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Getting to know Colombia before you visit

map provided by colombia.html

                                                                                                                         

 

                 Colombia's spatial location is in Northern South America and is one of the three countries that was formed from the demise of Gran Colombia in 1830. Colombia shares a border with Peru, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil. The area was first settled by the Spainards in 1538 and giving the name New Granada until 1861. In 1885 it was giving the name the Republic of Colombia, in 1899 a fierce civil war broke out called the War of a Thousand Days it lasted three years and in 1903 Colombia lost its claims to Panama because it refused to ratify the lease to the United States in the Canal Zone witch led to Panama gaining its independence from Colombia. Guerrilla groups organized in the 1960's and 1970's such as the May 19th movement (M-19), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and the National Liberation Army (ELM) pushed the country into violence and instability. During the 1970's and 1980's Colombia became one of the world's leading countries for illegal drug production and trafficking. The Medillin and Cali cartels controlled the country. In 1982 Belisario Cuartas was elected president of Colombia and he  waged a war on guerilla violence and the drug trafficking. The streets of Colombia became a battle ground with bomb killings and kidnappings, by 1989 murder had become the leading cause of death. By 1990 the new president Trujillo tried to stem the violence by proposing lenient punishment on drug dealers. By the year 1999 the crime rate was so out of control that a reported 23,000 people were killed by leftist guerillas, right wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers. The violence created more than 100,000 refugees, while 2 million Colombians had fled the country in recent years. In the year 2000 the United States government proposed a plan to stop the violence by pledging 1.3 billion dollars to fight the drug cartels. The CIA trained soilders trampled over the powerful cartels, but the country is far from crime. Colombia has a population of 43,593,035 people as of July 2006 with a total median age of 26.3 years.

The official currency of Colombia is the Peso 1 Peso equals 100 centavos

There are coins in the following denominations: $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $200 $500 and $1000 pesos.
There are paper notes in the following denominations: $2,000, $1,000, $5,000, $10,000, 20,000 & 50,000 pesos.
You will need your passport to conduct any banking in Colombia.
The automatic tellers only allow 4 numbers for your PIN (Personal Identification Number).

The official language of Colombia is Spanish and the major religious factor is Roman Catholic at 90% of the population. The major ethinic group is the mestizos at 58% and whites following them at 20%.

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Information an facts were provided by the links below

Colombia Colombia Colombia South America Bogota

CIA - The World Factbook -- Colombia

Colombia- History, Geography, Government, and Culture — Infoplease.com