COLOMBIA: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Colombia is called a very mountainous country, and the most casual
visitor would not dispute the statement. Mountains are in evidence
along both shores and on the way to interior cities; but the unseen
part, the hinterland, is of a different character. Only two fifths
of the country is mountainous, but this part extremely so. In this
section, very sensibly, most of the people live, as in the neighboring
countries; for as the mountains are near the sea the majority of the
early settlers soon found their way up into the more healthful and
agreeable highlands. The chief drawback to these is the difficulty of
access; and we can not but admire the courage and endurance of those
stout-hearted people who settled in remote places among the mountains
of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, and amid untold hardships
there preserved for centuries civilization and a high degree of culture.
MOUNTAINS
The great mountain chains of Colombia constitute the northern terminal
of the great Andean system. In northern Ecuador the Andes has become a
single massive chain; but beginning in Colombia with an irregular mass
of peaks, the mountains soon divide into three distinct ranges, the
East, West, and Central Cordilleras.
The =Central Cordillera= may be considered the main range, having the
highest peaks: three above 18,000 feet, and a number nearly 16,000.
Many of the summits are crowned with eternal snow, and many are
volcanoes, as are peaks in the southern group and in the other two
chains.
The =West Cordillera=, branching from the Central, follows the coast
line to 4° N. Lat. where it leaves a space on the west for another
coast ridge, the Serranía de Baudó, which has come down from the north
as the conclusion of the low Panamá range and terminates the North
American system. Between this and the West Cordillera are the valleys
of the Atrato and the San Juan Rivers; the former flowing north into
the Caribbean Sea, the other south, turning into the Pacific where the
low Baudó ends. On the other (east) side of the West Cordillera is the
Cauca Valley with the Central Cordillera beyond. These two Cordilleras
end in low hills some distance from the Caribbean coast.
The =East Cordillera=, with the Magdalena Valley between that and the
Central, divides into two branches: one running far north dying out at
the extremity of the Goajira Peninsula, the other more to the east,
extending into Venezuela.
Curiously, along the coast of the Caribbean, northeast of the mouth of
the Magdalena, is another seemingly independent range of mountains,
detached from the East Cordillera and quite in line with the Central:
the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which has snow crowned summits rising
16,000-17,000 feet above the sea. The entire mountainous region of
Colombia is subject to earthquakes, which, however, are less severe
than those in Ecuador and Venezuela; in some sections there are
volcanic disturbances.
PLAINS
Between the mountain chains, besides the narrow valleys are limited
plateau regions, the latter occupying about 900 square miles; while
more than half of the country, an immense tract east of the Andes,
broadening towards the southern boundary, is a great plain slightly
inclining towards the east and south: the northern part belonging to
the Orinoco Basin, the larger section at the south to that of the
Amazon. This Amazon region has an area equal to that of the entire
State of California. Its higher portion, as well as most of the Orinoco
Basin in Colombia, where there are wet and dry seasons, is composed
chiefly of grassy plains called llanos. Nearer the Amazon, where it
rains a good part of the year, the country is heavily forested.
RIVERS
=Rivers entering the Caribbean Sea.= Most important at present as also
best known are the rivers which flow into the Caribbean Sea. Chief of
these is the Magdalena, 1020 miles long, the principal route to the
interior. The most important affluent of the Magdalena is the Cauca,
which enters it about 200 miles from the sea, after descending nearly
15,000 feet in a distance of 810 miles. The Magdalena has many other
tributaries, 500 or more, a few of which, entering from the east, are
navigable for small steamers. The Atrato River, 340 miles long, flows
north between the highlands of the West Cordillera and the Coast Range,
later turning east into the Gulf of Urabá. Of smaller streams flowing
into the Caribbean, the Sinú bears considerable traffic. Besides these,
there are the navigable Zulia, 120 miles, and the Catatumbo, 108 miles,
which by way of Lake Marcaibo in Venezuela also enter the Caribbean.
=Rivers entering the Pacific.= Into the Pacific flow many streams
carrying much water, as the rainfall of the region is excessive; but
the courses are mostly so short and the fall is so steep that few are
navigable for any considerable distance. The longest of them, the
Patía, 270 miles, is the only one which rises on the east side of the
West Cordillera. Worth noting is the fact that this river and four
others, the five belonging to three different basins, rise very near
together in the highlands of southern Colombia; the Cauca and Magdalena
going north to the Caribbean, the Putumayo and Caquetá southeast to the
Amazon. The Patía penetrates the West Cordillera by a remarkable gorge
with perpendicular walls several hundred feet in height. On the swampy
lowlands the river channels are navigable. The San Juan River, 180
miles long, is navigable for 140 miles, as it, like the Atrato, flows a
long distance parallel with the coast between the Baudó Range and the
Cordillera, until it turns west into the Pacific.
=Amazon Tributaries.= The Amazon receives two large tributaries
from the southern part of Colombia: the Putumayo, 840 miles; and
farther east the Caquetá, 1320 miles, the last also called the
Yapurá, especially in Brazil. These rivers are navigable by canoe
and by steamers of shallow draft for hundreds of miles, though with
interruptions in places from difficult rapids. The Putumayo is the
better, having been ascended a distance of 800 miles from the Amazon
in a steamer drawing six feet. (The entire length of the Hudson is 350
miles.) Smaller rivers, the Guainía and the Vaupés, unite with the
Casiquiare from Venezuela to form the Rio Negro, another important
affluent of the Amazon. These rivers have many smaller tributaries, but
the section has been little explored save for going up or down the main
stream.
=The Orinoco River=, which part of the way forms the boundary between
Colombia and Venezuela, receives several important tributaries from the
former country: the Guaviare, 810 miles long, the Vichada, 312 miles,
the Meta, 660 miles, and the Arauca, 480 miles. Though all are more
or less navigable the Meta is the most important. Joining the Orinoco
below the Maipures cataract and the Atures rapids, which higher up
obstruct the greater river, it permits continuous navigation to the
Atlantic Ocean. Where joined by the Meta the Orinoco is a mile wide.
The Meta is navigable for 150 miles above the junction, in the rainy
season 500 miles, to a point but 100 miles from Bogotá.
CLIMATE
It has already been noted that the altitude of a district as well as
its latitude affects the climate, which may be modified further by the
direction of prevailing winds and by ocean currents. The extensive and
lofty mountain ranges of Colombia therefore give the country a greater
variety of climate than it would otherwise enjoy, with temperatures
agreeable to every taste and suited to products of almost every
character. The configuration of the mountain ranges and valleys causes
a further difference in temperature and in rainfall among points at the
same altitude; the elevations being responsible not only for their own
lower temperatures, but for the greater heat of secluded valleys, and
for other variations.
In the forest region of the Amazon there is much precipitation. The
open plains of the Orinoco section have less rain, with a dry season
when the rivers, which overflow in the wet season, return to their
channels and the vegetation withers. Farther north, the Sierra de
Perija of the East Cordillera condenses the moisture of the northeast
trade winds, causing heavy rainfall on the eastern slope, but having
a dry section on the west. The Caribbean coast near Panamá has plenty
of rain, which diminishes towards the north, Goajira being quite arid.
Excessive precipitation occurs on the West Cordillera, on the Baudó
Range, and on the southern part of the Pacific Coast, where the plains
are heavily forested and unhealthful like the valleys of the San Juan
and Atrato farther north. The lower valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca,
shut off from the prevailing winds, are decidedly hot. These and other
lowland plains have the tropical climate, in general great humidity,
and many dense forests, except for the open drier llanos.
Above this region are enjoyable climates, the sub-tropical ranging
from 1500 to 7500 feet; still higher to 10,000 feet the seasons are
agreeably temperate in character. Beyond this altitude it becomes quite
cold, with bleak plains and passes, here called _paramos_, mostly
from 12,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea. Higher yet are regions of
perpetual snow.
The Santa Marta Plateau, the upper section of the Cauca Valley, the
greater part of the country traversed by the East Cordillera, and the
northern end of the Central enjoy the subtropical or the temperate
climate. Here is a large proportion of the white population, and here
the chief industries are located. In the tropical forests and in the
lower plains and valleys the annual mean temperature is from 82° to
over 90°; at Medellín with an altitude of 5000 feet it is 70°, and at
Bogotá, altitude 8600 feet, it is 57°.
In the north there are two seasons a year, a wet and a dry, though
not everywhere well defined; nearer the equator there are four, two
wet and two drier, as the sun passes overhead twice a year. On the
damp _paramos_ the moist wintry seasons are long and cold, so these
parts are unfrequented save by shepherds in the warmer periods. It
is estimated that a section of 150,000 square miles, twice the size
of England, has an elevation of 7000 feet or more, and there are few
points on the coast from which an agreeable climate could not be
reached in a few hours by automobile or train if roads were provided.