or remaining too weak to change the overall situation. The last one which sought outright independence from Spain sprang up around 1810, following the independence of St. Domingue in 1804 (present-day Haiti), who provided a non-negligible degree of support to the eventual leaders of this rebellion: Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander.

In a movement initiated by Antonio Nariño, who opposed Spanish centralism and which led the opposition against the viceroyalty. After the independence of Cartagena in November 1811, two independent governments formed which fought a Civil War, a period known as La Patria Boba. The following year Nariño proclaimed the United Provinces of New Granada, headed by Camilo Torres Tenorio. Despite the successes of the rebellion, the emergence of two distinct ideological currents among the liberators (federalism and centralism) gave rise to an internal clash between these two, thus contributing to the reconquest of territory by the Spanish, allowing restoration of the viceroyalty under the command of Juan de Samano, whose regime punished those who participated in the uprisings. This stoked renewed rebellion, which, combined with a weakened Spain, made possible a successful rebellion led by Simón Bolívar, who finally proclaimed independence in 1819. The pro-Spanish resistance was finally defeated in 1822 on the present territory of Colombia and in 1823 around the Viceroyalty of time.

The Congress of Cucuta in 1821 adopted a constitution, whose main goal was to create the Republic of Colombia, now referred to as La Gran Colombia, which also included present-day Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador. [29] However, the new republic was very unstable and ended with the rupture of Venezuela in 1829, followed by Ecuador, in 1830.

The Venezuelan Simón Bolívar had become the first President of Colombia, and Francisco de Paula Santander was Vice President; when Simón Bolívar stepped down, Santander became the second President of Colombia. The rebellion finally succeeded in 1819 when the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada became the Republic of Colombia organized as a union of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela (Panama was then an integral part of Colombia).

Post-independence and republicanism

Main articles: La Violencia, El Bogotazo, National Front (Colombia), and Colombian armed conflict (1964–present) The Gran Colombia.

Internal political and territorial divisions led to the secession of Venezuela and Quito (today's Ecuador) in 1830. The so-called "Department of Cundinamarca" adopted the name "Nueva Granada", which it kept until 1856 when it became the "Confederación Granadina" (Grenadine Confederation). After a two-year civil war in 1863, the "United States of Colombia" was created, lasting until 1886, when the country finally became known as the Republic of Colombia. Internal divisions remained between the bipartisan political forces, occasionally igniting very bloody civil wars, the most significant being the Thousand Days civil war (1899–1902).

This, together with the United States of America's intentions to influence the area (especially the Panama Canal construction and control) led to the separation of the Department of Panama in 1903 and the establishment of it as a nation. The United States paid Colombia $25,000,000 in 1921, seven years after completion of the canal, for redress of President Roosevelt's role in the creation of Panama, and Colombia recognized Panama under the terms of the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty. Colombia was engulfed in the Year-Long War with Peru over a territorial dispute involving the Amazonas Department and its capital Leticia.

Soon after, Colombia achieved a relative degree of political stability, which was interrupted by a bloody conflict that took place between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, a period known as La Violencia ("The Violence"). Its cause was mainly mounting tensions between the two leading political parties, which subsequently ignited after the assassination of the Liberal presidential candidate Jorge Eliécer Gaitán on April 9, 1948. This assassination caused riots in Bogotá and became known as El Bogotazo. The violence from these riots spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of at least 180,000 Colombians.

From 1953 to 1964 the violence between the two political parties decreased first when Gustavo Rojas deposed the President of Colombia in a coup d'état and negotiated with the guerrillas, and then under the military junta of General Gabriel París Gordillo.

After Rojas' deposition the two political parties Colombian Conservative Party and Colombian Liberal Party agreed to the creation of a "National Front", whereby the Liberal and Conservative parties would govern jointly. The presidency would be determined by an alternating conservative and liberal president every 4 years for 16 years; the two parties would have parity in all other elective offices. The National Front ended "La Violencia", and National Front administrations attempted to institute far-reaching social and economic reforms in cooperation with the Alliance for Progress. In the end, the contradictions between each successive Liberal and Conservative administration made the results decidedly mixed. Despite the progress in certain sectors, many social and political problems continued, and guerrilla groups were formally created such as the FARC, ELN and M-19 to fight the government and political apparatus. These guerrilla groups were dominated by Marxist doctrines.

The Palace of Justice siege (1985).

Emerging in the late 1970s, powerful and violent drug cartels further developed during the 1980s and 1990s. The Medellín Cartel under Pablo Escobar and the Cali Cartel, in particular, exerted political, economic and social influence in Colombia during this period. These cartels also financed and influenced different illegal armed groups throughout the political spectrum. Some enemies of these allied with the guerrillas and created or influenced paramilitary groups.

The Colombian armed forces around the dead body of the famous drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The new Colombian Constitution of 1991 was ratified after being drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Colombia. The constitution included key provisions on political, ethnic, human and gender rights. The new constitution initially prohibited the extradition of Colombian nationals, causing accusations that drug cartels had lobbied for the provision; extradition was allowed again in 1996 when the provision was repealed. The cartels had previously promoted a violent campaign against extradition, leading to many terrorist attacks and mafia-style executions. They also tried to influence the government and political structure of Colombia through corruption, as in the case of the 8000 Process scandal.

In recent years, the country has continued to be plagued by the effects of the drug trade, guerrilla insurgencies like FARC, and paramilitary groups such as the AUC (later demobilized, though paramilitarism remains active), which along with other minor factions have engaged in a bloody internal armed conflict. President Andrés Pastrana and the FARC attempted to negotiate a solution to the conflict between 1999 and 2002. The government set up a "demilitarized" zone, but repeated tensions and crisis led the Pastrana administration to conclude that the negotiations were ineffectual. Pastrana also began to implement the Plan Colombia initiative, with the dual goal of ending the armed conflict and promoting a strong anti-narcotic strategy.

During the presidency of Álvaro Uribe, the government applied more military pressure on the FARC and other outlawed groups, under the stance that nearly half a century of negotiations with no results was a sign that "some entities just cannot be negotiated with." Mostly through military pressure and increased military hardware from the US most security indicators improved, showing a steep decrease in reported kidnappings (from 3,700 in the year 2000 to 172 in 2009 (Jan.-Oct.)) and intentional homicides (from 28,837 in 2002 to 15,817 in 2009 according to police).[30] Guerrillas have been reduced from 16,900 insurgents to 8,900 insurgents.

While some in the UN argue Colombia is violating human rights to achieve peace, most do not argue that increased military pressure has had considerable improvements that have favored economic growth and tourism.[31] The 2006–2007 Colombian parapolitics scandal emerged from the revelations and judicial implications of past and present links between paramilitary groups, mainly the AUC, and some government officials and many politicians, most of them allied to the governing administration.[32]

Government

Main article: Government of Colombia See also: Colombian Constitution of 1991 Current President Álvaro Uribe

The government of Colombia takes place within the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic as established in the Constitution of 1991. In accordance with the principle of separation of powers, government is divided into three branches: the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch.

The head of the executive branch is the President of Colombia who serves as both head of state and head of government, followed by the Vice President and the Council of Ministers. The president is elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms and is currently limited to a maximum of two such terms (increased from one in 2005). At the provincial level executive power is vested in department governors, municipal mayors and local administrators for smaller administrative subdivisions, such as corregidores for corregimientos.

Nariño Palace, presidential residence.

The legislative branch of government is composed by the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 102-seat Senate is elected nationally and the Representatives are elected by every region and minority groups.[33] Members of both houses are elected two months before the president, also by popular vote and to serve four-year terms. At the provincial level the legislative branch is represented by department assemblies and municipal councils. All regional elections are held one year and five months after the presidential election.

The judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Court, consisting of 23 judges divided into three chambers (Penal, Civil and Agrarian, and Labour). The judicial branch also includes the Council of State, which has special responsibility for administrative law and also provides legal advice to the executive, the Constitutional Court, responsible for assuring the integrity of the Colombian constitution, and the Superior Council of Judicature, responsible for auditing the judicial branch. Colombia operates a system of civil law, which since 2005 has been applied through an adversarial system.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Departments of Colombia and Municipalities of Colombia See also: List of cities in Colombia and Corregimientos of Colombia

Click on a department on the map below to go to its article.

La Guajira Department Magdalena Department Atlántico Department Cesar Department Bolívar Department Norte de Santander Department Sucre Department Córdoba Department Santander Department Antioquia Department Boyacá Department Arauca Department Chocó Department Caldas Department Cundinamarca Department Casanare Department Vichada Department Valle del Cauca Department Tolima Department Meta Department Huila Department Guainía Department Guaviare Department Cauca Department Vaupés Department Nariño Department Caquetá Department Putumayo Department Amazonas Department Risaralda Department Risaralda Department Quindío Department Quindío Department Bogotá Bogotá Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina
Department Capital city
1 Amazonas Leticia
2 Antioquia Medellín
3 Arauca Arauca
4 Atlántico Barranquilla
5 Bolívar Cartagena
6 Boyacá Tunja
7 Caldas Manizales
8 Caquetá Florencia
9 Casanare Yopal
10 Cauca Popayán
11 Cesar Valledupar
12 Chocó Quibdó
13 Córdoba Montería
14 Cundinamarca Bogotá
15 Guainía Inírida
16 Guaviare San José del Guaviare
17 Huila Neiva
Department Capital city
18 La Guajira Riohacha
19 Magdalena Santa Marta
20 Meta Villavicencio
21 Nariño Pasto
22 Norte de Santander Cúcuta
23 Putumayo Mocoa
24 Quindío Armenia
25 Risaralda Pereira
26 San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina San Andrés
27 Santander Bucaramanga
28 Sucre Sincelejo
29 Tolima Ibagué
30 Valle del Cauca Cali
31 Vaupés Mitú
32 Vichada Puerto Carreño
33 Capital District Bogotá

Colombia is divided into 32 departments and one capital district, which is treated as a department (Bogotá also serves as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca). Departments are subdivided into municipalities, each of which is assigned a municipal seat, and municipalities are in turn subdivided into corregimientos. Each department has a local government with a governor and assembly directly elected to four-year terms. Each municipality is headed by a mayor and council, and each corregimiento by an elected corregidor, or local leader.

In addition to the capital nine other cities have been designated districts (in effect special municipalities), on the basis of special distinguishing features. These are Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cúcuta, Popayán, Bucaramanga, Tunja, Turbo, Buenaventura and Tumaco. Some departments have local administrative subdivisions, where towns have a large concentration of population and municipalities are near each other (for example in Antioquia and Cundinamarca). Where departments have a low population and there are security problems (for example Amazonas, Vaupés and Vichada), special administrative divisions are employed, such as "department corregimientos", which are a hybrid of a municipality and a corregimiento.

Foreign affairs

Main article: Foreign relations of Colombia See also: Diplomatic missions of Colombia President of Colombia Álvaro Uribe being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President of the United States George W. Bush.

The foreign affairs of Colombia are headed by the President of Colombia and managed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Colombia has diplomatic missions in all continents and is also represented in multilateral organizations at the following locations:

The foreign relations of Colombia are mostly concentrated on combating the illegal drug trade, the fight against terrorism, improving Colombia's image in the international community, expanding the international market for Colombian products, and environmental issues. Colombia receives special military and commercial co-operation and support in its fight against internal armed groups from the United States, mainly through Plan Colombia, as well as special financial preferences from the European Union in certain products.

Colombia was one of the 12 countries that joined the UNASUR when it was created. UNASUR is supposed to be modeled like the European Union having free trade agreements with the members, free movement of people, a common currency, and also a common passport. Colombia as well as all the other members of UNASUR have had some problems with the integration due to the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis.

Colombia is a member of the Andean Community of Nations and the Union of South American Nations.

Colombians need tourist visa for 180 countries[34] and do not need tourist visa for 15 countries.[35]

Defense

Main article: Military of Colombia Colombian Air Force Kfir C.7 fighter aircraft.

The executive branch of government has responsibility for managing the defense of Colombia, with the President commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Colombian Navy ARC Almirante Padilla (FM-51) frigate.

The Colombian military is divided into three branches: the National Army of Colombia; the Colombian Air Force; and the Colombian National Armada. The National Police functions as a gendarmerie, operating independently from the military as the law enforcement agency for the entire country. Each of these operates with their own intelligence apparatus separate from the national intelligence agency, the Administrative Department of Security.

The National Army is formed by divisions, regiments and special units; the National Armada by the Colombian Naval Infantry, the Naval Force of the Caribbean, the Naval Force of the Pacific, the Naval Force of the South, Colombia Coast Guards, Naval Aviation and the Specific Command of San Andres y Providencia; and the Air Force by 13 air units. The National Police has a presence in all municipalities.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Colombia See also: Elections in Colombia and List of political parties in Colombia Colombian National Congress.

For over a century Colombian politics were monopolized by the Liberal Party (founded in 1848 on an anti-clerical, broadly economically liberal and federalist platform), and the Conservative Party (founded in 1849 espousing Catholicism, protectionism, and centralism). This culminated in the formation of the National Front (1958–1974), which formalized arrangements for an alternation of power between the two parties and excluded non-establishment alternatives (thereby fueling the nascent armed conflict).

By the time of the dissolution of the National Front, traditional political alignments had begun to fragment. This process has continued since, and the consequences of this are exemplified by the results of the last presidential election, held on 28 May 2006, which was won with 62% of the vote by the incumbent, Álvaro Uribe. President Uribe is from a Liberal background but he campaigned as part of the Colombia First movement with the support of the Conservative Party, and his hard line on security issues and liberal economics place him on the right of the modern political spectrum[citation needed].

In second place with 22% was Carlos Gaviria of the Alternative Democratic Pole, a newly formed social democratic alliance which includes elements of the former M-19 guerrilla movement. Horacio Serpa of the Liberal Party achieved third place with 12%. Meanwhile in the congressional elections held earlier that year the two traditional parties secured only 93 out of 268 seats available.

Despite a number of controversies, most notably the ongoing parapolitics scandal, dramatic improvements in security and continued strong economic performance have ensured that President Alvaro Uribe remains popular among Colombian people, with his approval rating peaking at 85%, according to a poll in July 2008.[36] However, having served two terms, he will be constitutionally barred from seeking re-election in 2010. The Colombian Congress, with overwhelming support of the Colombian people, had attempted to hold a referendum allowing a vote that would overturn the 2-term limit for presidents, but this attempt was ruled unconstitutional by the Colombian constitutional court on February 27, 2010. President Uribe has stated that he respects the decision, one that cannot be appealed.

On presidential elections performed as of May 30, 2010 people voted 46% [37] for the former Minister of defense Juan Manuel Santos for being the president from 2010 to 2014, but according to the current laws, since he does not have 50% of the votes, there was a second round on June 20, 2010 against the second most voted candidate, Antanas Mockus with 21%.[37] The winning candidate was Juan Manuel Santos,who will be Colombia's president from August 7, 2010.

Economy

Cartagena de Indias, one of the most popular touristic destinations in the country Main article: Economy of Colombia See also: Agriculture in Colombia Bogotá. Night view of Cali. Bancolombia in Medellin. GDP growth 2001–2007. Bank of the Republic (Colombia) in Bogotá. Finance in Medellín. Construction boom in Bucaramanga.

In spite of the difficulties presented by serious internal armed conflict, Colombia's economy grew steadily in the latter part of the twentieth century, with gross domestic product (GDP) increasing at an average rate of over 4% per year between 1970 and 1998. The country suffered a recession in 1999 (the first full year of negative growth since the Great Depression), and the recovery from that recession was long and painful. However, in recent years growth has been impressive, reaching 8.2% in 2007, one of the highest rates of growth in Latin America. Meanwhile the Colombian stock exchange climbed from 1,000 points at its creation in July 2001 to over 7,300 points by November 2008.[38]

According to International Monetary Fund estimates, in 2007 Colombia's nominal GDP was US$202.6 billion (37th in the world and fourth in South America). Adjusted for purchasing power parity, GDP per capita stands at $7,968, placing Colombia 82nd in the world. However, in practice this is relatively unevenly distributed among the population, and, in common with much of Latin America, Colombia scores poorly according to the Gini coefficient, with UN figures placing it 119th out of 126 countries. In 2003 the richest 20% of the population had a 62.7% share of income/consumption and the poorest 20% just 2.5%, and 17.8% of Colombians live on less than $2 a day.[39]

Government spending is 37.9% of GDP.[2] Almost a quarter of this goes towards servicing the country's relatively high government debt, estimated at 52.8% of GDP in 2007.[2][39] Other problems facing the economy include weak domestic and foreign demand, the funding of the country's pension system, and unemployment (10.8% in November 2008).[38] Inflation has remained relatively low in recent years, standing at 5.5% in 2007.[2]

Historically an agrarian economy, Colombia urbanised rapidly in the twentieth century, by the end of which just 22.7% of the workforce were employed in agriculture, generating just 11.5% of GDP. 18.7% of the workforce are employed in industry and 58.5% in services, responsible for 36% and 52.5% of GDP respectively.[2] Colombia is rich in natural resources, and its main exports include petroleum, coal, coffee and other agricultural produce, and gold.[40] Colombia is also known as the world's leading source of emeralds,[41] while over 70% of cut flowers imported by the United States are Colombian.[42] Principal trading partners are the United States (a controversial free trade agreement with the United States is currently awaiting approval by the United States Congress), Venezuela and China.[2] All imports, exports, and the overall balance of trade are at record levels, and the inflow of export dollars has resulted in a substantial re-valuation of the Colombian peso.

Economic performance has been aided by liberal reforms introduced in the early 1990s and continued during the current presidency of Álvaro Uribe, whose policies include measures designed to bring the public sector deficit below 2.5% of GDP. In 2008, the Heritage Foundation assessed the Colombian economy to be 61.9% free, an increase of 2.3% since 2007, placing it 67th in the world and 15th out of 29 countries within the region.[43]

Meanwhile the improvements in security resulting from President Uribe's controversial "democratic security" strategy have engendered an increased sense of confidence in the economy. On 28 May 2007 the American magazine BusinessWeek published an article naming Colombia "the most extreme emerging market on Earth".[44] Colombia's economy has improved in recent years. Investment soared, from 15% of GDP in 2002 to 26% in 2008. private business has retooled. However unemployment at 12 % and the poverty rate at 46% in 2009 are above the regional average.[45]

According to a recent World Bank report, Doing business is easiest in Manizales, Ibagué and Pereira, and more difficult in Cali and Cartagena. Reforms in custom administration have helped reduce the amount of time it takes to prepare documentation by over 60% for exports and 40% for imports compared to the previous report. Colombia has taken measures to address the backlog in civil municipal courts. The most important result was the dismissal of 12.2% of inactive claims in civil courts thanks to the application of Law 1194 of 2008 (Ley de Desistimiento Tácito).[46]

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Colombia

Fortifications of the old city of Cartagena, one of the seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Colombia.

Arrecifes beach in the Tayrona National Natural Park, one of the main ecotourist destinations.

Bogotá historical centre.

Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina.

Pueblito Paisa.

The "Eje Cafetero"

Riohacha night.

Santa Cruz de Mompox.

Cali night.

For many years serious internal armed conflict deterred tourists from visiting Colombia, with official travel advisories warning against travel to the country. However, in recent years numbers have risen sharply, thanks to improvements in security resulting from President Álvaro Uribe's "democratic security" strategy, which has included significant increases in military strength and police presence throughout the country and pushed rebel groups further away from the major cities, highways and tourist sites likely to attract international visitors. Foreign tourist visits were predicted to have risen from 0.5 million in 2003 to 1.3 million in 2007,[47] while Lonely Planet picked Colombia as one of their top ten world destinations for 2006.[48] The improvements in the country's security were recognised in November 2008 with a revision of the travel advice on Colombia issued by the British Foreign Office.[49]

Colombia Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism Luis Guillermo Plata said his country had received 2,348,948 visitors in 2008. He is expecting 2,650,000 tourists for 2009.[50][51]

Popular tourist attractions include the historic Candelaria district of central Bogotá, the walled city and beaches of Cartagena, the colonial towns of Santa Fe de Antioquia, Popayán, Villa de Leyva and Santa Cruz de Mompox, and the Las Lajas Cathedral and the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. Tourists are also drawn to Colombia's numerous festivals, including Medellín's Festival of the Flowers, the Barranquilla Carnival, the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto and the Ibero-American Theater Festival in Bogotá. Meanwhile, because of the improved security, Caribbean cruise ships now stop at Cartagena and Santa Marta.

The great variety in geography, flora and fauna across Colombia has also resulted in the development of an ecotourist industry, concentrated in the country's national parks. Popular ecotourist destinations include: along the Caribbean coast, the Tayrona National Natural Park in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range and Cabo de la Vela on the tip of the Guajira Peninsula; the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, the Cocora valley and the Tatacoa Desert in the central Andean region; Amacayacu National Park in the Amazon River basin; and the Pacific islands of Malpelo and Gorgona. Colombia is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Transportation

The bus rapid transit system Transmilenio in Bogotá. Main article: Transportation in Colombia

Colombia has a network of national highways maintained by the Instituto Nacional de Vías or INVIAS (National Institute of Roadways) government agency under the Ministry of Transport. The Pan-American Highway travels through Colombia, connecting the country with Venezuela to the east and Ecuador to the south.

Colombia's principal airport is El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá. It is the busiest airport in Latin America by the number of flights and the weight of goods transported.[52] Several national airlines (Avianca, AeroRepública, AIRES, SATENA and EasyFly, ), and international airlines (such as Iberia, American Airlines, Varig, Copa, Continental, Delta, Air Canada, Air France, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aerogal, TAME, TACA) operate from El Dorado. Because of its central location in Colombia and America, it is preferred by national land transportation providers, as well as national and international air transportation providers.

Biofuels

Colombia is discussing current trends and challenges as well as recent international developments in the biofuels sector with the intention of contributing to the development of a sustainable and competitive biofuels strategy for Colombia and the region.[53]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Colombia See also: List of Colombian Departments by population

With an estimated 45.6 million people in 2008, Colombia is the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. It is also home to the second-largest number of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico, just ahead of Spain (which has a slightly larger population but includes a significant Catalan-speaking minority) and Argentina. The population increased at a rate of 1.9% between 1975 and 2005, predicted to drop to 1.2% over the next decade. Colombia is projected to have a population of 50.7 million by 2015. These trends are reflected in the country's age profile. In 2005 over 30% of the population was under 15 years old, compared to just 5.1% aged 65 and over.

The population is concentrated in the Andean highlands and along the Caribbean coast. The nine eastern lowland departments, comprising about 54% of Colombia's area, have less than 3% of the population and a density of less than one person per square kilometer (two persons per square mile). Traditionally a rural society, movement to urban areas was very heavy in the mid-twentieth century, and Colombia is now one of the most urbanized countries in Latin America. The urban population increased from 31% of the total in 1938 to 60% in 1975, and by 2005 the figure stood at 72.7%.[39][54] The population of Bogotá alone has increased from just over 300,000 in 1938 to approximately 7 million today. In total thirty cities now have populations of 100,000 or more. Colombia has one of the world's largest populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs), estimated up to 4.3 million people.[55]

Largest cities of Colombia Population

Bogotá Medellín Cali Barranquilla Cartagena Bucaramanga
1 Bogotá Bogotá 8.840.116
2 Medellín Medellín 3,374,340
3 Cali Cali 2,728,431
4 Barranquilla Barranquilla 1.946.359
5 Cartagena Cartagena 1,198,665
6 Bucaramanga Bucaramanga 886.512
7 Cucuta Cucuta 716.512
8 Ibague Ibague 598.401
9 Pereira Pereira 461.851
10 Santa Marta Santa Marta 455.270

Colombia is ranked sixth in the world in the Happy Planet Index.

Ethnic groups

Afro-Colombian woman in Cartagena

The census data in Colombia does not record ethnicity, other than that of those identifying themselves as members of particular minority ethnic groups, so overall percentages are essentially estimates from other sources and can vary from one to another.[56]

According to the CIA World Factbook, the majority of the population (58%) is Mestizo, or of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. Approximately 20% of the population is of European ancestry (predominantly Spanish, partly Italian, Portuguese, and German). The CIA World Factbook also states that 14% of Colombia's total population is of mixed African and European ancestry, with 3% being of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry, and 4% having primarily African ancestry. Indigenous Amerindians comprise only 1% of the population.[2]

The overwhelming majority of Colombians speak Spanish (see also Colombian Spanish), but in total 101 languages are listed for Colombia in the Ethnologue database, of which 80 are spoken today as living languages. Most of these belong to the Chibchan, Arawak and Cariban linguistic families. The Quechua language, spoken in the Andes region of the country, has also extended more northwards into Colombia, mainly in urban centers of major cities. There are currently about 500,000 speakers of indigenous languages.[57]

Indigenous peoples

Main article: Indigenous peoples in Colombia The Wayuu represent the largest indigenous ethnic group in Colombia.[58]

Before the Spanish colonization of what is now Colombia, the territory was home to a significant number of indigenous peoples. Many of these were absorbed into the mestizo population, but the remainder currently represents over eighty-five distinct cultures. 567 reserves (resguardos) established for indigenous peoples occupy 365,004 square kilometres (over 30% of the country's total) and are inhabited by more than 800,000 people in over 67,000 families.[59] The 1991 constitution established their native languages as official in their territories, and most of them have bilingual education (native and Spanish).

Some of the largest indigenous groups are the Wayuu,[58] the Arhuacos, the Muisca, the Kuna, the Paez, the Tucano and the Guahibo. Cauca, La Guajira and Guainia have the largest indigenous populations.

The Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia (ONIC) is an organization representing the indigenous peoples of Colombia, who comprise some 800,000 people or approximately 2% of the population. The organization was founded at the first National Indigenous Congress in 1982.

In 1991, Colombia signed and ratified the current international law concerning indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989.[60]

Immigrant groups

Main article: Immigration to Colombia

The first and most substantial wave of modern immigration to Colombia consisted of Spanish colonists, following the arrival of Europeans in 1499. However a range of other Europeans (Dutch, Germans, Italians, Greek, French, Swiss and Belgians, also many North Americans) migrated to the country in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and, in smaller numbers, Poles, Lithuanians, English, Irish and Croats during and after the Second World War. For example, former Mayor of Bogotá Antanas Mockus is the son of Lithuanian immigrants.

Many immigrant communities have settled on the Caribbean coast, in particular recent immigrants from the Middle East. Barranquilla (the largest city of the Colombian Caribbean) and other Caribbean cities have the largest populations of Lebanese and Arabs, Sephardi Jews, Roma, and people of Italian, German, and French descent. For example, the singer Shakira, a native of Barranquilla, has both Lebanese and Italian ancestry. There are also important communities of Chinese and Japanese.

Black Africans were brought as slaves, mostly to the coastal lowlands, beginning early in the sixteenth century and continuing into the nineteenth century. Large Afro-Colombian communities are found today on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. The population of the department of Chocó, running along the northern portion of Colombia's Pacific coast, is over 80% black.[61]

The impact of armed conflict on civilians

Around one third of the people in Colombia have been affected in some way by armed conflict there. Those with direct p