Colombia is located in northwestern South America, bordered by Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Panama. It is a mountainous country, dominated by the Andes Mountains, with peaks over 18,000 feet. The population of about 50 million is diverse, with the majority being of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Spanish is the dominant language. Regional identities are strong due to Colombia's isolated terrain. Culture has been influenced by indigenous, Spanish, African, and other Latin American cultures. Famous Colombian performers like Shakira and Juanes have introduced Colombian culture and music worldwide.

1. Colombia Nation Report Part 1 Ryan Rhoads

2. Geography Bordering Nations: Venezuela and Brazil to the East, Ecuador and Peru to the south, Panama and the Caribbean Sea to the north, and Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean to the West. Colombia is dominated by the Andes Mountains and is part of The Ring of Fire which is known as a region of the world plagued by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The mountain ranges of Colombia are divided into three branches known as cordilleras: the Cordillera Occidental which runs adjacent to the Pacific coast and including the city of Cali, the Cordillera Central running between the Cauca and Magdelena river valleys and including the cities of Medellin, Manizales, Pereia and Armenia, and the third is the Cordillera Oriental which extends north east to the Guajira Peninsula and including the cities of Bogota, Bucaramanga, and Cucata.

3. Geography The mountain ranges of Colombia reach incredible heights, peaks in the Cordillera Occidental are higher than 13,000 feet, and in the Cordillera Central and Cordillera Oriental reach heights of 18,000 feet and at 8,500 feet the city of Bogota is the highest sitting city of its size in the world. To the East of the Andes is the Savanna of the Llanos, a portion of the Orinoco River basin as well as in the far south east the jungle of the Amazon rainforest which together makes up over half of Colombia’s territory but contains less than 3% of the population. The major portion of the population, about 20%, lives in the north along the Caribbean coast in the cities of Barranquilla and Cartagena. The geography of the land in this area is mostly low-lying plains and also contains the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range Territories of Colombia also include islands in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

4. People About 58% of the Colombian population identifies themselves as Mestizo, or of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. Around 20% of the population is European, predominantly Spanish, partly Italian, Portuguese, and German. 14% of Colombia’s total population is made up of mixed African and European ancestry, with 3% being of mixed African and Amerindian ancestry which of 4% of having primarily African ancestry. Indigenous Amerindians make up only 1% of the population. Although other sources claim that up to 13 million Colombian’s (29%) to have some African ancestry. The major spoken language in Colombia is Spanish and while there is a total of 101 languages listed for Colombia in the Ethnologue database about 80 are spoken today as living languages.

5. People Immigration: The Spanish were the first and most substantial immigrant group to arrive to Colombia when they began to colonize the country after the Europeans arrived in 1499. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a low number of other Europeans and North Americans migrated to the country as well as a small number of Poles, Lithuanians, English, Irish, and Croats around the time of World War II. From early in the sixteenth century and through the nineteenth century black Africans were brought to Colombia as slaves mostly to work in the coastal lowlands. Large communities of Afro-Colombian’s can be found today on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

6. Culture Colombia’s location right in the middle of South America and Latin America has resulted in a wide range of cultural influences. Colombia’s modern culture is a melting pot of Native American, Spanish, European, African, American, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, and a wide range of other Latin American influences. Colombia’s mountainous terrain has caused much isolation between many regions and communities of the country resulting in the development of very strong regional identities and in many of these cases stronger than national identity. With so many isolated regions in Colombia there is a great difference in ranges of accents, dress, music, food, politics, and general attitude.

7. Colombia’s culture has been displayed on a world setting by such famous performers as Shakira and Juanes. ShakiraBorn in Barranquilla of Lebanese and European descent. She has won numerous awards worldwide and is recognized as one of the most successful artists of the last decade, Shakira is also the founder of the Pies Descalzos (Bare Feet) Foundation and continuously performs at benefits. Because of her compassion and involvement in global issues, she was named Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF. Juanes was originally from Carolina del Principe and grew up in Medellin where he sang lead in a rock group which after 10 years disbanded allowing him to pursue a solo career. He has received several Latin Grammy Awards for his singing and songwriting skills. Juanes started his Mi Sangre Foundation to help the victims of anti-personal land mines and his social activism has earned him multiple international honors, including the highest cultural honor given by France L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, declaring him "Knight in the order of Arts and Letters" Culture

8. Sources Wikipedia Google: for graphics New York Times: Multimedia Search