Colombia

:For other uses, see Columbia.

History

Main article: History of Colombia

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Around 1450 BC there was cultural activity in "El Abra", near Bogotá. In 1000 BC amerindians developed the political system of "cacicazgos" (The Cacique) with a pyramidal structure of power, especially the Muisca or Chibcha people. They would be the biggest political system of South America after the Incas. Spanish explorers made the first exploration of the Caribbean littoral in 1500 (Rodrigo de Bastidas). In 1502 Christopher Columbus navigated near the coasts of Choco. In 1508 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa started the conquest of the territory by Urabá. In 1513 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean that he called "The Sea of the South" and which fact would bring the Spaniards to Peru and Chile. In 1525, the first European city in the American Continent was founded, Santa María la Antigua del Darién in what is today the Chocó Department. The main people in the Colombian territory were hundreds of tribes of the Chibchan and "Karib" or Caribbean peoples whom they assimilated or killed through warfare, disease, exploitation, or conquest. They soon established settlements that eventually grew into the provinces which were part of the Captaincy General of New Granada. As it became a Viceroyalty in 1717, some other provinces of northwestern South America came under its jurisdiction. In the 16th century Europeans brought slaves from Africa.

Related Topics:
1450 BC - 1000 BC - Cacique - Muisca - Chibcha - Incas - Spanish - 1500 - 1502 - Christopher Columbus - 1508 - Vasco Nuñez de Balboa - Urabá - 1513 - Pacific Ocean - Peru - Chile - 1525 - American Continent - Chocó Department - Chibchan - Caribbean - Captaincy General - New Granada - Viceroyalty - 1717 - 16th century - Africa

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Though there were independent movements of rebellion since the very beginning of the Conquest and Colony, the main one sprang up around 1810, led by Simón Bolívar and Francisco de Paula Santander, that finally succeeded in 1819 when the territory of the Viceroyalty of New Granada became the Republic of Gran Colombia as a Confederation with Ecuador and Venezuela, Panama was a Colombian Department until 1903.

Related Topics:
1810 - Simón Bolívar - Francisco de Paula Santander - 1819 - Republic of Gran Colombia - Ecuador - Venezuela - Panama - 1903

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Internal political and territorial divisions led to the secession of Venezuela and Quito (today's Ecuador) in 1830. The so-called "Department of Cundinamarca" received then the name "Nueva Granada" until 1856 when it became the "Confederación Granadina" (Granadine Confederation). In 1863 the "United States of Colombia" was created, until 1886 when it finally became the Republic of Colombia. Internal divisions remained, occasionally igniting very bloody civil wars and contributing to the US-sponsored secession of Panama in 1903. The most bloody of these wars occurred in the late 1940s and early 1950s, known as La Violencia (the violence). It claimed the lives of at least 180,000 Colombians. Its cause was mainly tensions between partisan groups.

Related Topics:
Venezuela - Quito - Ecuador - 1830 - Cundinamarca - Nueva Granada - 1856 - 1863 - 1886 - Civil war - Panama - 1903

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A new constitution was implemented in 1991 to replace the previous 1886 document, after being drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Colombia. The constitution included key provisions on political, human, ethnic and gender rights, which have been gradually put in practice, though surrounding controversies, uneven developments and setbacks have persisted.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1886 - Constituent Assembly of Colombia

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In recent decades the country has been plagued by the effects of the influential drug trade and by guerrilla insurgents such as FARC and illegal counter-insurgency paramilitary groups such as AUC, which along with other minor factions have been engaged in a bloody internal conflict. The different irregular groups often resort to kidnapping and drug smuggling to fund their causes, tend to operate in large areas of the remote rural countryside and can sometimes disrupt communications and travel between different regions.

Related Topics:
Drug trade - Guerrilla - Insurgent - FARC - Counter-insurgency - Paramilitary - AUC - Kidnapping - Drug smuggling

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As a result of economic growth, and increased investment in national security, during Alvaro Uribe's government security indicators have improved substantialy, with the latest security indicators (avaiable at http://www.dnp.gov.co/novedades_detalle.aspx?idn=31) showing a decrease in reported kidnappings(decreased from 3700 in the year 2000 to 1441 in 2004), and >48% in homicides (July 2002 to May 2005)

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