Etymology
The word "
In 1830, when Venezuela and Ecuador separated, the Cundinamarca region that remained became a new country: the Republic of New Granada. In 1858 New Granada officially changed its name to the Granadine Confederation, then in 1863 the United States of Colombia, before finally adopting its present name — the Republic of Colombia — in 1886.[12]
Geography and climate
Main article: Geography of Colombia
See also: Natural Regions of Colombia and Geology of Colombia
Shaded relief map of
Los Llanos plains in
Geologically Colombia is formed by two great territorial zones, one submerged in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean sea covering a total area of 828,660 km² and the second is the emerged land which is formed by the Andes mountain range and the Llanos plains that are shared with Venezuela and cover an area of some 1'143,748 km². Colombian surface features form complicated land patterns. The western third of the country is the most complex, starting at the shore of the Pacific Ocean in the west and moving eastward at a latitude of 5 degrees north, a diverse sequence of features is encountered; In the extreme west are the very narrow and discontinuous Pacific coastal lowlands, which are backed by the Serranía de Baudó, one of the lowest and narrowest of Colombia's mountain ranges. Next is the broad region of the Río Atrato/Río San Juan lowland.
the Magdalena River at Santa Cruz de Mompox.
The western mountain range, the
Climate
Main article: Climate of Colombia
Glacier Snowy peaks of the Nevado del Tolima volcano. 5,200+ metres (17,060 ft)
The climate of Colombia is determined by its proximity to the Earth's Equator predominating a tropical and isothermal climate, presenting variations within five natural regions and depending on the altitude; determined by mountain climate, temperature, humidity, winds; influenced by the trade winds and precipitation which is influenced by the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
Temperatures generally decrease about 3.5 °F (2 °C) for every 1,000-foot (300-m) increase in altitude above sea level, presenting perpetual snowy peaks to lower hot lands. Rainfall varies by location and is present in two seasons (two dry and two rainy) in
The hot and humid Colombian Pacific coast, one of the rainiest in the world.
Altitude affects not only temperature, but also vegetation. In fact, altitude is one of the most important influences on vegetation patterns in
Colombian Flora and Fauna also interact with climate zone patterns. A scrub woodland of scattered trees and bushes dominates the semiarid northeastern steppe and tropical desert. To the south, savannah (tropical grassland) vegetation covers the eastern plains; Colombian portion of the llanos. The rainy areas in the southeast are blanketed by tropical rain forest. In the mountains, the spotty patterns of precipitation in alpine areas complicate vegetation patterns. The rainy side of a mountain may be lush and green, while the other side, in the rain shadow, may be parched. As a result
Environmental issues
Main article: Environmental issues in Colombia
Nevado del Ruiz volcano, erupted in 1985 causing the Armero tragedy.
The environmental issues in
Participants in the Colombian armed conflict have also contributed to the pollution of the environment in
History
Main articles: History of Colombia, Timeline of Colombian history, La Violencia, El Bogotazo, National Front (Colombia), and Colombian armed conflict (1964–present)
Pre-Columbian era
The Zipa used to cover his body in gold and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This old Muisca tradition became the origin of El Dorado legend.
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.[17] 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
Spanish discovery, conquest and colonization
Spanish explorers made the first exploration of the Caribbean littoral in 1499 led by Rodrigo de Bastidas. Christopher Columbus navigated near the
Independence from Spain
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. Simón Bolívar had become the first president of
Post-Independence and republicanism
The Gran Colombia.
Internal political and territorial divisions led to the secession of Venezuela and Quito (today's Ecuador) in 1830. At this time, the so-called "Department of Cundinamarca" adopted then 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
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
Emerging in the late 1970s, powerful and violent drug cartels 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
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. There were accusations of lobbying by drug cartels in favor of this prohibition. The cartels had previously promoted a violent campaign against extradition, leading to many terrorist attack and mafia style executions. They also tried to influence the government and political structure of
Members of the Colombian National Army during a field training exercise.
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 1998 and 2002 but failed to do so. President Andrés 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, who was elected on the promise of applying military pressure on the FARC and other criminal groups, some security indicators have improved, showing a decrease in reported kidnappings (from 3700 in the year 2000 to 800 in 2005) and a decrease of more than 48% in homicides between July 2002 and May 2005 and of the terrorist guerrila itself reduced from 16.900 insurgents to 8.900 insurgents. It is argued that these improvements have favored economic growth and tourism.[19] The 2006–2007 Colombian parapolitics scandal emerged due to 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.[20]
Departments and municipalities
Main articles: Departments of Colombia and Municipalities of Colombia
See also: List of cities in Colombia and Corregimiento
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Some department have also local administrative regional subdivisions such as the departments of Antioquia and Cundinamarca, where towns have a large concentration of population and municipalities are near each other. In the case of some department where the population is still scarce and there are security problems such as in eastern Colombian departments of Amazonas, Vaupés and Vichada there special administrative definitions for territories, some are considered Department corregimientos, which are a hybrid between a corregimiento and a municipality. The difference besides the population is also subject to a cut in the assigned budget.
Government, law and politics
Main article: Government of Colombia
See also: Colombian Constitution of 1991
Casa de Nariño, the presidential palace in Bogotá houses the President of Colombia and maximum representative of the Executive Branch of Colombia.
The Government of Colombia takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic as established in the Colombian Constitution of 1991. The Colombian government is divided into three branches of power; the executive, legislative and judicial with special control institutions and electoral institutions. The President of Colombia is the highest representative of the executive branch of government in Colombia and is also the head of state and head of government with supreme administrative authority, followed by the Vice President and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Colombia.
At a provincial level the executive is managed by department governors, municipal mayors at municipal level and local administrators for smaller administrative subdivisions such as corregidor for corregimientos. The legislative branch of government in
Defense
Tall ship ARC Gloria, insignia of
The executive branch of government is in charge of managing the defense affairs of Colombia with the President of Colombia being the supreme chief of the armed forces, followed by the Minister of Defense, which controls the Military of Colombia and the Colombian National Police among other institutions. The Colombian military is divided into three branches with their respective chains of command; the Colombian National Army, the Colombian Air Force and the Colombian National Armada.
The national police functions as a gendarmerie independently from the Military as a the law enforcement agency for the entire country. Each of these operating with their own intelligence apparatus and also separately form the national intelligence agency Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad. The National Police has a presence in all municipality seats of