Colombia - national flag
Colombia's national flag was officially adopted in 1861 on the basis of the
flag used by Greater Colombia (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama) in the
fight against Spain. The yellow color symbolizes Colombia, which by the blue
color, the sea, is separated from Spain. The red is the blood that had to be
sacrificed to maintain independence.
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Colombia - history
It over 1.1 million km2 large area, which today forms the
territory of Colombia, was in pre-Spanish times inhabited by several Indian
tribes. Their cultural status could not be measured with the Aztec Empire in
Mexico or with the Inca Empire in Peru except in the field of goldsmithing,
where they reached a very high level. The legend of El Dorado, the
land where even the streets were paved with gold, played a major role during the
discovery and colonization of the country in the 1500's. In 1533, the Spaniards
founded Cartagena, which was to become an important port city, and in 1538 Santa
Fé de Bogotá. During the colonial era, the Catholic Church had a great
influence, among other things. due to the Inquisition, which established itself
in Cartagena in 1610. The resistance of the Indians led to the need for the
introduction of slaves from Africa to work on the plantations and in the
mines. During colonial times (1500-1810), the area was called the Viceroyalty
of New Granada. The capital Bogotá was the largest gold producer on the
continent and one of the most important in the world until the discovery of the
major gold mines in California and Australia.
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The three mountain ranges that run through the country have for centuries
made communication difficult and meant that the country was divided into four
almost independent regions until well into the 1900's. In
1810, Napoleon invaded Spain and deposed the king; the colonies no longer felt
obliged to obey the crown, and Colombia declared independence the same year. The
protagonist of the war of liberation was Simón Bolívar, the famous liberator of
South America. In 1816, Spain recaptured Cartagena and Bogotá, but with the
victory of the rebels in 1819 at the Battle of Bocayá, secession was
definitively sealed. In 1830, Greater Colombia, which consisted of Colombia,
Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador, was dissolved, after which the organization of
the independent republic began.
The regional differences that led to a form of natural federalism, the
weakness of the central government, a certain anti-militarism and a high degree
of political participation on the part of the population led to countless civil
war-like conflicts between conservative and liberal groups in the years
1839-1903. The liberals, who drew their ideas from French and British thinkers,
represented modernity; the conservatives embodied the tradition and wished to
return to the peaceful conditions of colonial times and dreamed of a
Hellenistic-Catholic Arcadia in which Bogotá was to be the South American
Athens. A feature of Colombia's political life in the 1800's. was that both the
Conservatives and the Liberals were not decidedly class parties, but largely
enjoyed the support of all sections of the population.
Heads of State (selected) |
1821-30'sort |
Simón Bolívar |
1833-37 |
Francisco de Paula Santander |
1845-49 |
Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera |
1861-63 |
Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera |
1863-64 |
Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera |
1866-68 |
Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera |
1880-82 |
Rafael Núñez |
1884-85 |
Rafael Núñez |
1885-88 |
Rafael Núñez |
1900-04 |
José Manuel Marroquín |
1904-09 |
Rafael Reyes Prieto |
1909 |
Jorge Holguín |
1909-10 |
Ramón González Valencia |
1910-14 |
Carlos E. Restrepo |
1914-18 |
José Vicente Concha |
1918-21 |
Marco Fidel Suárez |
1921-22 |
Jorge Holguín |
1922-26 |
Pedro Nel Ospina |
1926-30 |
Miguel Abadía Méndez |
1930-34 |
Enrique Olaya Herrera |
1934-38 |
Alfonso López Pumarejo |
1938-42 |
Eduardo Santos |
1942-45 |
Alfonso López Pumarejo |
1945-46 |
Alberto Lleras Camargo |
1946-50 |
Mariano Ospina Pérez |
1950-53 |
Laureano Gómez |
1953-57 |
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla |
1957-58 |
Gabriel Paris |
1958-62 |
Alberto Lleras Camargo |
1962-66 |
Guillermo León Valencia |
1966-70 |
Carlos Lleras Restrepo |
1970-74 |
Misael Pastrana Borrero |
1974-78 |
Alfonso López Michelsen |
1978-82 |
Julio César Turbay Alaya |
1982-86 |
Belisario Betancur Cuartes |
1986-90 |
Virgilio Barco |
1990-94 |
Gavira Trujillo |
1994-98 |
Ernesto Samper Pizano |
1998-2002 |
Andrés Pastrana |
2002-10 |
Álvaro Uribe |
2010- |
Juan Manuel Santos |
In 1903, Colombia lost the province of Panama due to the interests of
international companies in completing the interoceanic canal. Colombia refused
to accept their terms, while a separatist movement backed by the United States
was willing to sign a treaty. Panama seceded and the canal was completed. In
1903-29, the conservatives had power, and political life was continued according
to the 1800's model.
After the world crisis in 1929, the Liberals took over political power and
retained it until 1946. Under changing liberal governments, the country's
infrastructure was modernized with the construction of roads and railways. A
modest agricultural reform was promoted and the search for oil intensified.
In 1946 began one of the worst periods in Colombia's history; it lasted until
1958, is known as La Violencia, 'Violence', and cost over 280,000
lives. The consequences of this period's brutality are still felt today, but
there is no agreement on the manifold causes of violence. Conditions in the
countryside were in some areas almost medieval with a small upper class having
an actual neck and hand right over the peasants. After 1929, a budding and
liberal-minded industrial bourgeoisie sought to promote a modernization and
industrialization of the country as such; in addition, it was necessary first to
change the conditions in the countryside and to modernize agricultural
production. At the same time, the development was to be promoted by a more
dynamic national market with greater demand and purchasing power. Politically,
it became necessary for the liberals to ally with the middle class and with the
proletariat both in the countryside and in the cities.
Increased demands brought contradictions to light, and the whole thing
exploded into violence in early 1948. Both liberal and communist guerrillas
emerged, quickly gaining control of large areas, establishing new forms of
administration, and mobilizing thousands of peasants and landless farmers. The
Liberals and Conservatives downplayed their opposition and came together in a
new alliance to prevent the masses from taking power. However, having lost
political control and unable to govern, they handed over power to General
Gustavo Roja's Pinilla, who established a military dictatorship.
In 1957, the Conservatives and Liberals succeeded in toning down their
historical antagonisms so much that they could form a National Front with the
aim of putting an end to the military dictatorship. They agreed to occupy the
presidency in turn, and that the two parties should have the same number of
ministries and representatives in each of the two chambers of parliament. This
parity agreement was complied with until the 1974 elections.
The equal distribution of ministries continued until 1978 after a major
conservative and liberal victory over ANAPO (Alianza Nacional Popular), a
populist electoral alliance which, in the elections of 19 April 1970, had become
the largest opposition group in both chambers. In 1971, ANAPO organized itself
as a political party with a program of Colombian socialism. In protest against
alleged electoral fraud, ANAPO supporters formed an armed organization, the
famous and infamous guerrilla movement M-19 (Movimiento 19 de Abril), which was
supported by dissidents from the old communist guerrilla FARC, formed in 1966.
In the 1982 elections, the Liberals gained a majority in both Congress and
the Senate, while Belisario Betancur of the Conservatives was elected by an
overwhelming majority. At the beginning of the year, the guerrillas suffered a
few more defeats, thanks to a paramilitary anti-guerrilla group, Muerte
a Secuestradores (MAS, 'Death over the Kidnappers'), which collaborated
with the major drug cartels.
In November, Betancur granted amnesty to the guerrillas willing to deposit
their weapons and ordered an investigation into MAS. Only a few thousand
guerrillas laid down their weapons. The drug cartels responded by killing
Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla in April 1984. The government again
responded by decreeing a general curfew. Nevertheless, a peace commission
succeeded in reaching a ceasefire and a peace agreement in August 1984.
In 1986, the liberal Virgilio Barco became president with such a large number
of votes that he was able to abandon cooperation with the Conservatives. His
fight against poverty did not provide more peaceful conditions; in the 1990
presidential election, the liberal Gavira Trujillo won, but by then three
candidates had been killed in the space of a month. In 1994, Ernesto
Samper joined Pizano as President.
The 1980's and 1990's were marked by violence and political and civilian
killings, fighting between the guerrillas and the army, and fighting between the
army and the armed people of the drug cartels. It is likely that the money of
the cartels promoted corruption among politicians and the military, and that
there were strong links between drug and guerrilla activities.
In the 1990's, the armed uprising escalated to overthrow the system despite
several attempts at dialogue between the parties. The violence came to cover
large parts of the country, and the largest of the guerrilla groups, the FARC,
grew to 17,000 men.
It also failed to Andrés Pastrana, who took office as president in 1998, to
create real peace negotiations, though he in 3 1/2 year
lod FARC control a demilitarized area of 42.000 km2 and lead
personal conversations with the FARC leadership.
The peacekeepers failed, and the army then jogged the partisans out of their
main area. In the 2002 presidential election, Álvaro Uribe passed the post to
right-wing law and order candidate.
The fight against the guerrillas intensified during Uribe, but they also
succeeded in disarming a large part of the paramilitary militias, just as peace
talks were initiated with some of the cocaine barons. The policy has been
largely successful, and the number of murders in the country had halved in 2004,
despite continued political violence.
The country became a close ally in the United States' "war on drugs", and
military spending was sharply increased in the fight against cocaine smuggling
and FARC guerrillas. Despite the Uribe government's close ties to the United
States, Colombia maintained its relations with US-critical countries in the
region, such as Cuba and Venezuela. Uribe was re-elected in 2006 by a large
majority.
The already tense relations with neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela developed
into a real diplomatic crisis when the Colombian military attacked and killed
one of the FARC leaders on Ecuadorian territory.
In 2010, Álvaro Uribe's former Minister of Defense Juan Manuel Santos won
the presidential election, on promises to continue Uribe's line towards the
FARC and the drug barons, which he himself had helped to implement as Minister
of Defense. Santos was re-elected in 2014.
From 2012, the government and the FARC began negotiations in Havana, Cuba. In
June 2016, they led to a historic peace agreement between the two parties and an
expectation that an actual peace agreement could be implemented within a short
time frame, thereby bringing half a century of civil war to an end.
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