COLOMBIA: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC.
Colombia, nearest to the United States of the republics of South
America, is recognized as one of the richest and most beautiful of
the countries of that continent, containing magnificent scenery, with
extraordinary variety and wealth of natural resources. Colombia is
noted as the first producer in the world of platinum, emeralds, and
mild coffee; the first in South America of gold.
AREA, POPULATION, BOUNDARY
=Area.= Colombia is fifth in size of the countries of South America,
with an area variously given, but approximately of 464,000 square miles.
=Population.= She is probably third in population, official figures
received March, 1921, of the 1918 census being 5,847,491. 6,000,000 may
be credited to her in 1921.
=Boundary.= Colombia has the good fortune to be the only South American
country bordering upon two oceans. Having an irregular shape, with
the Isthmus of Panamá dividing the two coasts nearly in the middle,
Colombia has the Caribbean Sea on the north and northwest for a
distance of 641 miles, and the Pacific Ocean, for a stretch of 468
miles, west of the main body of the country. Measuring the outline of
all the indentations, the coast line would be two or three times as
long. On the south are the Republics of Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil; on
the east Brazil and Venezuela. The extreme length of the country, from
12° 24′ N. Lat. to 2° 17′ S., is a little over 1000 miles, as far as
from New York to St. Louis; the greatest width, from 66° 7′ to 79° W.
Long., is about 800 miles.
HISTORY
In 1502 Columbus sailed along the northern coast, a fact which may
have prompted the inhabitants to give the country his name. As early
as 1508 Alonzo de Ojeda, who in 1499 had first touched Colombian soil,
made settlements on the coast; and in 1536 Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada
explored the interior as far as the site of Bogotá, where he founded a
city after establishing friendly relations with the aborigines.
The country was first named New Granada. By the middle of the century
Spanish power was fairly established along the coast and in part of the
interior. The territory was under the authority of the Viceroy at Lima,
with a local presidency, until 1718, when a Viceroy, ruling Ecuador and
Venezuela as well, was established at Bogotá. In 1810 an insurrection
broke out against Spain, the war continuing at intervals until 1824.
During those troublous years Simón Bolívar was the chief leader, both
acting as commanding general and in 1821 becoming President. In 1819
Bolívar had inaugurated the Great Colombian Republic which united
Venezuela and Ecuador with New Granada; but in 1829 Venezuela withdrew
and in 1830, the year of Bolívar’s death, Ecuador also.
In 1831 the Republic of New Granada was established, but disorders
followed. Many changes occurred in the form of government, which was at
one time a confederation, then the United States and now the Republic
of Colombia. There have been strife and insurrections: in 1903 that
of Panamá made the United States and its people extremely unpopular
in Colombia and for some time unfavorably affected our commercial
dealings. The adoption by the Senate of the Treaty of Bogotá will
doubtless increase the already more friendly feeling on the part of
Colombians, which can but be of value for our investments and trade.
GOVERNMENT
Since 1886 Colombia has been a unitary or centralized republic, the
sovereignty of the States being abolished. The Departments, as they
are called, have Governors appointed by the President, although each
has an Assembly for the regulation of internal affairs. Besides the
Departments, there are Territories of two varieties: Intendencias,
directly connected with the Central Government and Comisarías, sparsely
settled districts depending upon the nearest Department.
The President is elected for four years by direct vote of the
people. He has a Cabinet of eight members, the heads of the various
departments: the Ministers of the Interior (_Gobierno_), Foreign
Affairs (_Relaciones Exteriores_), Finance (_Hacienda_), War
(_Guerra_), Public Instruction (_Instrucción Pública_), Agriculture and
Commerce (_Agricultura y Comercio_), Public Works (_Obras Públicas_),
Treasury (_Tesoro_).
Instead of a Vice President two _Designados_, a first and a second, are
elected annually by Congress to act as President in case of his death,
absence from the country, or inability to serve.
The National Congress consists of a Senate and a House of
Representatives. The 35 Senators are elected for four years by persons
chosen for that purpose; the 92 Representatives, one for each 50,000
inhabitants, are elected for two years by direct vote. Two substitutes
are chosen for each Member of Congress to replace them in case of
inability to serve. Congress meets annually at the Capital, Bogotá,
July 20, for 90 to 120 days. The President may call an extra session.
The Judicial Branch includes a Supreme Court of nine judges, a Superior
Tribunal for each Department and a number of minor judges.
Colombia has 14 Departments: four bordering on the Caribbean,
Magdalena, Atlántico, Bolívar, Antioquia; three on the Pacific,
El Valle, Cauca, Nariño; seven in the interior, Huila, Tolima,
Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Santander, Santander del Norte, Caldas;
Intendencias: Meta at the east; Chocó bordering on the Caribbean and
the Pacific; the Islands, San Andrés and Providencia; six Comisarías:
La Goajira, Arauca, Vichada, Vaupés, Caquetá, Putumayo.
The names of the Departments, their area, population, capitals and
population follow:
--------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
| AREA, | | | |ALTITUDE,
DEPARTMENTS |in square|POPULATION| CAPITALS |POPULATION| in feet
| miles | | | |
--------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
Magdalena | 17,022 | 204,000 |Santa Marta | 18,000 | [2]
Atlántico | 1,200 | 135,000 |Barranquilla | 64,000 | [2]
Bolívar | 25,800 | 457,000 |Cartagena | 51,000 | [2]
Antioquia | 27,777 | 823,000 |Medellín | 80,000 | 4,860
El Valle | 10,802 | 272,000 |Cali | 45,000 | 3,400
Cauca | 9,625 | 240,000 |Popayán | 20,200 | 5,740
Nariño | 11,574 | 340,000 |Pasto | 29,000 | 8,660
Huila | 8,873 | 182,000 |Neiva | 25,000 | 1,515
Tolima | 9,182 | 329,000 |Ibagué | 30,000 | 4,280
Cundinamarca | 8,622 | 809,000 |Bogotá | 144,000 | 8,680
Boyacá | 3,330 | 659,000 |Tunja | 10,000 | 9,200
Santander | 11,819 | 439,000 |Bucaramanga | 25,000 | 3,150
Santander del Norte | 7,716 | 239,000 |Cúcuta | 30,000 | 1,050
Caldas | 3,300 | 428,000 |Manizales | 43,000 | 7,000
TERRITORIES: | | | | |
Meta | 85,000 | 34,000 |Villavicencio| 4,700 | 1,500
Chocó | 15,000 | 91,000 |Quibdó | 25,000 | 138
San Andrés | | | | |
y Providencia | | 6,000 |San Andrés | 3,000 | [2]
La Goajira | 5,000 | 22,600 |San Antonio | 2,100 | [2]
Arauca | 5,000 | 7,500 |Arauca | 3,900 | 640
Vichada | [1] | 5,540 |Vichada | 540 | [1]
Vaupés | [1] | 6,350 |Calamar | 750 | [1]
Caquetá | 187,000 | 74,000 |Florencia | 3,200 | [1]
Putumayo | [1] | 40,000 |Mocoa | 1,200 | 2,100
--------------------+---------+----------+-------------+----------+---------
[1] No figures available.
[2] At or near sea level.
NOTE.--The figures for Meta doubtless include the area of the new
Comisaría, Vichada, and those for Caquetá the areas of Vaupés and
Putumayo.
[Illustration: COLOMBIA]
POPULATION
Colombia, ranking third of the South American Republics in population,
has about 6,000,000 inhabitants, very unevenly distributed, as is
obvious from the figures of the Departments, already given. The average
is 12 to a square mile, but in the Departments 26 to a square mile.
The smallest Department, Atlántico, is the most densely populated, 114
to the square mile. The largest Department, Antioquia, more than three
times the size of Massachusetts, has also the largest population, which
is reputed to be the most enterprising.
The character of the population is varied. According to the Colombian
statesman, Uribe, 66 per cent is composed of pure whites and of
mestizos of white and Indian and white and negro origin, who through
successive crossings during four centuries have acquired the traits
of the Caucasian race, in some cases showing no traces of the extreme
elements; the pure Indians are 14 per cent, pure black 4 per cent, and
colored mixtures 16 per cent. The tendency is towards a closer fusion
making a unique type which will give the desired national unification.
There are about 600,000 Indians, the greater number more or less
civilized; perhaps 150,000 wild Indians, some friendly, others hostile.
How many there are in the forested Amazon region is uncertain; the
recent census places the figure at a little over 100,000. Among all the
Indians one hundred or more different languages are spoken.
A great diversity in social conditions is to be expected. A large
proportion of the inhabitants dwell in the cities or smaller towns. In
a number of these may be found the culture, dress, and refinements of
European cities, splendid salons or modest drawing rooms with equal
urbanity in each. The wants of the middle and lower classes and of the
Indians would be quite different, and would depend further upon their
place of residence; the requirements of dwellers in the tropical plains
and valleys, and of those who live on or near the bleak _paramos_ are
obviously very diverse.
EDUCATION
Considerable attention is paid to education, which in the primary
grades is free but not compulsory. The percentage of illiteracy is
about 70. Bogotá has a National University with Schools of Medicine,
Law, Political Science, Engineering, and Natural Science. Connected
with it is the National Library, an Astronomical Observatory, a School
of Fine Arts, and an Academy of Music. A free institute of learning
is the Universidad Republicana; there is also a School of Arts and
Trades, giving both general and technical instruction, as in printing,
carpentry, etc.; a _colegio_ or school for secondary instruction,
La Salle Institute, the largest in Colombia, which prepares for the
University; and a Homœopathic Institute, from which at least one woman
has been graduated.
There are universities also at Cartagena, Popayán, Pasto, and Medellín;
in the last named city, a School of Mines, which is a part of the
National University. Elementary instruction is the most zealously
promoted in Antioquia, Caldas, Boyacá, and Cauca; in the other
Departments the school attendance is poor. In Colombia, Spanish is
spoken with greater purity than in most of the other Republics.
Institutions giving instruction in agriculture, in arts and trades,
and in general science are greatly needed, as also the teaching of
sanitation and hygiene.
PRESS, RELIGION, ETC.
=Press.= The Press is free, and bold in discussion.
=Religion.= The Constitution recognizes the Roman Catholic Religion as
that of the country but permits other forms of worship.
=Telegraph.= The 700 telegraph offices are connected by 13,750 miles of
line. Colombia has cable connection at Buenaventura, San Andrés, and
Barranquilla; wireless stations at Santa Marta, Puerto Colombia, and
Cartagena. An international wireless station is expected at Bogotá in
1921. Other stations will be at Barranquilla, Arauca, Cúcuta, Cali,
Medellín. There are 13,000 miles of telephone wire.[3]
[3] For postal regulations to all the countries see Appendix.
=Money.= The money of Colombia approximates our own: that is, a gold
peso is worth 97.3 cents. Five pesos equal an English sovereign. A
condor is 10 pesos; a medio condor, 5 pesos, an English pound. Silver
coins are 50, 40, and 10 centavos or cents; nickel coins are 1, 2, and
5 cents.
The =Metric System= of weights and measures is legal and official
as in all the other Republics, although to some extent in domestic
business the old Spanish measures are used; as libra, 1.10 pound,
arroba, 25 libras, quintal, 100 libras, cargo, 250 libras. The vara,
80 centimeters, and the fanega, about a bushel are other measures. The
litre is of course the standard of liquid measure.