Colombia
| Colombia | |
|---|---|
| United Provinces of Colombia | |
| Provincias Unidas de Colombia | |
 | |
| Established | Colombian War of Independence (1842) |
| Capital | San José de Cúcuta |
| Largest City | Bogotá |
| Population | 89 Million |
| Government Type | Federated Republic |
| Languages |
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| Currency | Colombian Peso (COP) |
Colombia, officially the United Provinces of Colombia (Provincias Unidas de Colombia) is a country in northern South America. Colombia is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, the northwest by Boschland, the south by Peru, the east by Guyana, the southeast by Equador, and the west by the Pacific Ocean. It comprises six provinces and 64 departments and the capital District of San José de Cúcuta.
With over 86 million inhabitants Colombia is Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, with its rich cultural heritage reflecting influences by various Amerindian civilizations, European settlement, forced African labor, and immigration from Europe and the greater Middle East. Urban centers are concentrated in the Andean highlands and the Caribbean coast. Colombia is one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries and has the second-highest level of biodiversity in the world. Its territory encompasses Amazon rainforest, highlands, grasslands, and deserts, and it is the only country in South America with coastlines and islands along both the Atlantic and Pacific.
Colombia is considered a major regional power in South America with the highest population of the continent, a highly developed industrial economy and large reserves of natural resources.
Etymology
The name "Colombia" is derived from the last name of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo, Spanish: Cristóbal Colón). It was conceived as a reference to all of the New World.
During the Colombian War of Independence and the Spring of Nations in the Americas the term Colombia became used by republicans and revolutionaries as an endonym that refers to the former Spanish colony of New Granada. After the Treaty of Medellín (1842) Colombia become used as the common name for the United Provinces of Colombia.
History
Colombian Revolution
Starting in the early 1830's southern and central Europe erupted into a wave of revolutions based upon liberalism, republicanism and nationalism known as the Spring of Nations. Some of the earliest of these revolutions were in the Iberian peninsula with revolutionaries calling for the Spanish and Portuguese empires to reform their political systems with some revolutionaries going as far as to call for the abolition of the monarchies. The ideals of the Spring of Nations spread to the Spanish and Portuguese American colonies throughout the 1830's culminating in a series of (mostly unsuccessful) revolts in Puerto Rico, New Spain, Brazil and in New Granada. In the viceroy of New Granada, there was a growing dissatisfaction amongst local merchants and criollo elites as well as amongst the lower classes who've become limited in socio-political advancement due to the restrictive Spanish casta system.
The Colombian Revolution started in 1836 with a series of liberal revolts in Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla and Maracaibo. In March of 1838 the Colombian Revolutionary Congress organized a militia and occupied the city of Medellín. Over the year, the Colombian highlands erupted into armed revolt under the revolutionary congress; in November of 1839 the revolutionary congress decides on a platform of abolition of slavery which helped to spread the revolution to the Caribbean and Pacific coastal lowlands. By the end of the year, the revolutionary congress was in control of most of Venezuela, Trinidad, the Colombian Pacific coast and the Colombian highlands with Spanish royalist forces being limited to the Atlantic coasts and the Ecuadorian highlands. In 1841 fighting slowed down in Ecuador with both sides unable to advance on the other. Additionally international pressure started to turn in favor of the Colombian rebels with the Dutch and French empires refusing to stop trading the rebels. In April of 1841, the Spanish started to actively shoot down Dutch merchant ships trying to land in New Granada which led to the Dutch empire actively arming the Colombian rebels. In October of 1842 Spanish forces retreated from their last strongholds in Barranquilla and Cartagena and in December Spanish and Colombian diplomatic signed the Treaty of Medellín (1842) in which the Spanish recognized the independence of New Granada but Spanish sovereignty and control over Ecuador was recognized (with the region being reorganized under the authority of the viceroy of Peru).
Government and politics
Administrative divisions
Colombia is broken up into six provinces (Cundinamarca, Panama, Orinoco, Trinidad, Quito, Venezuela) and 64 departments. Additionally the District of San José de Cúcuta serves as the capital of the republic and exists outside of the jurisdiction of the provinces.