Colombia is a country
situated in the northwest of South America. It is a unitary,
constitutional republic. 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, with its capital at Bogotá. 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. Panama seceded
in 1903.
Colombia is ethnically
diverse, the descendants of the original native inhabitants,
Spanish colonists, Africans originally brought to the country as
slaves, and 20th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle
East have produced a diverse cultural heritage. This has also
been influenced by Colombia's varied geography and the imposing
landscape of the country has resulted in the development of very
strong regional identities. 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 biodiverse per square kilometer. Colombia is a middle
power with the third largest economy in Latin America, is part of
the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an
accessing member to the OECD. Its principal industries include
oil, mining, chemicals, health related products, food processing,
agricultural products, textile and fabrics, garments, forest
products, machinery, electronics, military products, metal
products, home and office material, construction equipment and
materials, banking, financial services, software, IT services and
the automotive industry.
Colombia became the 83rd
country I visited and here I visited to cities: Bogota, the
capitol high up in the mountains and one of the first places the
Spanish settled down when they came to South America and a lot of
it is still here, in Cartagena.
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