Colombia, republic in South America, situated in the northwestern part of the continent, and bounded on the north by Panama and the Caribbean Sea, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Peru and Ecuador, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only country of South America with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The total land area of the country is 1,141,748 sq km (440,831 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Bogotá.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, a number of indigenous groups, including the Chibcha, occupied the land that is present-day Colombia. From the 16th century through the early 1800s, Colombia was a colony of Spain. It achieved independence in 1819. Following independence, Colombia became a republic with an elected government, although it went through periods of civil unrest and dictatorship.

Colombian society is divided between the upper and lower classes, with a large and growing gap between them. A middle class developed during the 20th century, but it is still quite small. Many of the attitudes that led to Colombia�s sharp class divisions originated in 16th-century Spain and became ingrained in Colombian society during the colonial period. Family lineage, inherited wealth, and racial background continue to be powerful determinants of status. Economic progress during the 20th century has only slightly reduced the concentration of political, social, and economic power in the hands of the small upper class.

As a result of these social divisions, Colombia has experienced a period of ongoing political violence since the 1950s. By the late 1990s, leftist rebels committed to change in the economic and social system controlled much of the southeastern countryside. At the same time, right-wing paramilitary groups supporting the traditional power structure became active in the northwestern regions. Many thousands of Colombians died or were displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict.

The distinguishing topographical feature of Colombia is the Andes mountain chain. The Andes are situated in the central and western parts of the country and extend north-south across almost the entire length of Colombia. The western two-fifths of the country lies in the highlands of the Andes. The ranges of the Andes are separated by deep depressions. Almost all of Colombia�s population lives in the narrow valleys and basins nestled among the mountains. East of the Andes, three-fifths of the country consists of portions of the llanos, or grasslands, and selva, or rain forest. The llanos lie on the plain that drains northeast into the Orinoco River, and the selva drains southeast into the Amazon River basin. Along the shore of the Caribbean Sea is a strip of lowland.

The Andes comprise three principal and parallel ranges: the Cordillera Occidental in the west, the Cordillera Central, and the Cordillera Oriental in the east. On the Caribbean coast is the isolated mountain mass known as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which includes Colombia�s highest point at Pico Cristóbal Colón (5,776 m/18,950 ft).

The westernmost of the three high Andean cordilleras, the Cordillera Occidental, rises upward through successive vegetation zones to culminate in barren volcanic peaks some 3,700 m (12,000 ft) above sea level. This range extends as an almost unbroken wall throughout its length; generally it is not high enough to reach into the zone of permanent snow.

The Cordillera Central contains the volcanic peaks of Huila (5,750 m/18,865 ft) and Tolima (5,616 m/18,425 ft). About 240 km (about 150 mi) south of the Caribbean Sea, the Cordillera Central descends to marshy jungle. The cordillera peaks are perpetually covered with snow; the timberline in these mountains lies at about 3,000 m (about 10,000 ft).

To the east, the Cordillera Oriental rises to a height of 5,500 m (18,000 ft). Unlike the other two ranges, the Cordillera Oriental is densely populated. Most of its inhabitants live in a series of basins in the mountains at an elevation of 2,400 m to 2,700 m (8,000 ft to 9,000 ft). The three largest cities in this region, each occupying a different basin, are Bogotá, Chiquinquirá, and Sogamoso.

East of the Cordillera Oriental are vast reaches of torrid lowlands, thinly populated and only partly explored. The southern portion of this region, called selvas (rain forests), is thickly forested and is drained by the Caquetá River and other tributaries of the Amazon. The northern and greater part of the region comprises vast plains, or llanos, and is traversed by the Meta and other tributaries of the Orinoco. Between the cordilleras are high plateaus, a number of which are about 2,400 m (about 8,000 ft) above sea level, and fertile valleys, traversed by the principal rivers of the country. The principal river of Colombia, the Magdalena, flows north between the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Central, across practically the entire country, emptying into the Caribbean near Barranquilla after a course of about 1,540 km (about 957 mi). The Cauca, also an important means of communication, flows north between the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Occidental, merging with the Magdalena about 320 km (about 200 mi) from the Caribbean. In the west the Patía cuts its way through the Andes to empty into the Pacific. The coastline of Colombia extends for about 1,760 km (about 1,090 mi) along the Caribbean and for about 1,450 km (about 900 mi) along the Pacific. River mouths along the coasts are numerous, but no good natural harbors exist.

Colombia lies almost entirely in the Torrid Zone, a meteorological term denoting the areas of the earth�s surface between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. The climate, however, varies with the elevation. The low regions along the coast and the deep Patía and Magdalena river valleys are torrid, with average annual temperatures of 24� to 27�C (75� to 80�F). From about 500 to 2,300 m (about 1,500 to 7,500 ft) the climate is subtropical, and from about 2,300 to 3,000 m (about 7,500 to 10,000 ft) it is temperate. Above about 3,000 m (about 10,000 ft) is the cold-climate zone, where temperatures range from -18� to 13�C (0� to 55�F). Seasonal variations are slight. In Bogotá the average high temperature in January is 20�C (68�F), and in July the average high is 19�C (65�F). The highs for the same months in Barranquilla are 32�C (89�F) and 33�C (91�F).

Throughout the year, three-month periods of rain and dry weather alternate. Along the Pacific coast precipitation is heavy. At Bogotá the annual rainfall averages about 1,060 mm (about 42 in), and in Barranquilla it averages about 800 mm (about 32 in). Dry weather prevails on the slopes of the Cordillera Oriental.

The mineral resources of the country are varied and extensive. Colombia is the major world source of emeralds. Other significant reserves include petroleum and natural gas, coal, gold, silver, iron ore, salt, platinum, and some uranium.

The indigenous flora and fauna of Colombia are as varied as the topography. Mangroves and coconut palms grow along the Caribbean coast, and the forest regions, which cover about one-half of the country, include such commercially useful trees as mahogany, lignum vitae, oak, walnut, cedar, pine, and several varieties of balsam. Tropical plants also yield rubber, chicle, cinchona, vanilla, sarsaparilla, ginger, gum copal, ipecac, tonka beans, and castor beans.

Among the wildlife are the larger South American mammals, such as jaguars, pumas, tapirs, peccaries, anteaters, sloths, armadillos, and several species of monkey and red deer. Alligators, once numerous along the principal rivers, have been intensively hunted and are becoming scarce. Many varieties of snakes inhabit the tropical regions. Birdlife includes condors, vultures, toucans, parrots, cockatoos, cranes, storks, and hummingbirds.

Colombia contains several fertile low-lying valleys, but only about 2 percent of the country�s land area, chiefly at higher elevations, is cultivated. Soil exhaustion and erosion, largely the result of slash-and-burn farming methods, are problems in agricultural regions.

The racial makeup of the Colombian population is diverse. About 58 percent of the people are mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry), about 20 percent are of unmixed European ancestry, and about 14 percent are mulatto (of mixed black and white ancestry). The remaining 8 percent are blacks, Native Americans, and people of mixed race.

The Native American population at the time of the Spanish conquest is believed to have numbered between 1.5 million and 2 million. Many of the indigenous people were nomadic. The Chibchas, living on the Cordillera Oriental in the east, practiced agriculture. Intermarriage between the Spanish and the indigenous people began soon after the arrival of the Spanish, leading to the appearance of the mestizos. Early in the colonial period the Spanish brought African slaves from the areas that are now Angola, Nigeria, and Zaire. African ancestry is most evident today among the population of the Caribbean shores and inland among the people living along the Magdalena and Cauca rivers.

The Colombian upper class largely consists of a wealthy white elite, some of whom trace their lineage to the aristocracy of the colonial era. The wealth of this elite is based largely on the ownership of land and property. The upper class also includes a group of people whose wealth is more recent; these people have accumulated wealth through commercial and entrepreneurial activities.

The middle class has grown as a result of industrialization and economic diversification in the 20th century. Historically the middle class was largely made up of those who had fallen from the aristocracy through loss of wealth and property. It was small in number and politically passive. During the 20th century, the middle class grew to include people who rose from the lower class by succeeding in business. Groups that are regarded as middle class include small-business people, merchants, professionals, bureaucrats and government workers, professors and teachers, and white-collar workers.

The greatest portion of the population belongs to the politically powerless lower class. Its members are poorly educated and do not have adequate housing, health care, or sanitation. Those who are employed are low-paid manual laborers. Few of the benefits of economic growth have reached the poor. Rural areas have an agricultural system in which estates are owned by the wealthy elite. This system keeps members of the lower class in a kind of bondage as field workers. In the cities the creation and expansion of a labor movement has resulted in some improvements for workers, but working conditions remain substandard, and wages and living standards are low.

Family roles in Colombia are sharply delineated, and women generally play a subordinate role in Colombia society. Although women are active in the lives and care of their children, society at all levels is essentially dominated by men. Since the 1970s a few women have become active in public affairs, but this is an exception to the roles of most Colombian women.

The population of Colombia (2001 estimate) is 40,349,388, giving the country an overall population density of 35 persons per sq km (92 per sq mi). Some 74 percent of the population is classified as urban. The principal centers of population are in the Magdalena and Cauca river valleys and in the Caribbean coastal region. The concordat of 1973 preserves a privileged status for Roman Catholicism; about 95 percent of the people are Roman Catholic. Small Protestant and Jewish minorities exist. The official language of Colombia is Spanish, although a new constitution adopted in 1991 recognizes the languages of ethnic groups in their territories and provides for bilingual education.

Colombia is divided into 32 departments and one capital district. The capital and largest city is Bogotá, an industrial center with a population (1999 estimate) of 6,276,000. Other important commercial cities include the trading and textile centers of Medellín (1,958,000) and Cali (2,111,000); Barranquilla (1,226,000), which provides both a seaport and a major international airport; and Cartagena (877,000), a seaport and oil pipeline terminal.

Bogotá, located on a mountain plateau in the Cordillera Oriental, is the heart of cultural and political life in Colombia. Medellín, situated in a highland valley of the Cordillera Central, is the most important economic area. Originally settled by migrants from Cartagena, Medellín grew into a gold-mining town, a general commercial settlement, and finally an important manufacturing center. Cali is located in the Cauca Valley. The city began as a center of coffee production, but it later developed as the commercial heart of the entire southern region.

Elementary education is free and compulsory for five years. Much effort has been devoted to eliminating illiteracy, and 97 percent of all Colombians over age 15 could read and write by 2001. Courses in Roman Catholicism are compulsory in all public schools, most of which are controlled by the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant churches maintain a number of schools, chiefly in Bogotá. The national government finances secondary- and university-level schools and maintains primary schools in municipalities and departments that cannot afford to do so. In 1996 some 4.9 million pupils annually attended primary schools; 3.3 million students attended secondary schools, including vocational and teacher-training institutions. In the late 1980s Colombia had about 235 institutions of higher education; total enrollment in 1996 was 644,200. Among the largest universities are the National University of Colombia (1867) in Bogotá (parts of which date from the 16th century), the University of Cartagena (1827) in Cartagena, the University of Antioquia (1822) in Medellín, and the University of Nariño (1827) in Pasto.

 Colombia�s Native American cultural tradition, although less spectacular than that of Mexico and Peru, was rich and varied prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 16th century. Several groups developed agriculture and crafts, producing fine works in stone and precious metals such as gold. Their temples, statues, and pottery attest to the richness of their cultures, and Native American designs continue to influence folk arts such as sculpture, textiles, music, and dance. During the colonial period, Native American civilization was rapidly assimilated into that of the Spanish settlers.

The Spanish colonial government devoted less energy to developing New Granada, as Colombia was called, than it did to other parts of Latin America. Noble families generally did not settle in the area, so great palaces were not built. Since the Roman Catholic Church was the main source of wealth, churches, cathedrals, and religious paintings and statuary make up most of the colonial artistic legacy.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries romanticism took root in Latin America and became linked to the struggle for independence. Romanticism is characterized by a highly imaginative and subjective approach, emotional intensity, and a dreamlike or visionary quality. As the 19th century progressed, a national style of art began to flourish. Colombian literature flowered, and Bogotá became known as the Athens of America.

Although the majority of Colombians have neither the means nor the time to cultivate the fine arts, there is a great deal of national pride in the country�s artistic and literary achievements. Distinguished Colombian writers include 19th-century novelist Jorge Isaacs and 20th-century poet Germán Pardó García. Also writing in the 20th century was novelist Gabriel García Márquez, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982.

Colombia has a rich tradition of folk music and dance, most of which reveals African or Native American influences. The bambuco is the national dance. In the area around Popayán, a city in southwestern Colombia along the Cauca river, a type of music called the murga is played by groups of wandering street musicians using stringed instruments. The word chirimía refers both to a kind of flute and to musical groups that use this instrument to perform pieces with a strong Native American influence. Colombia has a National Symphony Orchestra and a National Conservatory in Bogotá.

The National Library in Bogotá (1777) contains about 800,000 volumes; it also administers town and village libraries throughout the country. The leading museums are located in Bogotá. The National Museum contains collections relating to the Spanish conquest and the colonial period. The National Archaeological Museum exhibits utensils, stone carvings, textiles, gold works, and other materials found at sites throughout the country. The famous Gold Museum features a noted collection of pre-Columbian gold objects.

See also Latin American Architecture; Latin American Literature; Latin American Music; Latin American Painting; Latin American Sculpture; Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture.

Colombia is primarily an agrarian nation, although it experienced rapid industrial growth in recent decades. In the early 1990s the country undertook an economic reform program that opened its economy to international trade and investment, and it is the only country in Latin America that maintained scheduled payments on loans during a debt crisis in the late 1980s. For these reasons the country enjoys one of the highest credit ratings in the region. Colombia�s agricultural sector once was dependent on coffee as its principal cash crop, but has successfully diversified since a decline in international coffee prices in the late 1980s. Its mining sector contributes significantly to the economy, with large deposits of fossil fuels, precious metals, and emeralds, of which Colombia supplies about one-half the world supply. The central government budget included revenues of $11.6 billion (1998) and expenditures of $16.5 billion (1998). The gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999 was $86.6 billion, or about $2,080 per capita. Not included in these official statistics is the economic impact of coca cultivation and the illegal cocaine trade, reportedly with profits worth $300 million annually in the early 1990s.

Coffee is Colombia�s principal crop. Although Colombia is second only to Brazil in the annual volume of coffee produced and is the world�s leading producer of mild coffee, the crop was bypassed by petroleum in the mid-1990s as the country�s largest source of foreign income. In the mid-1970s coffee accounted for 80 percent of Colombia�s export earnings; by 1995 coffee only brought in 25 percent of the nation�s export earnings. High production costs, low international prices, and a worm that destroys coffee beans all combined to drastically reduce the earnings of Colombian coffee growers in the early 1990s. Coffee is cultivated chiefly on mountain slopes between about 900 and 1,800 m (about 3,000 and 6,000 ft) above sea level, principally in the departments of Caldas, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Norte de Santander, Tolima, and Santander. More than 150,000 coffee plantations, chiefly small, extend over approximately 1 million hectares (approximately 2.5 million acres). Coffee output totaled 630,000 metric tons in 2000, with most of the exported coffee going to the United States.

While coffee is Colombia�s leading agricultural product, the country�s diverse climate and topography permit cultivation of a wide variety of other crops. Annual production of principal cash crops in addition to coffee are cacao beans (51,558 metric tons), sugarcane (37 million), tobacco (33,216), cotton (155,000), bananas, and cut flowers. Chief food crops are rice (2.1 million), cassava (2 million), potatoes (2.7 million), and plantains. Plants producing pita, sisal, and hemp fibers, used in the manufacture of cordage and coarse sacking material, are also cultivated. In 2000 the livestock population included 26 million cattle, 2.8 million hogs, 2.2 million sheep, and 2.4 million horses.

The production of drug-related crops took on significant proportions in the 1970s as more people cultivated marijuana. Although Colombia has become notorious for its cocaine supply, the processing of coca leaves is more significant than the actual coca plant cultivation in the country. Poppies for opium have become a significant source of revenue despite efforts by the government to stop their cultivation. The drug trade increased in the mid-1990s to an estimated 10 percent of the money generated in the economy.

Much of the forestland of Colombia is inaccessible because of poor transportation facilities. The forestland also often has trees of relatively little value. The cut of roundwood in Colombia in 1999 was 18.6 million cubic meters (657 million cubic feet). Much of the wood is used as fuel.

The coastal waters and many rivers and lakes of Colombia provide a variety of fish, notably trout, tarpon, sailfish, and tuna. The total catch in 1997 was 199,227 metric tons. About one-quarter of the annual catch consists of freshwater species of fish.

Petroleum and coal are Colombia�s chief mineral products. A number of other minerals are extracted, including gold, silver, emeralds, platinum, copper, nickel, and natural gas. The petroleum operations are under control of a national petroleum company and several foreign-owned concessions. Production of crude petroleum is centered in the Magdalena River valley, about 650 km (about 400 mi) from the Caribbean, and in the region between the Cordillera Oriental and Venezuela; it amounted to 302 million barrels in 1999. Much of Colombia�s oil is shipped to Curaçao for refining. New oil reserves discovered 200 km (125 mi) east of Bogotá are expected to provide Colombia with energy self-sufficiency into the 21st century, with annual extraction from the reserves of 180 million barrels anticipated by the late 1990s. Colombia is one of the world�s leading exporters of coal. Two-thirds of an annual production of 32.8 million metric tons comes from a single open-pit mine, the world�s largest, on the Guajira Peninsula. Some 5.1 billion cu m (180 billion cu ft) of natural gas was produced in 1999.

Gold, mined in Colombia since pre-Columbian times, is found principally in the department of Antioquia and to a lesser extent in the departments of Cauca, Caldas, Nariño, Tolima, and Chocó. Platinum, discovered in Colombia in 1735, is found in the gold-bearing sands of the San Juan and Atrato river basins. Colombia has the largest platinum deposits in the world, producing about 51,500 troy oz annually. The chief emerald-mining centers are the Muzo and Chiver mines. Still other mineral products are lead, manganese, zinc, mercury, mica, phosphates, and sulfur.

The manufacturing industries in Colombia, stimulated in the 1950s by the establishment of high protective tariffs on imports, are generally small-scale enterprises, producing for the domestic market. Together, they account for 14 percent of Colombia�s yearly national output. Cotton-spinning mills, principally in the cities of Barranquilla, Manizales, Medellín, and Samacá, are important manufacturing establishments. Other industries include the manufacture of foodstuffs, tobacco products, iron and steel, and transportation equipment. Chemical products are becoming increasingly important, and footwear, Panama hats, and glassware are made.

Colombia has many hydroelectric installations, and 69 percent of its electricity was produced by such facilities in 1998. A drought in 1992 brought about electricity rationing in much of the country. Consequently the government initiated the construction of new thermoelectric power plants and improved natural gas distribution to urban residences. In 1999 the country�s annual output of electricity was 44 billion kilowatt-hours.

The basic unit of currency is the Colombian peso (1,756 pesos equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). The Bank of the Republic is the sole bank of issue and operates the mint, salt, and emerald monopolies for the government. It also shares responsibility for monetary policy with the government monetary board. More than 25 commercial banking institutions, as well as the government development banks and several other official and semiofficial financial institutions, operate in Colombia. Stock exchanges serve Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali.

The principal export of Colombia is coffee, which typically accounts for about one-sixth of the yearly value of all exports. Petroleum, cotton goods, fresh-cut flowers, bananas, chemicals, sugar, coal, gold, emeralds, and cattle are other leading exports. The most important imports are mechanical and electrical equipment, chemicals, food, and metals. Colombia�s annual exports earned $11.6 billion and its imports cost some $10.7 billion in 1999. The United States is Colombia�s main trading partner, and Venezuela, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Brazil, and Peru also have a significant amount of trade with the country. Colombia is an original member of the Andean Group (1969), which also includes Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Colombia entered into two other trade associations in 1995, the Group of Three and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). The Group of Three, composed of Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia, aims to phase out trade barriers between those countries. The ACS, composed of the members of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) and 12 other Latin American nations, was the fourth largest trading bloc in the world in the mid-1990s. In addition, the Andean Group agreed in March 1996 to begin reducing trade barriers among its member nations. These associations assured Colombia an important position in regional trade.

The irregular terrain of Colombia makes the construction of roads and railroads costly. Colombia has about 3,154 km (about 1,960 mi) of operated railroad track. Most of the national railroads are feeder lines to the Magdalena River, the main transport artery of the country, which with the Cauca River is navigable for about 1,500 km (about 900 mi). Colombia has no regular passenger rail service. Roads total about 112,988 km (about 70,207 mi), including a part of the Simón Bolívar Highway, linking Caracas, Venezuela, through Bogotá and other Colombian towns, with Quito, Ecuador. Air transport was begun in Colombia in 1919, and the country is now served by domestic and international airlines. In 1946 Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador agreed to establish the Great Colombia Merchant Marine; Venezuela withdrew in 1953. The main seaports are Buenaventura, Tumaco, Santa Marta, Barranquilla, and Cartagena.

The labor force of Colombia numbers about 18 million. Some 1 percent is engaged in agriculture, forestry, and fishing; 27 percent in industry and mining; and most of the remainder in service industries. More than 1.6 million people are in organized trade unions, mainly the National Union of Colombian Workers (1.2 million members) and the Colombian Confederation of Workers (400,000 members). The right to strike is constitutionally guaranteed to all employees who are not engaged in public utilities.

Colombia�s 1991 constitution, which replaced a charter dating from 1886, provides for a highly centralized republican form of government.

National executive power in Colombia is vested in a president who is elected by direct popular vote to a single four-year term. Suffrage is universal for all citizens 18 years of age or older. The president appoints a cabinet, subject to congressional approval. Under the 1991 constitution, the departmental governors are directly elected.

Legislative power in Colombia is vested in a bicameral Congress composed of a House of Representatives of 161 members and a Senate of 102 members. Members are elected to four-year terms. The 1991 constitution provides penalties for absenteeism and bars members of Congress from simultaneously holding any other public office.

The 1991 constitution provides for three high courts: the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, and the State Council. Its 24 justices are elected for life, half by the Senate and half by the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court is the highest court on all matters of criminal law. The Constitutional Court, elected by the Senate to eight-year terms, rules on the constitutionality of legislation and also hears all cases concerning the constitution. The State Council is the highest court for cases concerning the administration of the government. The judicial system also includes superior and lower district courts and provincial and municipal judges. The 1991 constitution bans extradition and establishes an independent system of prosecution. Capital punishment is outlawed.

Colombia has a relatively free and open political system in which a number of parties participate. The two major parties have traditionally been the Conservative Party (now known as the Colombian Social Conservative Party), favoring strong central government and close relations with the Roman Catholic church, and the Liberal Party, favoring stronger local governments and separation of church and state. Between 1958 and 1974 the Liberals and Conservatives were the only legal political parties in Colombia, owing to a 1957 constitutional amendment intended to defuse the explosive antagonisms between them. Under this arrangement, called the National Front, each party held exactly half the number of seats in each legislative house and in the cabinet and other agencies, and the presidency alternated between leaders of the parties. During the 1980s the Liberals held majorities in both houses of Congress.

Public health standards are improving, although physicians are still in short supply. Most of the country�s physicians work in the larger cities. In 1996 Colombia had one hospital bed for every 687 people. Malaria and yellow fever are still endemic in some parts of the country. A social insurance system provides maternity and dental benefits, accident insurance, workers� compensation and disability, and retirement and survivors� insurance to most of the industrial labor force. The system is financed by contributions from employers, workers, and the government.

From one to two years of military service are required of all male citizens in Colombia aged 18 and older. Some 153,000 people served in the Colombian armed forces in 1999.

Relics of one of the most fascinating but little-studied civilizations in the western hemisphere have been found at San Augustín, near the source of the Magdalena River in the Colombian Andes. Little is known about the people who made these stone statues, relief carvings, sepulchral chambers, and shrines, or when their culture flourished. Present estimates date the beginnings of San Augustín to the last five centuries bc.

The stone statues are generally anthropomorphic figures, many with grotesque expressions. They have been found in caves and on mounds, where their presence seems to have had a ritual significance. Frequently, one figure is placed astride the shoulders and back of another. One particularly striking statue, a bird holding a serpent in its beak and thought to be a fertility symbol, is similar in imagery to the emblem of the Aztecs (see Aztec Empire).

In 1502, on his last voyage to the Americas, Italian Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus explored a section of the Caribbean coast that was part of the empire of the Chibcha people. He was followed by a number of Spanish conquistadores, who conquered the Chibcha. The Spanish established the settlements of Santa Marta in 1525 and Santa Fe de Bogotá (commonly referred to as Bogotá) in 1538. In 1549 the Spanish included the former Chibcha Empire in the Audiencia of New Granada, which was ruled by a colonial governing body that served as both a judicial court and an administrative council. Between 1717 and 1739 the Audiencia of New Granada and the territories that later became Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama were included in the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Under the Viceroyalty of New Granada, the Spanish government appointed a viceroy, or royal governor (usually a member of a high-ranking Spanish noble family), to rule over the colony.

The Spanish conquerors and their descendants divided the best land among themselves. They set up large estates, and with the labor of Native American and mestizo agricultural workers and black slaves they practiced subsistence farming and stock raising. However, many Spaniards were primarily interested in mining salt, emeralds, and precious metals and in panning for gold from the rivers and smaller streams.

Under colonial governments, native-born New Granadans were intensely hostile to Spanish rule because the Spanish kept them from progressing economically. The Spanish also discriminated against them socially and politically. The Spanish relied upon peninsulares (those born in Spain) to fill positions of authority while barring the Creoles (those born in the Americas) from responsible posts. Because the peninsulares were committed to Spain rather than to the colonies, dissatisfaction grew among Creoles, who believed the Spanish government was ignoring their economic and political interests. Toward the end of the 18th century the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies, including New Granada, grew increasingly receptive to new political and intellectual ideas. Inspired by the success the American Revolution and the French Revolution of the late 18th century, the people of New Granada joined the revolutionary movement for independence that swept over Spain�s western empire in the early 19th century. See Latin American Independence.

In the wars that followed, Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar became the outstanding revolutionary and military figure in South America. In 1819 forces under Bolívar�s leadership defeated Spanish royalists at the Battle of Boyacá, resulting in the liberation of New Granada. The newly independent territory became part of the Republic of Colombia (also known as Gran Colombia), which included present-day Colombia, Panama, and, after their liberation, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Following the liberation of Venezuela in 1821, a congress elected Bolívar as president of Gran Colombia and Francisco de Paula Santander, a leader of independence forces in New Granada, as vice president. It was Santander who ran the government while Bolívar was fighting to free Ecuador and Peru from Spain.

The new republic was short-lived. In 1828, after the South American wars for independence were over, Bolívar personally took over the executive power in Gran Colombia. His attempts to establish a centralized government with himself as dictator resulted in a quarrel and break with Santander. Bolívar resigned from office in 1830. In 1831 New Granada (including present-day Colombia and Panama) became a separate state.

In 1832 Santander was elected president. Able and progressive, he succeeded in setting up the apparatus of government. He established financial order, promoted education, and moderated the conflict between partisans of the established church and advocates of the separation of church and state. After Santander�s term expired in 1837, New Granada continued to prosper, despite a civil war that raged intermittently from 1839 to 1842.

Politically, the leadership divided into two distinct factions, from which developed Colombia�s two traditional political parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. Through much of Colombia�s history, these political parties struggled with each other to determine government policy. Liberals have been devoted to states' rights, universal suffrage, and separation of church and state. Conservatives have believed in centralized government, preservation of class and church privileges, and retaining close government connections with the church.

In 1849 the Liberals succeeded in electing José Hilario López. Slavery was abolished in New Granada in 1851 and 1852. A new constitution, adopted in 1853, provided for trial by jury, freedom of the press, and other civil rights. Church and state were separated. In 1855 an amendment to the constitution reduced the power of the central government and turned the provinces into federal states with a high degree of internal self-rule. The name of the republic was changed to Granadine Confederation.

Civil war broke out in 1861 between Liberal elements, favoring greater sovereignty for the states within the republic, and Conservative elements, fighting for a strong central government. Following the victory of the Liberals, the government in 1863 adopted a new constitution that provided for an even more decentralized union of sovereign states named the United States of Colombia. The Liberals continued to dominate the political scene for the next 17 years.

The Liberals inadvertently brought their control to an end in 1880 by installing Rafael Núñez, a gifted lawyer and poet, as president. Long known as an extreme Liberal, he had become steadily more conservative before becoming president. Núñez instituted a new constitution in 1886 that established a number of Conservative policies. The new constitution abolished the sovereign states created by the constitution of 1863 and set up the present centralized government of the country. Catholicism was made the official state religion, although freedom of worship was guaranteed. The present name of the country, the Republic of Colombia, was adopted.

Although the constitution barred Núñez from succeeding himself as president, he remained the undisputed ruler of Colombia, serving as president on a number of occasions and at other times installing handpicked successors in office. His presidency began a period of Conservative rule during which the Conservatives controlled the military, manipulated election results, and censored the press.

When Núñez died in 1894, conflict again broke out between the Liberal and Conservative factions. Between 1899 and 1902, the country descended into civil war. This war, known as the War of a Thousand Days, claimed 60,000 to 130,000 lives.

In 1903 the Colombian Senate refused to ratify the Hay-Herrán Treaty, which provided for the lease of a strip of territory across the Isthmus of Panama to the United States for the purpose of building a canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (see Panama Canal). A revolt broke out in Panama. Armed forces from the United States intervened to prevent Colombian troops from suppressing the uprising, and the United States recognized Panama as an independent state. The resulting strained relations between Colombia and the United States were not resolved until 1921, when the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty guaranteed a large U.S. cash reparation to Colombia.

The loss of Panama, coming right after the bitter civil war, helped change the political climate after 1903. Under Conservative general Rafael Reyes, president from 1904 to 1909, the country became more stable. In the course of his regime, Reyes improved the country�s finances, expanded roads and railroads, and encouraged increased coffee production. Large U.S. investments and purchases of coffee and minerals contributed to Colombia�s economic growth. However, Reyes ruled as a dictator. He dissolved the congress and replaced it with a handpicked legislature, jailed and exiled political opponents, and declared martial law.

Five Conservative presidents succeeded Reyes, holding the presidency for Conservatives until 1930. Political life became more responsible with more honest elections and a freer press. However, there was social unrest. Workers began agitating for better conditions. In 1928 banana plantation workers rebelled, and the government suppressed them by force. In 1929 the price of coffee fell sharply, and Colombia began to suffer from the worldwide depression.

The economic crisis weakened the Conservatives, and in 1930 power was peacefully transferred to the Liberals, who stressed economic and social reform. In 1936 constitutional amendments gave the government power to regulate privately owned property in the national interest; established the right of workers to strike, subject to legal regulation; removed Roman Catholicism from its position as the official state religion; and moved control of public education from the church to the government. A new labor code adopted in 1944 provided for minimum wage scales, paid vacations and holidays, accident and sickness benefits, and the right for workers to organize.

During World War II Colombia severed diplomatic relations with Japan, Germany, and Italy in 1941. In 1942 the country severed relations with the Vichy government of France, which was controlled by Nazi Germany. In 1943 the Colombian Senate declared a state of belligerency with Germany, and the republic signed the charter of the United Nations (UN) in June 1945, becoming one of the 51 original members.

The postwar era was one of severe political crisis for Colombia, as antagonism deepened between Liberal and Conservative factions. During the election of 1946, the Liberals were so split that they presented two candidates, the left-wing Jorge Eliécer Gaitán and the more conservative Gabriel Turbay. Because of the split, victory in the presidential race went to a moderate Conservative, Mariano Ospina Pérez. The Liberals had a large majority in Congress, and the new president attempted to govern with a coalition cabinet that included Liberals. However, antagonisms grew sharper as extremists in both parties inflamed the situation. In 1947 Pérez excluded Liberals from the cabinet, whereupon the Liberals decided to take a united stand and support Gaitán�s candidacy in the 1950 elections. Gaitán had stirred many poorer Colombians with his vision of a transformed Colombian society.

In April 1948, while many high-ranking foreign dignitaries were in Bogotá for the Ninth International Conference of American States, Gaitán was assassinated. The assassination sparked a nationwide uprising against the Conservative government; some 1,500 people were killed, and more than 20,000 were injured. The rebellion, known as la violencia, disrupted the conference. However, the conference succeeded in completing the draft of the charter of the Organization of American States, a regional organization for nations of the western hemisphere. The government brought the rebellion under control with the help of the army. The government then reorganized to include an equal number of Liberal and Conservative cabinet ministers.

Tension and violence mounted steadily during the late 1940s. Liberal members withdrew from the government after a decree was issued banning meetings and parades. The Liberal Party withdrew its candidate from the presidential elections of 1949, charging the government with election law violations. As a result, the Conservative candidate, Laureano Gómez, a political leader and newspaper editor, won the November elections without opposition. He was inaugurated in August 1950.

Between Gómez�s election and inauguration, the political struggle entered a new phase. A number of left-wing rebel factions emerged as a response to disillusionment with the traditional political parties and the government�s inability to address the problems of the poor. These armed guerrilla bands were active in many outlying areas of the country. Such groups remained a constant challenge to the central government throughout the 20th century.

In response, the government declared a state of siege and suspended the 1950 session of Congress. Shortly after the inauguration of Gómez, a Liberal Party convention declared the government illegal, charging it with suppressing freedom of speech, the press, and assembly. The party vowed to continue its boycott of elections. In February 1953 the Conservative Party proposed a new constitution, the provisions of which would have imposed a totalitarian regime. Liberals and moderate Conservatives bitterly opposed the constitution. In June 1953 a military junta deposed the Gómez government, and both factions gave their approval to the coup d�état.

General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was named provisional president, and in August 1954 he was elected to a four-year term by a constitutional convention. The convention did not meet again until October 1956, and in the interim the government ruled by decree. When the convention met again, a number of delegates openly denounced the restrictive policies of Rojas Pinilla. A wave of antigovernment violence followed, but Congress reelected Rojas Pinilla in May 1957. This angered the public, and a military coup deposed Rojas Pinilla a few days later. The Liberal and Conservative parties then arrived at an agreement to share all government offices equally for 12 years under a coalition known as the National Front. This plan was approved in a plebiscite on December 1, 1957, and early in 1958 it was extended to 16 years.

Later in 1958 the Liberal candidate, Alberto Lleras Camargo, became the first National Front president. The National Front coalition retained a majority in both houses of Congress but could seldom win the two-thirds majority required in both houses for the passage of legislation. As a result, the government frequently fell into periods of near-paralysis. President Guillermo León Valencia, the Conservative candidate elected to office in 1964, declared a state of siege the following year in order to overcome the political stalemate. President Carlos Lleras Restrepo, who was elected on the Liberal ticket and succeeded Valencia in 1966, also ruled by decree. In the elections of 1970, the National Front defeated a challenge by former dictator Rojas Pinilla, electing Misael Pastrana Borrero as president.

When the National Front coalition came to an end in 1974, Alfonso López Michelsen, a Liberal, was elected president. The Conservatives were granted certain cabinet posts. High unemployment persisted, and incidents of labor and student unrest occurred, as well as isolated guerrilla activity. In 1978, in an election marked by low voter turnout, another Liberal, Julio Turbay Ayala, was elected president by a slim margin; he consequently took five Conservatives into his cabinet.

Leftist guerrillas became bolder in 1979 as the army failed to subdue them. In 1980 a guerrilla band occupied the Dominican embassy in Bogotá for 61 days, holding many foreign diplomats as hostages. The Conservative candidate, former minister of labor Belisario Betancur Cuartas, won the presidential elections in 1982. Under an amnesty issued by Betancur, about 400 guerrillas were pardoned; a truce between the government and the rebel groups was announced in May 1984.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the growing contraband export of marijuana and cocaine became a major source of income for the Colombian economy. The illegal nature of this trade led to the growth of an enormously wealthy and powerful criminal establishment. In 1984 Betancur launched a crackdown on drug trafficking. Through 1985, however, leftist guerrillas regained strength, and the antidrug crackdown lost momentum as the drug traffickers and rebels joined forces in some regions. In November government troops and guerrillas engaged in violent combat after guerrillas seized the Palace of Justice in Bogotá and took dozens of hostages. By the end of the siege, 100 were dead, including the president of the supreme court and ten other justices.

In the 1986 elections, the Liberals took parliament, and Virgilio Barco Vargas, their leader, became president. Barco vowed to promote land reform and to bring guerrillas into negotiations. He also wanted to combat the power of two drug-trafficking cartels, one based in Medellín and the other in Cali. In August 1989, responding to a wave of killings in which Colombia�s cocaine cartels were implicated, the government arrested more than 10,000 people and confiscated the property of suspected drug traffickers. However, despite numerous successes in intercepting cocaine shipments and the chemicals used to refine the drug, the drug trade remained strong.

After a campaign during which three presidential candidates were assassinated, the Liberal Party nominee, César Gaviria Trujillo, was elected in May 1990. He supported a new constitution that took effect in July 1991. It prohibited extradition of Colombian citizens because in past years a number of Colombian drug lords had been extradited to the United States to stand trial. Gaviria also lifted the state of siege and offered amnesty to drug traffickers who turned themselves in. Some did, but the cocaine trade, along with guerrilla activity, continued to disrupt the country. In December 1993 government security forces killed Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellín cocaine cartel, when a gunfight ensued after they attempted to capture him.

In June 1994 Ernesto Samper Pizano of the Liberal Party was elected president. During 1994 the government and two leftist guerrilla groups made progress toward peace, agreeing to talks aimed at the disarmament of and legislative representation for the guerrillas. Other leftist groups, as well as right-wing paramilitary organizations that had formed to oppose the influence of leftist guerrillas, stepped up attacks around the country, causing both damage and loss of life, mainly in rural areas.

Colombia entered into an extended political crisis in 1995, after Samper was accused of accepting almost $6 million in campaign contributions from drug traffickers in exchange for leniency during any criminal proceedings for drug-related crimes. Although government prosecutors later claimed to have confirmed the contributions, Samper consistently said that he did not knowingly receive any drug money, and he refused to step down from the presidency. Samper declared a 90-day state of emergency in August 1995, ostensibly to battle organized crime and terrorist violence, but many Colombians saw the move as an attempt to divert attention from the growing political scandal.

In January 1996 Samper�s former defense minister claimed that the president had solicited and knowingly accepted campaign contributions from drug traffickers. Samper convened a special session of Congress later that month to investigate the accusations against him. Colombia�s chief prosecutor formally indicted Samper in February 1996, charging the president with the crimes of illegal enrichment, electoral fraud, falsifying documents, and cover-up. The indictments were seen as the initial steps in what could have become a formal congressional impeachment of the president. In June Congress cleared Samper of all charges of wrongdoing, but later a Colombian court convicted two of the president�s associates of funneling drug money into Samper�s campaign.

In March 1996 the U.S. government criticized Colombia�s effort in the ongoing drug war, claiming that the country was uncooperative in international efforts to combat drug production and distribution. The United States �decertified� Colombia, disqualifying the country from receiving most forms of U.S. economic assistance in 1996 and again in 1997. The U.S. government recertified Colombia as an ally in the war on drugs in 1998.

Samper�s government also encountered difficulties controlling the armed factions within Colombia. The nation�s military was unable to contain violence perpetrated by left-wing guerrillas or right-wing paramilitary forces. In August 1996 paramilitary forces killed two farmers and wounded 26 other people during a protest in the southern region of Putumayo. At the end of August left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed 80 soldiers and police in ten separate incidents. In November and December right-wing paramilitary forces killed 73 people suspected of being guerrilla sympathizers.

During 1997 leftist guerrillas sporadically attacked remote government outposts. They launched a campaign of violence and intimidation in October aimed at preventing voters from participating in municipal and regional elections. Paramilitary squads launched a countercampaign of violence, raiding a number of villages and executing individuals suspected of supporting guerrilla activities. In March 1998 FARC forces ambushed elite government troops in a remote southern jungle region, killing about 70 soldiers in the worst government defeat since guerrilla hostilities had begun. Government sources estimated that more than 41,000 Colombians�mostly poor farmers�fled from their rural homes to the slums of the cities to escape the growing violence involving leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary units.

Prospects of a peaceful settlement to the protracted violence improved in 1998. Colombia�s second largest leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), began the process when it opened secret negotiations with the Samper government in early 1998. These negotiations led to an agreement to open peace talks with the government following the 1998 presidential election. The FARC, the country�s major leftist rebel group, accused the Samper government of being corrupt and refused to negotiate.

In June 1998 voters elected Conservative Party candidate Andrés Pastrana as Colombia�s new president. His election marked the end of 12 years of rule by Liberal Party presidents. Following the election, the FARC, the ELN, and the United Self-Defense Units of Colombia, a leading right-wing paramilitary organization, all announced their willingness to engage in peace talks with the new government.

The willingness to negotiate did not bring an end to violence, however. As a parting shot at the Samper administration, the FARC and the ELN launched a coordinated nationwide military strike against government installations the week before Samper left office in August 1998, killing more than 100 soldiers and police officers. In December 1998 FARC guerrillas destroyed the mountain headquarters of a paramilitary group, killing about 30 civilians in the process. Paramilitary groups responded in January 1999 by killing about 130 civilians whom they accused of being rebel sympathizers.