COLOMBIABy Kasandra Cole Bartels

History 141

The people of Colombia

Colombia was first inhabited by indigenous people, which included the Muisca, Quimbaya and Tairona, but the Spanish claimed this territory in 1499.

After Brazil and Panama gained independence from Spain in 1819, Colombia collapsed while Venezuela and Ecuador succeeded. So Colombia and Panama became the Republic of New Granada.

Colombia has the longest surviving liberal and conservative parties in the Americas, which originated in 1848 and 1849.

The people of Colombia

The guerrillas have lost control in many areas where they once dominated after the success of a controversial peace process within the Colombian government. Meanwhile Colombia's homicide rate, for many years one of the highest in the world, almost halved between 2002 and 2006.

Yet in 2009 and 2010, there was a drastic increase in the homicide rate in the city of Medellin because of gangs and military groups.

This caused Colombia to have the 6th highest fear of terrorism in the world.

The people of Colombia

About 60% of Colombia's population are mestizos, and some one fifth are of European descent. Indigenous peoples, who account for only about 1% of today's population, live on the edge of some of the major cities and in remote areas. About 15% of the people are of mixed African and European descent. 

The small (less than 5%) black population is concentrated along the coasts and in the Magdalena and Cauca valleys. Spanish is the official language. The population is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. There are universities in all the major cities.

Events: Thousand Days War (1899-1902)

The Thousand Days’ War was a Civil War fought in Colombia between the years of 1899 and 1902. The basic conflict behind the war was the conflict between liberals and conservatives, so it was a ideological war as opposed to a regional one, and it divided families and was fought all over the nation. After about 100,000 Colombians had died, both sides called a halt to the fighting.

In 1898, conservative Manuel Antonio Sanclemente was elected president of Colombia. The liberals were outraged, because they believed that significant election fraud had taken place. Sanclemente had participated in a conservative overthrow of the government in 1861.

The liberal revolt began in Santander Province. The first clash took place when liberal forces tried to take Bucaramanga in November, 1899 but were repulsed.

A month later, the liberals scored their largest victory of the war when General Rafael Uribe Uribe routed a larger conservative force at the battle of Peralonso. The victory at Peralonso gave the liberals the hope and strength to drag out the conflict for two more years against superior numbers.

Thousand Days War

Events:La Violencia (1948 - 1958)

Colombia, plagued by social and economic problems, was also embroiled in a political feud between the country's two traditional parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, when Jorge Eliecer Gaitan (1902-48), popular left-wing Liberal leader, was assassinated on April 9, 1948, while a Pan-American conference was being held in Bogota, the Colombian capital.

Immediately, riots and vandalism occurred throughout the country. This sudden outbreak of violence seems to have been the result of longtime pent-up frustration by the public over numerous local and national issues). Columbia was thrown into a constant state of insurrection and criminality from 1948 to 1958, called "La Violencia", a period during which more than 200,000 persons lost their lives and more than a billion dollars of property damage was done.

Events:La Violencia (1948 - 1958)

Events:Battle of Boyaca in1819

The Battle of Boyacá was fought during the Wars of South American Independence.

Fought near Boyacá, Colombia, the Battle of Boyacá took place on August 7, 1819.

On the morning of August 7, scouts alerted Simon Bolívar that the Spanish were approaching. Deploying his forces, Bolívar caught Barreiro’s men as they were crossing the el Puente de Boyacá bridge. Sending two-thirds of his men forward under Brigadier Generals Francisco de Paula Santander and José Antonio Anzoátegui, the Colombian , Venezuelan, and British Legion troops successfully routed each half of Barreiro’s army in turn. The infantry attacks were supported by effective cavalry assaults on the Spanish rearguard.

Events:Battle of Boyaca in1819

Geography of Colombia

Part of the Ring of Fire, a region of the world subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, Colombia is dominated by the Andes mountains. 

East of the Andes lies the savanna of the Llanos, part of the Orinoco River basin, and, in the far south east, the Amazon rainforest. Together these lowlands comprise over half Colombia's territory, but they contain less than 3% of the population. 

Geography of Colombia

The environmental challenges faced by Colombia are caused by both natural and human hazards. Many natural hazards result from Colombia's position along the Pacific Ring of Fire and the consequent geological instability. 

Colombia has 15 major volcanoes, the eruptions of which have on occasion resulted in substantial loss of life, such as at Armero in 1985, and geological faults that have caused numerous devastating earthquakes, such as the 1999 Armenia earthquake.

Geography of Colombia Human

induced deforestation has substantially changed the Andean landscape and has started to creep into the rainforests of Amazonia and the Pacific coast. Deforestation is also linked to the conversion of lowland tropical forests to oil palm plantations. 

Demand from rapidly expanding cities has placed increasing stress on the water supply as watersheds are affected and ground water tables fall.

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