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Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the
collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and
Venezuela).
A 40-year insurgent campaign to overthrow the Colombian Government
escalated during the 1990s, undergirded in part by funds from the
drug trade. Although the violence is deadly and large swaths of the
countryside are under guerrilla influence, the movement lacks the
military strength or popular support necessary to overthrow the
government. An anti-insurgent army of paramilitaries has grown to
several thousand strong in recent years, challenging the insurgents
for control of territory and the drug trade, and
also the
government's ability to exert its dominion
over rural areas. While Bogota steps up efforts to reassert
government control throughout the country, neighboring countries
worry about the violence spilling over their borders.
Colombia is bordered on the northwest by Panama, on the east by
Venezuela and
Brazil, and on the southwest by
Peru and Ecuador.
Through the western half of the country, three Andean ranges run
north and south. The eastern half is a low, jungle-covered plain,
drained by spurs of the
Amazon and Orinoco Rivers, inhabited mostly
by isolated tropical-forest Indian tribes. The fertile plateau and
valley of the eastern range are the most densely populated parts of
the country.
Fast facts:
- National name: República de Colombia
- President: Alvaro Uribe (2002)
- Land area: 401,042 square miles (1,038,699 square kilometers);
total area: 439,736 square miles (1,138,910 square kilometers)
- Population (2007 est.): 44,227,550 (growth rate: 1.4%); birth
rate: 20.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 19.7/1000; life expectancy:
72.3; density per sq mi: 110
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Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Santa Fé de Bogotá, 7,594,000 (metro. area), 7,185,889
(city proper)
- Other large cities: Cali, 2,283,200; Medellin, 1,957,800;
Barranquilla, 1,330,400; Cartagena, 901,500
- Monetary unit: Colombian Peso
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Language: Spanish
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Ethnicity/race: Mestizo 58%,
white 20%, mulatto 14%, black 4%, mixed black-Amerindian 3%,
Amerindian 1%
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Religion: Roman Catholic 90% |
