Geography
Colombia is one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia back in the year 1830. Colombia is bordered by Panama to the Northwest, Venezuela and Brazil to the East, Ecuador and Peru to the Southwest. Colombia is the forth-largest country in south America with a total area of 1,138,910 square kilometers. Colombia has tropical climate as most of it mainland is located within the tropics. The climatic variations in the country Colombia are mainly influenced by altitude. The country can be divided into climatic regions, the hot country, ortierra caliente this is the tropical zone, ortierra templada this the cold country, ortierra fria where temperatures range average 130c.
Colombia is mainly inhabited by the mestizo who are a race of mixed Amerindian and white and constitute about 58% of the total population. 20% are unmixed white, 14% are the mulattos (mixed black and white), 4% are black the blacks and the mulattos occupy the coastal region, 3% are the zambo who are a mixed race between black and Amerindian and the last 1% are the pure Amerindian and occupy the barren regions and the inaccessible regions of the Colombian nation. The pure Amerindian are the only indigenous ethnic group in the country. The first settlers are the Spaniards who come to the present day Colombia, they included conquistadors, roman catholic clergy and administrators. The Spaniards were obsessed with a region called El Dorado which was believed to have gold and littered with emeralds.
Colonial period
The land that is the present day Colombia was first visited by Europeans. Their first expedition was that of Alonso de Ojeda and arrived at the Cabo de la Vela in the year 1499. The Spaniards first permanent settlement in the Colombian nation was at Santa Marta in 1525. A Spanish commander Pedro de Heredia later in 1533 founded the Cartagena city in the Caribbean location of the Calamari village. In August of 1538 Santa Fe de Bogota was founded in the site of Muisca village called Bacata. In 1549 the Spanish Royal Audiencia gave the Bogota city the status of capital of New Granada. Bogota become the principal administration center for the Spaniard colony. General Sebastian de Benalcazar deserted the Francisco Pizarro army and started his own expedition of Ecuador. He founded the Cali and Popayan cities along the way. The population of the Colombian nation during the colonial period consisted of mainly the indigenous communities and the Spaniard invaders. The population was diversified with arrival of blacks from Africa brought as slaves. Cartagena the city founded by the Spanish invaders was given the exclusive rights as the slave trading port. the Spaniard invaders were extractive and considered exploitative, they relied on cheap native and slave labor to extract minerals and other resources from their colony. They constrained domestic trade as the audiencia, they regional court was bound to Spain as part of the mercantile system. Under this system the colonies acted as the primary source of materials and the sole consumer of the manufactured goods. The Spaniard invaders monopolized trade within the colonies. The only allowed merchants were Spanish nationals.
The Spanish invaders established themselves in the society as leaders. The Spanish crown outlawed exploitation of the native Amerindian labor which was popularly referred as encomienda. The practice however continued for some time as it served as a means to educate the natives about Christianity and civilization. In the year 1653 under the authority of King Phillip IV of Spain the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora del Rosario was founded by Archbishop of Santa Fe, his eminence Fray Cristobal de Torres. The institution is the current day Del Rosario University.
Bourbon reforms
This were a set of political and economic reforms promulgated by the Spaniard Crown. They were aimed at strengthening the powers of the Crown. Colombia and the Spanish America colonies the reforms were instigated to assert authority and promote commercial, fiscal and economic development. Most of the reforms arrived in the Spanish American nations during the second half of the 18th century following the visita general by Jose de Galvez. The reforms did little of what the crown thought he could have achieved by implementing the reforms. The reforms in fact lead to rise of revolutions. The los comunero begin one them. The comunero revolt was an elitist revolution which can be classified as confrontation between absolution and the “unwritten rules” of the New Granada. It was also seen as a clash between the imperialist and the de facto decentralization of Colombia. The revolt however did not constitute a movement for independence rather a civil disobedience by the creole elite.
Leading to independence
After almost three centuries of colonization the colonist wanted their independence. Educated elite people in the society mostly the native Amerindians wanted called for reforms. Among some of the complaints included the economic and political control of the Spanish monarchy. Napoleon wrote one of the most liberal constitution for the Spaniards which gave the colonies equal rights as those of the Spaniards however the natives were not satisfied with the representation afforded to them in courts. They established criollo governing councils to take the powers of the creole elite. La Patria Boba was an era in the Colombian history when regionalism had almost thwarted the efforts of the struggle for independence.
Simón Bolivar v Santander
Simon Bolivar lead the fight for liberation in the north the current Venezuela and Colombia. Together with Francisco de Paula Santander they are the most prominent figures of the Columbian independence. Simón Bolivar went to the congress of angostura and together with the congress of Cucuta they ratified the Colombian constitutition which enabled him to be elected as president and Santander as the vice president. The two leaders were considered as friends though gradually they developed disagreements from political and ideological differences. Santander is believed to have been a follower of the law and strict proponent of the constitution while Simón Bolivar thought the as secondary to what he perceived as the actual needs of the people. In the year 1828 Simón Bolivar escaped an assassination attempt for which among those blamed were Santander, Santander was exiled.
Civil wars and political parties in the 19th century.
In the 19th century four main problems defined the political arena of Colombian history. The war of independence was characterized by liberty and equity, but after independence not all citizens enjoyed the fruits of liberty or equity as was proposed. The century was rather characterized with conflicts between the liberals and the conservative parties. The first problem was the competition for power by the political and socio economic classes. The other was the perennial struggle over what form of government was good for the people either the centralized or the federal government, another problem was the relationship between the catholic church and the state. The liberal did not support the clerical measure while the conservative unequivocally supported the church a position that was a constant source of political confrontations. The fourth problem is various internal conflict that most of the times were violent. Colombia in the 19th century experienced nine civil unrests which decimated the ability of the political leadership.
End of 19th century, beginning of 20th century
Constitution of the country of Gran Colombia or the constitution of Cucuta was drafted which unified the all the countries that made the Viceroyalty of the New Granada as one federation. It was signed at the congress of Cucuta on the 30th of August 1821. While in his second termed Rafeal Nunez instituted a series of reforms he called Regeneration which in essence were meant to reduce the supremacy of states and at the same time restore the power of the catholic church.
First half of 20th century
Love in the time of cholera is a narration of Colombian Caribbean coast possibly the city of Cartagena by Garcia Marquez. The setting of the city in the narration provide clues about the people and the society of the time, their interests both social and economic.
Second half of the 20th century
Rojas Pinilla was a lieutenant general in the Colombian military. In 1953, he seized power from the brutal and authoritarian regime of Laureano Gomez who was the president of Colombia at the time. When he took over presidency, he promised the Colombian people liberty, justice and peace. Instead, he ruled as a corrupt dictator which turned his national popularity into a hostile regime.
Pablo Escobar, the wealthiest drug lord of his time was killed on December 2, 1993. He was cut out by gun fire with the Search Bloc (Colombian troops). The FARC was started during Colombia’s illegal drug trade boom period. It was a rebel army made of farmers who had escaped La Violencia after the death of Jorge Elieser, the liberal party presidential aspirant.
2000 to current time
Negotiators have signed initial agreements on; land reforms, disarmament of rebels, rights of victims, political participation, eliminating drug trafficking, rural development, implementation of a peace agreement, and a truth commission.
Works cited
"History Of Colombia - Lonely Planet Travel Information". Lonelyplanet.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 May 2016.
Alexandra, v. "INDEPENDENCIA DE COLOMBIA: Santander Vs Bolivar". Discursospoliticos-alexandra.blogspot.co.ke. N.p., 2009. Web. 11 May 2016.
Bedding, James. "Cartagena: Love In The Time Of Cholera". Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 2008. Web. 11 May 2016.
Bushnell, David. The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1993. Print.
Castaño,, Paola, Diana Ojeda, and Mauricio Nieto. POLÍTICA, CIENCIA Y GEOGRAFÍA EN EL SEMANARIO DEL NUEVO REYNO DE GRANADA. Print. NÓMADAS.
Kline, Harvey F. Historical Dictionary of Colombia. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2012. Print.
Travis, Ning. "Colombia". Human Rights Human Welfare (2013): 83-101. Print.
Otis, John. The FARC And Colombia’S Illegal Drug Trade. One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw, Washington, Dc 20004-3027: Wilson Center, 2014. Print.
