|RConstitution:|N Presidential Republic since 1886, constitution of 1991.
|RNational holiday:|N Independence Day, July 20.
|RNature and climate:|N The eastern half of Colombia is a lowland with grass-savannah and rainforests along many rivers. In the west three ranges of the Andes -- the Western, the Central and the Eastern Cordilleras -- run from north to south with an average elevation of 3000 m.a.s.l. By the northern coast to the Caribbean Sea are swampy plains and a separate mountain, Sierra Nevada de Santa Maria, reaching 5775 m.a.s.l.
The low coastal areas have rainforests and by the Pacific coast mangrove. The rainforests have a rich fauna; there live about 1500 different species of bird.
Average temperature in the lower parts of Colombia between 25 and 30°C throughout the year. The temperatures decreases with elevation and is at 1500 m.a.s.l. between 15 and 20°C throughout the year.
Percipitation by the Caribbean Sea between 1000 and 2000 mm. By the Pacific coast and on the western slopes of the Andes between 3000 and 8000 mm. In the densely populated valleys between 1000 and 3000 mm and in the eastern lowland between 3000 and 4000 mm.
|RPopulation:|N Mestizo 58%, Caucasian 20%, Mulatto 14%, Black 4% and Indians 4%.
There are still close to 400 different Indian tribes in Colombia. Most of them in the sparsely populated eastern and southern parts of the country and some of the tribes have managed to continue their traditional ways of living, while others, eg. the highly civilized and cultured Chibco people are extinguished.
|REconomy:|N 53% of the labour force is occupied in different services, 26% in agriculture and 21% in industry.
By tradition agriculture and stock-raising have been the main industries. The most important crops are coffee (that accounts for 20% of the export revenues; only Brazil produces more), bananas, cacoa, cocos, maize, rice, sugarcanes, tobacco, cotton, beans and vegetables. Stock-raising is extensive at high elevations. Close to half of the land is forested, but the industry has not been developed.
Colombia is rich on minerals such as oil, natural gas, emeralds (90% of world production), gold, copper, lead, coal, iron, nickel, salt, manganese, uranium and phosphates.
Manufacturing has been strongly developed in the last decades, especially food, textiles and chemical industries, but Colombia still depends on the export of coffee that is strongly effected by the world market prices. Colombia also has an extensive and growing illegal narcotic industry.
|RHistory:|N In prehistoric times the development in Colombia was marked by its location between the advanced civilizations in Central America to the North and in the Andes highlands and at the coast of Equador and Peru to the South. The Colombians became a link between the two cultural spheres but also developed civilizations of their own. The monumental sculptures of humans in the San Augustin area are one example.
By 1500 AD the Chibcha Indians in the Andes mountains dominated the area and it is assumed that the population was about one million.
Spaniards started the colonization about 1500 and in 1525 the founded the town Santa Marta by the Caribbean Sea and in 1538 Santa Fé de Bogota in the Andes. Bogota was made capital for the colony and later vice-kingdom Nueva Granada comprising Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
The discontent with Spanish rule grew stronger and at the end of the 18th century juntas seized powers an several towns and tried to liberate their respective areas. But these attempts ended with a civil war and in 1816 Spain had reestablished its power. In 1819 Simon Bolivar set up an army and defeated the Spaniards at Boyaca: The independent Republic of Great Colombia was proclaimed. After the dead of Bolivar, in 1830, Venezuela and Equador declared themselves independent and remaining Colombia and Panama formed a new republic.
Since then there has been two political parties in Colombia alternately in majority, the conservatives and the liberals. In the 19th century the conservatives preferred a strong central government and the liberals a lose federal government. When the liberals came to power in the mid 19th century they changed the constitution and Colombia became a federation, from 1863 called the United States of Colombia. This caused anarchy among the practically independent states, but order was restored with a new constitution in 1881 that centralized the power and transformed the states into departments that were governed by governors appointed by the president.
From 1899 to 1903 there was a civil war and in 1903 Panama declared itself independent with help from USA that wanted to control the new canal connecting Atlantic and Pacific. This is one of the historic reasons for the antagonism against USA in Latin America.
In 1943 during World War II, Colombia declared war on Germany and after the war Colombia was one of the founding members of the UN and the OAS.
Internal tensions grew stronger and after liberal president Jorge Eliecer Gaitán was murdered in 1948, a decade of civil war between conservatives and liberals started that cost the lives of more than 300 000 people. 1953-7 the land was ruled by dictator General Rojas Pinilla. In 1957 the conservatives and the liberals came to an agreement of sharing and shifting power that lasted for 16 years.
During the 1960ies and 70ies armed terrorist groups on both the left and the right wing tensed the political situation. Many of these groups laid down their arms and started to work within the constitution.
Colombia has since long been a centre for a growing illegal narcotic industry and since the 1980s narco-terrorists have murdered many government officials and others. Before the 1990 presidential elections four candidates were killed, but Ceasar Gaviria Trujillo won the elections after a campaign vigorously against the drug traffic. Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper became president in 1994.
