Colombia comes under which continent

The current president, for example, comes from the same party. The communist party has been guaranteed electoral seats through as part of the peace agreement that ended their military actions. In recent years Colombia much like South Korea since the s has undergone major dedicated efforts to export their pop culture around the globe. In the early s the government pass legislation encouraging the development of the country's film industry.

Popular music is probably the country's best known export with musicians like Shakira , Carlos Vives, and Juanes. Traditional music and classical music are also widely regarded. As the home of the continent's oldest Spanish language academy, it should come as no surprise that Colombia is a major literary country.

Colombia's national body of literature stretches back thousands of years, beginning with still accessible! Colombian authors produced works of prose and poetry through the colonial era onward. Colombia's most famous author is Gabriel Garca Mrquez , whose body of work through the s earned him a Nobel Prize for Literature in His novel Years of Solitude is widely read around the world.

Colombia's visual arts scene has been garnering attention in the past few decades. Colombia's pre-Columbian art has always stood out, but during its tenure as a colony of Spain Colombia often followed the lead of European artists in terms of style. Colombian Baroque art mostly borrows from Spanish Baroque art, and so on. But since the 's, Colombian artists especially those working in three dimensions have made many bold, innovative leaps with their techniques and aesthetics.

Art lovers will find plenty of interest at Colombia's museums and heritage sites. International Disputes: In December , ICJ allocated San Andres, Providencia, and Santa Catalina islands to Colombia under Treaty but did not rule on 82 degrees W meridian as maritime boundary with Nicaragua; managed dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes Islands near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics, guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all neighboring borders and have caused Colombian citizens to flee mostly into neighboring countries; Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and the US assert various claims to Bajo Nuevo and Serranilla Bank.

Refugees: , Venezuela economic and political crisis; includes Venezuelans who have claimed asylum or have received alternative legal stay Internally Displaced Persons: 7,, conflict between government and illegal armed groups and drug traffickers since ; about , new IDPs each year since Stateless Persons: 11 Colombia has also become a major cultural exporter, now coming in second behind Mexico for most cultural exports in Latin America.

Growth Rate: 1. Inflation: 4. Government Revenues: Working Population: Unemployment: 9. Population Below the Poverty Line: Major Exports: Petroleum, coal, emeralds, coffee, nickel, cut flowers, bananas, and apparel. Export Partners: US Major Imports: Industrial equipment, transportation equipment, consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels, and electricity. Import Partners: US Agricultural Products: Coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables; shrimp; forest products.

Major Industries: Textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds. Natural Resources: Petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower. Land Use: Agricultural land: Fixed Lines: 7,,, 15 per residents est. Cell Phones: 58,,, per residents, est. International Country Code: Combination of state-owned and privately owned broadcast media provide service; more than radio stations and many national, regional, and local TV stations Total: 2, km Standard Gauge: km 1.

Total: 24, km 18, km navigable; the most important waterway, the River Magdalena, of which 1, km is navigable, is dredged regularly to ensure safe passage of cargo vessels and container barges Ports and Terminals: Major Seaport s : Atlantic Ocean Caribbean - Cartagena, Santa Marta, Turbo; Pacific Ocean? Humans have lived in Colombia for at least 11, years, and Colombia was a major channel for human migration to the rest of the continent.

Although they are less widely known than, say, the Inca or the Nazca, we know a fair deal about the indigenous peoples of Colombia. With its connection to the isthmus of Panama, Colombia was a major center of migration between Central and South America. The different groups who settled what is now called Colombia include the Tairona, the Quimbaya, and the Muisca.

By the time of the Spanish arrival in the s, the Muisca were especially prominent in the area, having organized into a loose confederation that controlled a great deal of valuable land. The different cultures that occupied Colombia shared much in common in terms of diet and material culture.

Different amerindian groups from the area produced exceptional gold and ceramics, and they traded extensively. Then as now, Colombia was a major producer of coal and emerald and still today is the world's leading exporter of emeralds.

Most Colombian societies were agricultural, and practiced many different forms of social organization. The Spanish, having begun their colonization of the Caribbean, expanded their empire onto the continental mainland at the start of the s. Two years later they would found Darien, the first permanent European settlement on the American mainland.

In they established the colony of New Granada, the area's name until As with most other Spanish conquests in the Americas, the Spanish conquistadors exploited local rivalries and tensions to their advantage; in the case of the New Granada colony, they forged alliances with competitors to the Muisca Confederation. After conquering the Muisca and settling Bogot, Spain was largely uncontested in the region. These groups also experienced large-scale depopulation due to disease, as happened elsewhere.

Local amerindian populations formed an important part of the labor force and the economy, so their depopulation posed serious long-term problems to colonial authorities. This prompted the government to sell off large tracts of land to interested developers, which encouraged immigration. After a year struggle, during which time Simn Bolvar's Venezuelan troops won the battle of Boyac in Colombia on Aug. Two political parties dominated the region: the Conservatives believed in a strong central government and a powerful church; the Liberals believed in a decentralized government, strong regional power, and a less influential role for the church.

Bolvar was himself a Conservative, while his vice president, Francisco de Paula Santander, was the founder of the Liberal Party. Santander served as president between and , a period of relative stability, but by civil war had erupted. Other periods of Liberal dominance ? Nine different governments followed, each rewriting the constitution.

In , a brutal civil war broke out, the War of a Thousand Days, that lasted until The following year, Colombia lost its claims to Panama because it refused to ratify the lease to the United States of the Canal Zone. Panama declared its independence in The Conservatives held power until , when revolutionary pressure put the Liberals back in power.

Laureano Gmez ? Gustavo Rojas Pinilla ? In the s and s, Colombia became one of the international centers for illegal drug production and trafficking, and at times the drug cartels the Medellin and Cali cartels were the most notorious virtually controlled the country. In the s, numerous right-wing paramilitary groups also formed, made up of drug traffickers and landowners. Belisario Betancur Cuartas, a Conservative who assumed the presidency in , unsuccessfully attempted to stem the guerrilla violence.

In an official war against drug trafficking, Colombia became a public battleground with bombs, killings, and kidnappings. By , homicide had become the leading cause of death in the nation. Elected president in , Csar Gaviria Trujillo proposed lenient punishment in exchange for surrender by the leading drug dealers.

Ernesto Samper of the Liberal Party became president in In he was accused of accepting campaign contributions from drug traffickers, but the House of Representatives absolved him of the charges. Andrs Pastrana Arango was elected president in , pledging to clean up corruption.

In Dec. The murder rate soared in , with some 23, people reported killed by leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers, and common criminals. The violence has created more than , refugees, while 2 million Colombians have fled the country in recent years. In Aug. Plan Colombia,? Pastrana used the plan to undercut drug production and prevent guerrilla groups from benefiting from drug sales. Alvaro Uribe of the Liberal Party easily won the presidential election in May He took office in August, pledging to get tough on the rebels and drug traffickers by increasing military spending and seeking U.

An upsurge in violence accompanied his inauguration, and Uribe declared a state of emergency within a week. In his first year, Uribe beefed up Colombia's security forces with the help of U. In May , the UN announced that Colombia's year-long drug war had created the worst humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. More than 2 million people have been forced to leave their homes and several Indian tribes are close to extinction.

Colombia now houses the third-largest displaced population in the world, with only Sudan and the Congo having more. Uribe has produced some impressive results in fixing his country's ills, however. According to his defense minister, during more than 16, suspected leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary vigilantes either surrendered, were apprehended, or were killed. Since , the right-wing paramilitary group AUC has been involved in peace talks with the government, but despite demobilizing 4, troops, the vigilante group seemed as vigorous as ever in Although the two other major armed groups, left-wing FARC and ELN, continue to finance themselves through kidnapping and drug trafficking, governmental efforts have been successful in significantly reducing the kidnapping rate.

In , a U. Economic growth and a reduction in paramilitary violence were believed to be responsible for his landslide reelection. A controversy surrounding suspected ties between members of Uribe's government and paramilitary leaders dogged Uribe in late and into In November , the Colombian army captured FARC rebels who were carrying videos, photographs, and letters of about 15 hostages, some who have been held in jungle camps for nearly ten years.

Hostages included three American military contractors and Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate. Chavez subsequently withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador to Colombia. Months of negotiations between Chavez and FARC rebels over the release of three hostages came to an end on December 31, , when the FARC refused to hand them over, saying the promised security conditions had not been met.

Rojas, a Colombian politician captured in , and Perdomo, a Colombian lawmaker captured in , were escorted out of the jungle by several guerillas.

The release of the hostages was a triumph for Chavez, who coordinated the operation. On February 28, , FARC rebels released four more Colombian hostages, all former members of Congress held in captivity for six years, after negotiations with President Chavez of Venezuela. In response, Venezuela and Ecuador broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia and sent troops to the Colombian borders, although both countries denied any ties to FARC. In an attempt to help cool the diplomatic tension between the three countries, the Organization of American States approved a resolution, which declared that the Colombian raid into Ecuador was a violation of sovereignty.

On March 7, , during a summit meeting in the Dominican Republic, the leaders of Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Nicaragua ended their diplomatic dispute over Colombia's raid into Ecuador.

He promised to maintain the policies of former president Uribe, including the campaign against FARC guerrillas and forging a close relationship with the United States. Santos was largely responsible for planning and carrying out the government's successful assault on FARC.

In May , Santos ran for re-election. He came in behind his main opponent, the Democratic Center Party's scar Ivn Zuluaga in the first round when Zuluaga received Since neither had a majority, a run-off election was held the following month.

The support was enough to propel Santos to a victory with In late February , FARC announced an end to its long time practice of kidnapping civilians for financial gains.

The announcement was made on FARC's website. FARC, the chief rebel group in Colombia, also said it would soon free the remaining ten prisoners of war. The ten security force members have been held in captivity for 14 years. Unknown was whether FARC, also known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, would release the kidnapped civilians they currently hold or whether the orders can be enforced among all the rebels in the group. Signed back on November 22, , the agreement was made to eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers for goods and services between Colombia and the United States.

Both countries worked together on resolving issues such as sanitary barriers in agriculture, including safety inspection procedures on certain food items.

The agreement granted duty-free treatment to farm products and a variety of foods. On June 15, , Juan Manuel Santos won reelection with Turnout was Colombia is the third-most populous country in Latin America, after Brazil and Mexico. Thirty cities have a population of , or more.

Ethnic diversity in Colombia is a result of the intermingling of indigenous peoples, Europeans and Africans. During the pre-Columbian period, the area now known as Colombia was inhabited by indigenous societies situated at different stages of socio-economic development, ranging from hunters and nomadic farmers to the highly structured Chibchas, who are considered to be one of the most developed indigenous groups in South America.

Santa Marta was the first permanent Spanish settlement founded in Santa Fe de Bogota was founded in and, in , became the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, which included what are now Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. Bogota was one of three principal administrative centers of the Spanish possessions in the New World.

On July 20, , the citizens of Bogota created the first representative council to defy Spanish authority. Full independence was proclaimed in , and in the Republic of Greater Colombia was formed to include all the territory of the former Viceroyalty Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.

Simon Bolivar was elected its first president with Francisco de Paula Santander as vice president. Conflicts between followers of Bolivar and Santander led to the formation of two political parties that have since dominated Colombian politics. Bolivar's supporters, who later formed the nucleus of the Conservative Party, sought strong centralized government, alliance with the Roman Catholic Church and a limited franchise.

Santander's followers, forerunners of the Liberals, wanted a decentralized government, state control over education and other civil matters, and a broader suffrage.

Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, each party held the presidency for roughly equal periods of time. Colombia maintained a tradition of civilian government and regular, free, elections. Notwithstanding the country's commitment to democratic institutions, Colombia's history also has been characterized by widespread, violent conflict. Two civil wars resulted from bitter rivalry between the Conservative and Liberal parties: The War of a Thousand Days claimed an estimated , lives and La Violencia the Violence claimed about , lives.

Conservative Party leader Laureano Gomez came to power in , but was ousted by a military coup led by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla in When Rojas failed to restore democratic rule and became implicated in corrupt schemes, he was overthrown by the military with the support of the Liberal and Conservative Parties.

It established a power-sharing agreement between the two parties and brought an end to "La Violencia. This system was phased out by Post-National Front Years During the post-National Front years, the Colombian Government made efforts to negotiate a peace with the persistent guerrilla organizations that flourished in Colombia's remote and undeveloped rural areas.

The M pulled out of the cease-fire when it resumed fighting in The army suppressed an M attack on the Palace of Justice in Bogota in November , during which people were killed, including 11 Supreme Court justices. The government and the M renewed their truce in March , which led to a peace agreement and the M's reintegration into society and political life.

The M was one of the parties that participated in the process to enact a new constitution see below , which took effect in The FARC ended the truce in after some 2,, of its members who had demobilized had been murdered. It also has a highly stratified society where the traditionally rich families of Spanish descent have benefited from this wealth to a far greater degree than the majority mixed-race population, providing a ready constituency for left-wing insurgents.

President: Ivan Duque. Ivan Duque was elected in June after campaigning on a ticket to rewrite the peace deal signed with the former rebel group FARC. A lawyer with a degree in economics, Mr Duque represents many Colombian voters who were outraged by concessions given to the former rebels, including reduced sentences for those who confessed to their crimes. Colombian journalists have for decades faced intimidation from rebel groups, drug traffickers and paramilitaries.

Peace accords were signed in , but threats against the media remain, says Reporters Without Borders. Media ownership is concentrated among a handful of privately-owned groups. Television is the main news source.

There are no curbs on online access, but limited infrastructure and high prices are obstacles to internet take-up. Panama becomes an independent state. However, a few weeks later voters reject the deal in a national referendum, and a new agreement has to be drawn up. Colombia drug law change proposed. Ministry of National Defence. Colombian embassy in US. Republic of Colombia Capital: Bogota.