Republic of Colombia República de Colombia (Spanish)
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Libertad y Orden"  (Spanish) "Freedom and Order"
Anthem: ¡Oh, Gloria Inmarcesible!  (Spanish) O unfading glory!
Capital (and largest city)		Bogotá 4°39′N 74°3′W / 4.65°N 74.05°W / 4.65; -74.05
Official language(s)		Spanish1
Recognised national languages		(English is also official in San Andrés and Providence islands)
Recognised regional languages		The 72 languages and dialects of ethnic groups are also official in their regions.[1]
Ethnic groups		58% Mestizo 20% White 14% Mulatto 4% Afro Colombian 3% Zambo 1% Amerindian[2]
Demonym		Colombian
Government		Unitary presidential constitutional republic
-	President	Juan Manuel Santos
-	Vice President	Angelino Garzón
Legislature		Congress
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	Chamber of Representatives
Independence		from Spain
-	Declared	20 July 1810
-	Recognized	7 August 1819
-	Current constitution	1991
Area
-	Total	1,141,748 km2 (26th) 440,831 sq mi
-	Water (%)	8.8 (17th)
Population
-	February 2012 estimate	46,366,364[3] (27th)
-	2005 census	46,406,352[3]
-	Density	40.74/km2 (172nd) 105.72/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$471.964 billion[4]
-	Per capita	$10,248[4]
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$328.422 billion[4]
-	Per capita	$7,131[4]
Gini (2010)		55.9[5] (high)
HDI (2011)		0.710 [6] (high) (87th)
Currency		Peso (COP)
Time zone		(UTC-52)
Date formats		dd-mm-yyyy (CE)
Drives on the		Right
ISO 3166 code		CO
Internet TLD		.co
Calling code		+57
1	Although the Colombian Constitution specifies Spanish as the official language in all its territory, the native languages (approximately 88 dialects) are also official in the whole country.
2	The official Colombian time, (horalegal.sic.gov.co) is controlled and coordinated by the state agency Superintendency of Industry and Commerce.[7]

Colombia ( /kəˈlʌmbiə/ kə-LUM-biə, or /kəˈlɒmbiə/ kə-LOM-biə), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia [reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja]), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela^[8] and Brazil;^[9] to the south by Ecuador and Peru;^[10] and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia has maritime borders with Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.^[11][12] Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largest country in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, with the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America. Colombia is famous for the production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil. All of these products make up the primary sector of economy.

The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada (comprising modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, north-western Brazil and Panama), with its capital at Bogotá.^[13] Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 "Gran Colombia" had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886.^[2] Panama seceded in 1903.

Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America, and an important promoter of the Pan American organizations, initially through the Congress of Panama and later, during the 20th century as founder of the Organization of American States. The Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas.

Colombia is very ethnically diverse, and the interaction between descendants of the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, Africans brought as slaves and twentieth-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East has produced a rich cultural heritage.^[14] 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, and is considered the most megadiverse per square kilometer.^[15][16]

Tensions between political parties have frequently erupted into violence, most notably in the Thousand Days War (1899–1902) and La Violencia, beginning in 1948. Since the 1960s, government forces, left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in the continent's longest-running armed conflict.^[17] Fueled by the cocaine trade, this escalated dramatically in the 1980s. Since 2010 the violence has decreased significantly, with many paramilitary groups demobilising as part of a controversial peace process and the guerrillas losing control of much of the territory they once dominated.^[2] Meanwhile Colombia's homicide rate almost halved between 2002 and 2006.^[18] As of 2011 Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine,^[19] although production has been falling.^[20][21]

Etymology[link]

Colombia, the land of Christopher Columbus named after the "discoverer" of America.

The word "Colombia" comes from Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo; 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 under the 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 Granadine Confederation, then in 1863 the United States of Colombia, before finally adopting its present name – the Republic of Colombia – in 1886.^[22]

To refer to the country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia and República de Colombia.

History[link]

Poporo from Quimbaya peoples in the Gold Museum, Bogotá

Prehistory[link]

Due to its geographical location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of populations between Mesoamerica, the Caribbean, the Andes and the Amazon. The oldest archaeological finds were found at sites of Monsú and Pubenza and dating from about 20,000 years B. C. Other vestiges realize that there were also early occupation in regions like El Abra between Tocancipá, Zipaquirá and Tequendama in Cundinamarca. These sites correspond to the Paleoindian period. In Puerto Hormiga has been found traces of the archaic period, including the oldest pottery found in America, dating from about 3,000 BC.

Pre-Columbian[link]

Approximately 10,000 BC, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous people including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. 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.^[23] Beginning in the first millennium BC, groups of Amerindians developed the political system of "cacicazgos" with a pyramidal structure of power headed by caciques. The Muiscas inhabited the area of what is now the Departments of Boyacá and Cundinamarca high plateau mainly (Altiplano Cundiboyacense). They farmed maize, potato, quinoa and cotton, and traded worked gold, emeralds, blankets, ceramic handicrafts, coca and salt with neighboring nations. The Taironas inhabited in northern Colombia in the Andes isolated mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.^[24]

The Spanish discovery (1499–1525)[link]

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 Núñez 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.

Alonso de Lugo (who had sailed with Columbus) reached the Guajira Peninsula in 1500. Santa Marta was founded in 1525, and Cartagena in 1533. Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada led an expedition to the interior in 1535, and founded the "New City of Granada", the name soon changed to "Santa Fé." Two other notable journeys by Spaniards to the interior took place in the same period. Sebastian de Belalcazar, conqueror of Quito, traveled north and founded Cali in 1536 and Popayán in 1537; Nicolas Federman crossed the Llanos Orientales and went over the Eastern Cordillera.^[25]

The Caribbean people, indigenous to Colombia, suffered a reduction in population due to conquest by the Spanish as well as diseases such as smallpox, of which they had no immunity to.^[26] In the 16th century, Europeans began to bring slaves from Africa.

Colonial times (1525–1808)[link]

The Spanish settled along the north coast of today's Colombia as early as the 1500s, but their first permanent settlement, at Santa Marta, was not established until 1525. In 1549, the institution of the Audiencia in Santa Fe de Bogotá gave that city the status of capital of New Granada, which comprised in large part what is now territory of Colombia.

With the risk that the land was deserted, the Spanish Crown sold properties to the governors, conquerors and their descendants creating large farms and possession of mines. Black slaves were introduced as labor. Also to protect the indigenous population decimated, and Indian reservations were created. The repopulation was achieved by allowing colonization by farmers and their families who came from Spain. With this began the colonial period. New Granada was ruled by the Royal Audience of Santa Fe de Bogota, but important decisions were taken to the colony from Spain by the Council of the Indies.

A royal decree of 1713 approved the legality of Palenque de San Basilio founded by runaway slaves from the fifteenth century, slaves had fled and sought refuge in the jungles of the Caribbean coast. The Spanish forces could not tolerate them and ended up submitting, thereby giving rise to the first free place in the Americas. Its main leader was Benkos Biohó, born in the region Bioho, Guinea Bissau, West Africa. Palenque de San Basilio was declared in 2005 as a "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.^[27]

In 1717 the Viceroyalty of New Granada was originally created, and then it was temporarily removed, to finally be reestablished in 1739. The Viceroyalty had Santa Fé de Bogotá as its capital. This Viceroyalty included some other provinces of northwestern South America which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalties of New Spain or Peru and correspond mainly to today's Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. So, Bogotá became one of the principal administrative centers of the Spanish possessions in the New World, along with Lima and Mexico City, though it remained somewhat backward compared to those two cities in several economic and logistical ways.

During the eighteenth century noted the figure of the priest, botanist and mathematician José Celestino Mutis (1732–1808), delegated by the viceroy Antonio Caballero y Góngora to conduct an inventory of the nature of the New Granada, which became known as the Botanical Expedition which classified plants, wildlife and founded the first astronomical observatory in the city of Santa Fe de Bogotá. On 15 August 1801 the Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt reaches Fontibón where he joins Mutis in New Granada expedition to Quito.

Independence from Spain (1808–1824)[link]

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 were either crushed or remained 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 (present-day Haiti) in 1804, which provided a non-negligible degree of support to the eventual leaders of this rebellion: Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander.

A movement initiated by Antonio Nariño, who opposed Spanish centralism and led the opposition against the viceroyalty, led to the independence of Cartagena in November 1811, and the formation of two independent governments 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 which contributed to the reconquest of territory by the Spanish. The viceroyalty was restored under the command of Juan de Samano, whose regime punished those who participated in the uprisings. The retribution stoked renewed rebellion, which, combined with a weakened Spain, made possible a successful rebellion led by the Venezuelan-born Simón Bolívar, who finally proclaimed independence in 1819. The pro-Spanish resistance was finally defeated in 1822 in the present territory of Colombia and in 1823 in Venezuela.

The Gran Colombia

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). The Congress of Cucuta in 1821 adopted a constitution for the new Republic. Simón Bolívar became the first President of Colombia, and Francisco de Paula Santander was made Vice President. However, the new republic was very unstable and ended with the rupture of Venezuela in 1829, followed by Ecuador in 1830.

Post-independence and republicanism (1824–1930)[link]

Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America, and the Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849 respectively, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas.

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" (Granadine 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' 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.

The Violence and the National Front (1930–1974)[link]

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 9 April 1948. The ensuing riots in Bogotá, known as El Bogotazo, spread throughout the country and claimed the lives of at least 180,000 Colombians.^[28]

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 Colombian Conservative Party and Colombian Liberal Party agreed to the create the "National Front", a coalition which would jointly govern the country. Under the deal, the presidency would alternate between conservatives and liberals 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.

The Medellín and Cali cartels[link]

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. The first group of Autodefensas (far-right paramilitary group) was formally promoted by the Governor of the Department of Antioquia, Alvaro Uribe, who will be President sixteen years later. Drug dealers and landlords will ally to fight the common enemy of the left guerrillas and created or influenced paramilitary groups.

Constitution of 1991[link]

The new Colombian Constitution of 1991, ratified after being drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Colombia, 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 successfully lobbied for the provision; extradition resumed in 1996 after 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 influenced the government and political structure of Colombia through corruption, to such label that by 1996 up to the third part of the senate were put by the mafia. This circumstances were extensively uncovered in the justice case called the "8000 case" 8000 Processwhich was the biggest political scandal of the 90s.

Since the promulgation of the Constitution of 1991 and the reforms made, 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, 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 crises 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.

Colombian armed conflict, 2002 – present[link]

During the presidency of Álvaro Uribe, the government applied more military pressure on the FARC and other outlawed groups. After the offensive, supported by aid from the United States, many security indicators improved. However this improvement has been criticized questioned for the Colombian Army's continued violations of Humans Rights and also questionable statistics. Reported kidnappings showed a steep decrease (from 3,700 in 2000 to 172 in 2009 (Jan.-Oct.)) as did intentional homicides (from 28,837 in 2002 to 15,817 in 2009, according to police, while the health system reported a decline from 28,534 to 17,717 during the same period). The rate of reported abductions declined steadily for almost a decade until 2010, when 280 cases were reported between January and October, most concentrated in the Medellín area.^{[29][30][31][32]} While rural areas and jungles remained dangerous, the overall reduction of violence led to the growth of internal travel and tourism.^[33]

According to official statistics from the Colombian Army the FARC-EP had a total of 18,000 members as of December 2010, with 9,000 of them being regular guerrillas and the rest armed militia members operating in civilian clothing in cities and villages.^[34] Independent researchers speaking to Time Magazine claimed that the FARC-EP have 30,000 such militia members in 2011, indicating a shift in rebel strategy.^[35] The FARC's commander in chief Alfonso Cano was killed by security forces in November 2011.^[36] He was replaced by Timoleón Jiménez, who assumed the duty of first commander just days after Cano's death. Jiménez is thought to move in the mountain corridor covering the Cesar Department, Norte de Santander and the Bolívar Department.^[37] The smaller rebel group Ejército de Liberación Nacional is estimated to have between 2900 and 5000 members as of 2010.^[38] After the demobilization of the right-wing paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia the country has seen the rise of a number of neo-paramilitary groups such as Los Rastrojos and Los Urabeños, who have been accused of widespread murder, drug trafficking and Land grabbing.^[39]

Recent developments[link]

Colombia shows modest progress in the struggle to defend human rights, as expressed by HRW.^[40] Between 2008 and 2011 a total of 175 worker's union members were murdered in Colombia, according to HRW.^[41] In terms of international relations, Colombia has moved from a period of tense animosity with Venezuela, towards a prosperous outlook to further enhance integration. Colombia has also won a seat on the Security Council of the UN.^[42]

The world's second biggest bank HSBC has created a perspective on the economic outlook in 2050 where Colombia is seen playing a decisive role in the global economy, especially in the Americas as the number 25 in the world economies measured by GDP. This group has been called CIVETS.^[43] Today Colombia is the fourth largest oil producer in South America and it is estimated that by 2012, Colombia will be producing a million barrels a day.^{[citation needed]}

Geography[link]

Sierra Nevada del Cocuy.

Shaded relief map of Colombia

Chicamocha canyon in the Department of Santander.

The geography of Colombia is characterized by containing five main natural regions that present their own unique characteristics, from the Andes mountain range region shared with Ecuador and Venezuela; the Pacific Ocean coastal region shared with Panama and Ecuador; the Caribbean Sea coastal region shared with Venezuela and Panama; the Llanos (plains) shared with Venezuela; to the Amazon Rainforest region shared with Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. Colombia is the only South American country which borders both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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. Including its Caribbean islands, it lies between latitudes 14°N and 5°S, and longitudes 66° and 82°W

Part of the Ring of Fire, a region of the world subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, Colombia is dominated by the Andes mountains (which contain the majority of the country's urban centres). Beyond the Colombian Massif (in the south-western departments of Cauca and Nariño) these are divided into three branches known as cordilleras (mountain ranges): 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; 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).^[44] 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 sparsely populated and covered in dense vegetation. The principal Pacific port is Buenaventura.

Colombian territory also includes a number of Caribbean and Pacific islands. This is considered by some as a sixth region, comprising those areas outside continental Colombia, including the department of San Andrés y Providencia in the Caribbean Sea and the islands of Malpelo and Gorgona in the Pacific Ocean. However, cultural ties are with the respective coastlines. In this region Colombia has a lot of stable sand banks of considerable size, considered suitable for the development of artificial islands.

Climate[link]

The Atrato River.

The striking variety in temperature and precipitation results principally from differences in elevation. Temperatures range from very hot at sea level to relatively cold at higher elevations but vary little with the season. At Bogotá, for example, the average annual temperature is 15 °C (59 °F), and the difference between the average of the coldest and the warmest months is less than 1 °C (1.8 °F). More significant, however, is the daily variation in temperature, from 5 °C (41 °F) at night to 17 °C (62.6 °F) during the day.

Colombians customarily describe their country in terms of the climatic zones: the area under 900 meters (2,953 ft) in elevation is called the hot zone (tierra caliente), elevations between 900 and 1,980 meters (2,953 and 6,496 ft) are the temperate zone (tierra templada), and elevations from 1,980 meters (6,496 ft) to about 3,500 meters (11,483 ft) constitute the cold zone (tierra fría). The upper limit of the cold zone marks the tree line and the approximate limit of human habitation. The treeless regions adjacent to the cold zone and extending to approximately 4,500 meters (14,764 ft) are high, bleak areas (usually referred to as the páramos), above which begins the area of permanent snow (nevado).

A cumulonimbus cloud settles over Colombia in November 2010. Image taken from the International Space Station

About 86% of the country's total area lies in the hot zone. Included in the hot zone and interrupting the temperate area of the Andean highlands are the long and narrow extension of the Magdalena Valley and a small extension in the Cauca Valley. Temperatures, depending on elevation, vary between 24 and 38 °C (75.2 and 100.4 °F), and there are alternating dry and wet seasons corresponding to summer and winter, respectively. Breezes on the Caribbean coast, however, reduce both heat and precipitation.

The cold or cool zone constitutes about 6% of the total area, including some of the most densely populated plateaus and terraces of the Colombian Andes; this zone supports about onefourth of the country's total population. The mean temperature ranges between 10 and 19 °C (50 and 66.2 °F), and the wet seasons occur in April and May and from September to December, as in the high elevations of the temperate zone.

Hydrology[link]

The hydrography of Colombia is one of the richest in the world. Its main rivers are Magdalena, Cauca, Guaviare, and Caquetá. Colombia has four main drainage systems: the Pacific drain, the Caribbean drain, the Orinoco Basin and the Amazon Basin. The Orinoco and Amazon Rivers mark limits with Colombia to Venezuela and Peru respectively.^[45][46]

These are the main rivers confined to Colombia: Atrato, Cauca, Magdalena, Sinú, Baudó,, San Juan, Meta, Vichada. Colombia it's an important source of water, in its land born some several main rivers: Catatumbo, Arauca, Caquetá, Guainía, Putumayo River and Vaupés.

Environmental issues[link]

The environmental challenges faced by Colombians are caused by both natural and human factors. Many natural hazards result from the geological instability related to Colombia's position along the Pacific Ring of Fire. Colombia has 15 major volcanoes, the eruptions of which have on occasion resulted in substantial loss of life, such as at Armero in 1985. 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 started to creep into the rainforests of Amazonia and the Pacific coast and has substantially changed the Andean landscape. 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.^[47] In urban areas, contamination of the local environment has been caused by human produced waste, and the use of fossil fuels. 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,^[48] while in response the government has fumigated these crops using hazardous chemicals. Insurgents have also destroyed oil pipelines creating major ecological disasters^{[citation needed]}. Demand from rapidly expanding cities has placed increasing stress on the water supply as watersheds are affected and ground water tables fall. Nonetheless, Colombia is the fourth country in the world by magnitude of total freshwater supply, and still has large reserves of freshwater.^[49]

Government[link]

Current President Juan Manuel Santos

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.

As the head of the executive branch, the President of Colombia 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 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 or corregimientos.

The legislative branch of government is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 102-seat Colombian senate is elected nationally and the Representatives are elected by every region and minority groups.^[50] Members of both houses are elected to serve four-year terms two months before the president, also by popular vote. 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[link]

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

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  Bogotá Capital District Bogotá Capital District

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[link]

Colombian Embassy in Paris.

Former President of Colombia (2002–2010) 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, as head of state, 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:

• Brussels (Mission to the European Union)
• Geneva (Permanent Missions to the United Nations and other international organizations)
• Montevideo (Permanent Missions to the Latin American Integration Association and Mercosur)
• Nairobi (Permanent Missions to the United Nations and other international organizations)
• New York (Permanent Mission to the United Nations)
• Paris (Permanent Mission to UNESCO)
• Rome (Permanent Mission to the Food and Agriculture Organization)
• Washington, D.C. (Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States)

Colombia’s foreign relations are mostly concentrated on combating the illegal drug trade and fighting terrorism, both which originate with the FARC. Colombia, with the help of the United States, have fought the FARC and pushed them into the Amazon jungle, significantly reducing the drug trade and kidnappings within Colombia. This co-operation from the United States is mainly through Plan Colombia. Another foreign relation policy concentrates around expanding their international market and managing their international issues with other countries. Colombia enjoys special financial preferences from the European Union in certain product categories.

Colombia was one of the 12 founding members of the UNASUR, which is supposedly modeled on the European Union having free trade agreements between 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^[51] and exempt from tourist visa requirements in 15 countries.^[52]

Defense[link]

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

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

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[link]

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 2006 presidential election which was won with 62% of the vote by the incumbent, Álvaro Uribe. Uribe was from a Liberal background but he campaigned as part of the Colombia First movement with the support of the Conservative Party. 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 former President Uribe remained popular among Colombian people, with his approval rating peaking at 85%, according to a poll in July 2008.^[53] However, having served two terms, he was constitutionally barred from seeking re-election in 2010. Numerous Colombian Congressmen, with the support of a so called ONG 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 27 February 2010. By then his popularity felt to a 55%. Uribe stated that he respects the decision as one that cannot be appealed. His popularity rises again to the 85% with the rescue of the politician Ingrid Betancourt from a seven years kidnapping by the FARC. Due to the scandals of embezzles uncovered by his successor, his popularity decreased by August 2011 to 63% and Uribe doesn't lead anymore the political party the "U" which brought him to presidency.

In presidential elections held on 30 May 2010 the former Minister of defense Juan Manuel Santos received 46% of the vote.^[54] However, according to legislation, a second round was required since he received less than the 50% threshold of votes. In the run-off elections on 20 June 2010 against the second most popular candidate, Antanas Mockus who had scored 21%,^[54] Juan Manuel Santos was declared the winner; his term as Colombia's president runs for four years from 7 August 2010. Santos began with a 73% of popularity but after one and half year it decreased to a 58%. Colombian people experience a sensation of insecurity due more to the new policy of his government of telling citizens the truth of the conflict, than to a real escalate of the conflict itself. For the very first time in Colombian history a President accepted that there is an internal armed conflict in the country and proposed a economic reparation for the victims and restitution of their lands. Santos promoted a Justice System Reform and some of some of his Ministers leads the discussion of a Land Property Reform. From another hand, President Santos opened the discussion about the convenience of the United States policy of War against the illegal drugs.

Economy[link]