The Republic of Colombia is a country in South America with a total area of 1,138,910 km2. The country was originally inhabited by the Chibcha people, and in 1538 Spain invaded and formed part of the Spanish colony of New Granada, along with Panama and most of Venezuela. Modern Colombia was formed of states who declared their independance from Spain in 1811, after which a long war ensued and in 1819 the country was enlarged to include Ecuador and gained independence from Spain, then becoming known as Gran Colombia. In 1830 Ecuador and Venezuela broke away from the union. The climate is tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands. The terrain is mixture of flat coastal lowlands, plains in east, central highlands, some high mountains. Natural resources are crude oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper and emeralds. The religion is 95% Roman Catholic and the language is Spanish with numerous Indian dialects also spoken. Research Colombia
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Colombia