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EL ESCUDO DE COLOMBIA

El Escudo de Armas de la República fue adoptado el 9 de mayo de 1834.

El escudo, de forma suiza, tiene 6 partes de ancho por 8 de alto. Está dividido en tres franjas horizontales: La franja superior, sobre campo azul, lleva en el centro una granada de oro abierta y graneada de rojo, con tallo y hojas del mismo metal.

A cada lado de la granada va una cornucopia de oro inclinada y vertiendo, hacia el centro monedas la del lado derecho, y frutos propios de la zona tórrida la del lado izquierdo.
La granada denota el nombre que llevaba esta república, y las cornucopias, la riqueza de sus minas y la feracidad de sus tierras.

La franja del medio, en campo de platino, lleva en el centro un gorro frígido enastado en una lanza, como símbolo de la libertad, el platino, metal precioso, propio de nuestro país.
En la franja inferior va el Istmo de Panamá, en azul, con sus dos mares adyacentes ondeados de plata, y un navío negro, con sus velas desplegadas en cada uno de ellos. Este Istmo ya no pertenece a Colombia.

El cóndor simboliza la libertad. De su pico pende una corona de laurel verde y en una cinta ondeante, asida del escudo y entrelazada en la corona, se lee sobre oro con letras negras: Libertad y Orden. El escudo descansa sobre un campo verde, adornado de algunas plantas menudas.
Los colores nacionales son amarillo azul y rojo. Están distribuidos en tres divisiones verticales de diferente magnitud. La más inmediata al asta, roja; la división central, azul y la de la extremidad, amarilla, la más ancha.

Colombia, republic in South America, situated in the northwestern part of the continent, and bounded on the north by Panama and the Caribbean Sea, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Peru and Ecuador, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the only country of South America with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The total land area of the country is 1,141,748 sq km (440,831 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Bogotá.

Land and Resources

The distinguishing topographical feature of Colombia is the Andes mountain chain, situated in the central and western parts of the country, and extending north-south across almost its entire length. The Andes comprise three principal and parallel ranges: the Cordillera Oriental, the Cordillera Central, and the Cordillera Occidental. On the Caribbean coast is the isolated mountain mass known as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which includes Colombia's highest point at Pico Cristóbal Colón (5775 m/18,947 ft). The Cordillera Central contains the volcanic peaks of Huila (5750 m/18,865 ft) and Tolima (5215 m/17,110 ft). About 240 km (about 150 mi) south of the Caribbean, the Cordillera Central descends to marshy jungle. The cordillera peaks are perpetually covered with snow; the timberline in these mountains lies at about 3000 m (about 10,000 ft).

East of the Cordillera Oriental are vast reaches of torrid lowlands, thinly populated and only partly explored. The southern portion of this region, called selvas (rain forests), is thickly forested and is drained by the Caquetá River and other tributaries of the Amazon River. The northern and greater part of the region comprises vast plains, or llanos, and is traversed by the Meta and other tributaries of the Orinoco River. Between the cordilleras are high plateaus, a number of which are about 2400 m (about 8000 ft) above sea level, and fertile valleys, traversed by the principal rivers of the country. The principal river of Colombia, the Magdalena, flows north between the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Central, across practically the entire country, emptying into the Caribbean near Barranquilla after a course of about 1540 km (about 960 mi).
The Cauca, also an important means of communication, flows north between the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Occidental, merging with the Magdalena about 320 km (about 200 mi) from the Caribbean. In the west the Patía cuts its way through the Andes to empty into the Pacific. The coastline of Colombia extends for about 1760 km (about 1090 mi) along the Caribbean and for about 1450 km (about 900 mi) along the Pacific. River mouths along the coasts are numerous, but no good natural harbors exist.

Colombia lies almost entirely in the Torrid Zone, a meteorological term denoting the areas of the earth's surface between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn. The climate, however, varies with the elevation. The low regions along the coast and the deep Patía and Magdalena river valleys are torrid, with average annual temperatures of 24° to 27° C (75° to 80° F). From about 500 to 2300 m (about 1500 to 7500 ft) the climate is subtropical, and from about 2300 to 3000 m (about 7500 to 10,000 ft) it is temperate. Above about 3000 m (about 10,000 ft) is the cold-climate zone, where temperatures range from -18° to 13° C (0° to 55° F). The average January and July temperatures in Bogotá are the same: 14° C (57° F). The averages for the same months in Barranquilla are 27° C (80° F) and 28° C (82° F).

Throughout the year, three-month periods of rain and dry weather alternate. Along the Pacific coast precipitation is heavy. At Bogotá the annual rainfall averages about 1060 mm (about 42 in), and in Barranquilla it averages about 800 mm (about 32 in). Dry weather prevails on the slopes of the Cordillera Oriental.

The mineral resources of the country are varied and extensive. Colombia is the major world source of emeralds. Other significant reserves include petroleum and natural gas, coal, gold, silver, iron ore, salt, platinum, and some uranium.

Plants and Animals

The indigenous flora and fauna of Colombia are as varied as the topography. Mangroves and coconut palms grow along the Caribbean coast, and the forest regions, which cover about one-half of the country, include such commercially useful trees as mahogany, lignum vitae, oak, walnut, cedar, pine, and several varieties of balsam. Tropical plants also yield rubber, chicle, cinchona, vanilla, sarsaparilla, ginger, gum copal, ipecac, tonka beans, and castor beans.
Among the wildlife are the larger South American mammals, such as jaguars, pumas, tapirs, peccaries, anteaters, sloths, armadillos, and several species of monkey and red deer. Alligators, once numerous along the principal rivers, have been intensively hunted and are becoming scarce. Many varieties of snakes inhabit the tropical regions. Birdlife includes condors, vultures, toucans, parrots, cockatoos, cranes, storks, and hummingbirds.

Soils

Colombia contains several fertile low-lying valleys, but only about 4 percent of the country's land area, chiefly at higher elevations, is cultivated. Soil exhaustion and erosion, largely the result of slash-and-burn farming methods, are problems in agricultural regions.

The racial makeup of the Colombian population is diversified. About 58 percent of the people are mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry), about 20 percent are of unmixed European ancestry, and about 14 percent are mulatto (of mixed black and white ancestry). The remaining 8 percent is made up of blacks, Native Americans, and people of mixed race.

Population Characteristics, Religion, and Language.
The population of Colombia (1995 estimate) is 36,200,000, giving the country an overall population density of about 32 persons per sq km (about 82 per sq mi). About 73 percent of the population is classified as urban. The principal centers of population are in the Magdalena and Cauca river valleys and in the Caribbean coastal region. The concordat of 1973 preserves a privileged status for Roman Catholicism; about 95 percent of the people are Roman Catholic. Small Protestant and Jewish minorities exist. The official language of Colombia is Spanish, although a new constitution adopted in 1991 recognizes the languages of ethnic groups in their territories and provides for bilingual education.

Elementary education is free and compulsory for five years. Much effort has been devoted to eliminating illiteracy, and by the early 1990s nearly 87 percent of all Colombians over age 15 could read and write. Courses in Roman Catholicism are compulsory in all public schools, most of which are controlled by the Roman Catholic church. Protestant churches maintain a number of schools, chiefly in Bogotá.
The national government finances secondary- and university-level schools and maintains primary schools in municipalities and departments that cannot afford to do so. In the early 1990s about 4.3 million pupils annually attended primary schools; some 2.4 million students attended secondary schools, including vocational and teacher-training institutions. In the late 1980s Colombia had some 235 institutions of higher education, with a total enrollment of nearly 475,000. Among the largest universities are the National University of Colombia (1867) in Bogotá (parts of which date from the 16th century), the University of Cartagena (1827) in Cartagena, the University of Antioquía (1822) in Medellín, and the University of Nariño (1827) in Pasto.

The heritage of the Spanish colonial period is more noticeably preserved in Colombia than in any other South American country, and family life and dress often still conform to traditional norms. Although Colombia is a country of many racial mixtures, its culture is diversified more by region than by ethnicity. The Native American civilization was rapidly assimilated into that of the Spanish settlers, whose language nearly all Colombians speak today.
Distinguished Colombian writers include the 19th-century novelist Jorge Isaacs and, in the 20th century, poet Germán Pardó García and novelist Gabriel García Márquez, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982.
The National Library in Bogotá (1777) contains about 800,000 volumes; it also administers town and village libraries throughout the country. The leading museums are located in Bogotá. The National Museum contains collections relating to the Spanish conquest and the colonial period. The National Archaeological Museum exhibits utensils, stone carvings, textiles, gold works, and other materials found at sites throughout the country. The famous Gold Museum features a noted collection of pre-Columbian gold objects.
For Colombian literature and music, see Latin American Literature; Latin American Music; Latin American Art and Architecture; Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture.

Colombia is primarily an agrarian nation, although it experienced rapid industrial growth in recent decades. In the early 1990s the country undertook an economic reform program that opened its economy to international trade and investment, and it is the only country in Latin America that maintained scheduled payments on loans during a debt crisis in the late 1980s. For these reasons the country enjoys one of the highest credit ratings in the region. Colombia's agricultural sector once was dependent on coffee as its principal cash crop, but has successfully diversified since a decline in international coffee prices in the late 1980s. Its mining sector contributes significantly to the economy, with large deposits of fossil fuels, precious metals, and emeralds, of which Columbia supplies about one-half the world supply. In 1995 the estimated annual budget included revenues of $16 billion and expenditures of $21 billion. The estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in 1994 was $64.4 billion, or about $1810 per capita; not included in these official statistics is the economic impact of coca cultivation and the illegal cocaine trade, reportedly with profits worth $300 million annually in the early 1990s.

Coffee is Colombia's principal crop. Although Colombia is second only to Brazil in the annual volume of coffee produced and is the world's leading producer of mild coffee, the crop was bypassed by petroleum in the mid-1990s as the country's largest source of foreign income. In the mid-1970s coffee accounted for 80 percent of Colombia's export earnings; by 1995 coffee only brought in 25 percent of the nation's export earnings.
High production costs, low international prices, and a worm that destroys coffee beans all combined to drastically reduce the earnings of Colombian coffee growers in the early 1990s. Coffee is cultivated chiefly on mountain slopes between about 900 and 1800 m (about 3000 and 6000 ft) above sea level, principally in the departments of Caldas, Antioquía, Cundinamarca, Norte de Santander, Tolima, and Santander. More than 150,000 coffee plantations, chiefly small, extend over approximately 1 million hectares (approximately 2.47 million acres). Coffee output totaled about 966,000 metric tons per year in the early 1990s, with most of the exported coffee going to the United States. While coffee is Colombia's leading agricultural product, the country's diverse climate and topography permits cultivation of a wide variety of other crops.
Annual production of principal cash crops in addition to coffee are cacao beans (54,900 metric tons), sugarcane (2.1 million), bananas (1.6 million), tobacco (27,900), cotton (306,600), and cut flowers. Chief food crops are rice (1.7 million), potatoes (2.3 million), cassava (1.6 million), and plantains (2.6 million). Plants producing pita, sisal, and hemp fibers, used in the manufacture of cordage and coarse sacking material, are also cultivated. In the early 1990s the livestock population included about 24.8 million cattle, 2.6 million hogs, 2.6 million sheep, and 2 million horses. Much of the forestland of Colombia is inaccessible because of poor transportation facilities, or contains trees of relatively little value.
The annual cut of roundwood in Colombia in the early 1990s was about 19.7 million cu m (about 696 million cu ft). Much of the wood is used as fuel.
The coastal waters and many rivers and lakes of Colombia provide a variety of fish, notably trout, tarpon, sailfish, and tuna. The total catch in the early 1990s was about 108,700 metric tons annually, about one-quarter of which consisted of freshwater species of fish.

Mining

Petroleum and gold are Colombia's chief mineral products. A number of other minerals are extracted, including silver, emeralds, platinum, copper, nickel, coal, and natural gas. The petroleum operations are under control of a national petroleum company and several foreign-owned concessions. Production of crude petroleum is centered in the Magdalena River valley, about 650 km (about 400 mi) from the Caribbean, and in the region between the Cordillera Oriental and Venezuela; it amounted to about 160.4 million barrels per year in the early 1990s. Much of Colombia's oil is shipped to Curaçao for refining. New oil reserves discovered about 200 km (about 125 mi) east of Bogotá are expected to provide Colombia with energy self-sufficiency into the 21st century, with annual extraction from the reserves of 180 million barrels anticipated by the late 1990s. Colombia is one of the world's leading exporters of coal. Two-thirds of an annual production of 21.7 million metric tons comes from a single open-pit mine, the world's largest, on the Guajira Peninsula. Some 4.7 billion cu m (166 billion cu ft) of natural gas was produced annually in the early 1990s.
Gold, mined in Colombia since pre-Columbian times, is found principally in the department of Antioquía and to a lesser extent in the departments of Cauca, Caldas, Nariño, Tolima, and Chocó. Colombia is the leading gold producer of South America, with an output exceeding 1 million troy oz in the early 1990s. Platinum, discovered in Colombia in 1735, is found in the gold-bearing sands of the San Juan and Atrato river basins. Colombia has the largest platinum deposits in the world, producing about 51,500 troy oz annually. The chief emerald-mining centers are the Muzo and Chiver mines. Still other mineral products are lead, manganese, zinc, mercury, mica, phosphates, and sulfur.

Manufacturing

The manufacturing industries in Colombia, stimulated in the 1950s by the establishment of high protective tariffs on imports, are generally small-scale enterprises, producing for the domestic market. Together, they account for about 21 percent of Colombia's yearly national output. Cotton-spinning mills, principally in the cities of Barranquilla, Manizales, Medellín, and Samacá, are important manufacturing establishments. Other industries include the manufacture of foodstuffs, tobacco products, iron and steel, and transportation equipment. Chemical products are becoming increasingly important, and footwear, Panama hats, and glassware are made.

Energy

Colombia has many hydroelectric installations, and in the late 1980s about three-fourths of its electricity was produced by such facilities. A drought in 1992 brought about electricity rationing in much of the country. Consequently the government initiated the construction of new thermoelectric power plants and improved natural gas distribution to urban residences. In 1995 the country's installed electricity producing capacity was some 10.2 million kilowatts, and its annual output of electricity was approximately 33 billion kilowatt-hours.