Colombia

“ Descending from the mountainous part of the country, we reach, to the east, that portion of Colombia situated upon the affluents of the Orinoco, a region which we may more readily consider in our description of that great river, lying mainly in the adjoining Republic of Venezuela. Here stretch the llanos, or plains, and the forests which are the home of the wilder tribes, for Colombia has various grades of civilization among her folk, of which the last are these aboriginals, and the middle the patient Christianized Indians, who constitute the bulk of the working classes. ”

“ I aspire to no other glory than the consolidation of Colombia; all must work for the invaluable blessing of union; the peoples, obeying the present government, in order to free themselves from anarchy; the ministers of the Sanctuary, by sending prayers to Heaven; and the soldiers, by using their swords to protect the sanctions of social order. ”

“ Colombia is in a unique geographical position upon the South American Continent, in that it is the only State with an Atlantic and Pacific coast; added to which is the hydrographic condition which gives the country an outlet also to the fluvial system of the Amazon, by means of the great affluents the Yapura and the Negro, as also the Putumayo—if that stream is to be regarded in Colombian territory, for the region is on the debatable ground claimed by three countries, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. ”

“ The mountain chains which cover this part of Colombia are the northern terminal ranges of the great Andean system. In northern Ecuador the Andes narrows into a single massive range which has the character of a confused mass of peaks and ridges on the southern frontier of Colombia. There are several lofty plateaus in this region which form a huge central watershed for rivers flowing east to the Amazon, west to the Pacific, and north to the Caribbean Sea. ”

“ The white contingent in the population of Colombia is chiefly composed of the descendants of the Spanish colonists who settled there during the three centuries following its discovery and conquest. Mining enterprises and climate drew them into the highlands of the interior, and there they have remained down to the present day, their only settlements on the hot, unhealthy coast being the few ports necessary for commercial and political intercourse with the mother country. ”

“ In the interior Colombia possesses many cities of considerable size, ranging from thirty to sixty thousand inhabitants, which are centers for the mining and agricultural districts—Pamplona in the mountains near the Venezuela frontier, Bucarmanga, a little to the west, Mompóz, near the confluence of the Cauca and Magdalena, once a port on the latter river but now, owing to the erratic wanderings of that stream, twenty miles east of it, Medellín, in the Cauca valley; Popayán and Pasto near the head waters of that river, and La Plata on the other side of the Central Cordillera. ”

“ North-west of Colombia in the Caribbean Sea are several small islands belonging to the republic, two of which (Great and Little Corn Is.) lie very near the coast of Nicaragua. The largest and most important of these islands is Vieja Providencia (Old Providence) , 120 m. off the Mosquito Coast, 41/2 m. long, which supports a small population.
The rivers of Colombia may be divided, for convenience of description, into three general classes according to the destination of their waters, the Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic—the last reaching their destination through the Amazon and Orinoco. ”

“ The mania for revolution which has infected the inhabitants of South America has found in Colombia very amenable material to work upon. For years during the last century stable government was a thing unknown; rival factions were always springing at each other’s throats, drenching the country in blood, decimating its population, crippling its prosperity, and embarrassing its finances. ”

“ The time has arrived when Colombia should assume in the politics of South America the position to which she is called by her topographical situation, her historical traditions, her population, and her political conquests. ”

“ Colombia (4,000) , a federal republic of nine States, occupying the isthmus of Panama and the NW. corner of S. America, between Venezuela and Ecuador. The country, nearly three times the size of France, though it has only a ninth of the population, comprises in the W. three chains of the Andes and the plateaus between them, in the E. plains well watered by tributaries of the Orinoco. The upper valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca are the centres of population, where the climate is delightful, and grain grows. ”

“ The general government of Colombia usually keeps a force of its own, varying between 150 and 500 men, with the double object of guarding the transit from interruption, and of controlling the political situation. ”

“ A good old padre, learned and patriotic, wrote a book some decades ago, in which he contended that Colombia, by reason of its favored geographical position and its wonderful natural resources, should rank among the richest and most prosperous countries of the New World. ”

“ By refusing to allow Colombia to uphold her sovereign rights over a territory where she had held dominion for eighty years, the friendship of nearly a century disappeared, the indignation of every Colombian, and millions of other Latin-Americans, was aroused and is still most intensely alive. ”

“ Just as a son withdraws from his paternal roof, the isthmian people in adopting the lot it has chosen have done it with grief, but in compliance with the supreme and inevitable duty it owes to itself—that of its own preservation and of working for its own welfare. We therefore begin to form a part among the free nations of the world, considering Colombia as a sister nation, [Pg 110] with which we shall be whenever circumstances may require it, and for whose prosperity we have the most fervent and sincere wishes. ”

“ Colombia is also the home of the American “Alpine rose” (Befaria) , which is to be found between 9000 and 11,000 ft. elevation, and grows to a height of 5-6 ft. Tree ferns have a remarkable growth in many localities, their stems being used in southern Cundinamarca to make corduroy roads. ”

“ Colombia covers an area of 438,436 square miles, and like the United States enjoys the unique advantage of having a coast line on two oceans—the Caribbean Sea to the northwest being part of the Atlantic and the Pacific on the south and west. Ecuador and Peru form her southern boundary, Brazil and Venezuela are on her eastern frontier, while Venezuela stretches across much of her northern limits, and the Republic of Panama is the only land on the west. ”

“ Here, for almost half a century after the liberation of the provinces, a process of alternate fusion and disintegration continued. Thus, in 1832, the three States of Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada were formed. In 1863 the latter country became the United States of Colombia; but it was not until 1886 that the Republic of Colombia as it now stands was instituted.
Colombia has suffered from as many revolutions as the majority of its neighbours. General Santander, one of the many of Bolivar's lieutenants who became Presidents, was the first Chief-of-State of Venezuela. ”

“ The formation of a great Bolivian State, after a period of isolation lasting more than a century, is certainly the dream of generous statesmen. It is not easy to conceive of the political union of peoples as far removed as those of Venezuela and Bolivia, but this assembly might well result in a natural union of the peoples of the North; a new Greater Colombia, whose provinces would stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific. ”

“ The attempt was a failure, otherwise the British Empire might have been established upon this coast.
Colombia, like Mexico, has been a land of what might be termed vanished hopes and arrested development. [13] But the old land of New Granada, as Colombia was earlier termed, has not the weight of wasted opportunity and outraged fortune which now envelops the land of New Spain, which in our generation promised so much and fell from grace. ”

“ The conquistadores, who had to be always on the alert against the Indians, and who took every precaution against surprise and ambuscade, avoided swamps and lowlands, and kept rather to the commanding ridges of the country on their line of march. As a consequence, the best roads in Colombia to-day are those traced out by the old Muisca traders and by Quesada in the north and Robledo, Almaguer and Belalcazar in the west and south. ”

“ In most of the other republics there seems to be much less that can be called distinctive of each. Colombians,442 Venezuelans, and Ecuadorians inhabit regions generally similar, have had a similar history, and have all received about an equal infusion of native blood, though in each—and especially in Colombia—there are some few old Spanish families who have remained unaffected. ”

“ Colombia, S.A. 3N. 75W. Coasts, etc., explored by Columbus (from whom the present name derived) , and earlier and later navigators, 15th-16th centuries; named New Granada by Quesada, conqueror of Bogota, 1538; revolt against Spanish rule, 1810; independence established after Bolivar's victory at Boyaca, 1819; Venezuela and Ecuador withdrew from confederation, 1830; name changed to 'United States of Colombia,' 1861; constant revolutions. ”

“ It is notable that in that Conference Colombia was represented by General Rafael Reyes, a high type of man—gentleman by birth and education, of scientific attainments, a natural leader, one of the strong characters of Spanish America; a man whose existence makes things seem hopeful when else they might look hopeless; a soldier-statesman in whom many see the potentialities of a second Diaz. ”

“ Had the destiny of Colombia, after the union, been entrusted to the direction of wise and unselfish patriots, as was the infant Republic of the United States of North America, one may well believe that the history of this part of South America, during the last three-quarters of a century, would have been quite different from what it has been, and that it would have been spared those countless internecine wars that have deluged the country in blood and rendered civilization, in its higher sense, impossible. ”

“ The cruelties perpetrated by the conquering Spaniards upon the population, had stirred up so intense a feeling of hatred against them that Bolivar was speedily joined by great numbers of men. He gained success after success, swept the northern provinces clear of the Spaniards, founded the republic of Colombia, of which he was elected president, drove the tyrants out of New Granada, and marching south freed the province of La Plata from the Spanish yoke. ”

“ Where so many other states have indulged in revolutions,{119} it is dangerous to use the superlative degree; but it is fairly safe to say that Colombia has been facile princeps in the insensate and sanguinary game. ”

“ Three days after the battle of Boyaca, Bolivar entered Bogota in triumph. "A congress met in December and decided that Venezuela and Nueva Granada should form one republic, to be called Colombia. Morillo departed for Europe in 1820, and the victory gained by Bolivar at Carabobo on June 24, 1821, decided the fate of Colombia. In the following January General Bolivar assembled an army at Popayan to drive the Spaniards out of the province of Quito. His second in command, General Sucre, led an advanced guard, which was reinforced by a contingent of volunteers from Peru, under Santa Cruz. ”

“ In Colombia there seem to be as many “doctors,” that is, men who have the degree of Doctor of Laws, as there are generals in Venezuela. Most of them are politicians, or contributors to the various newspapers of the country, or “professors”—there are no pedagogues—in the numerous educational institutions of the Republic.
The number of newspapers published in Bogotá is surprising—more than there are in Boston or Philadelphia. ”

“ The people of Bogota are very kindly and courteous, and no woman I have ever seen surpassed these in the grace and dignity of their manners or in the purity of their lives. They are devoted wives, mothers, and Christians. If Colombia does not increase her population by immigration, she has a sure dependence in her home production. ”

“ The large proportion of mestizos, if these percentages are correct, is significant because it implies a persistence of type that may largely determine the character of Colombia’s future population, unless the more slowly increasing white element can be reinforced by immigration. ”

“ Barranquilla has become the chief city of commercial importance within the United States of Colombia, and is the residence of many of the principal merchants of the republic. It is a growing city, and from a few houses twenty years ago it now has a population of upwards of twenty-five thousand. Situated as it is, so near the outlet of the Magdalena River, it is destined to{232} increase in size and commerce, and to become to Colombia what New York is to the United States—the great commercial emporium of the republic ”

“ It would be idle to describe, even to enumerate, all the revolutions which have disquieted the Isthmus since it first joined Colombia in repudiating the Spanish rule. They have been as thick as insects in the jungle. No physical, social or commercial ties bound Panama to Colombia at any time during their long association. ”

“ Colombia claims a population slightly in excess of 5,000,000, but I doubt if it really has 4,000,000. About one-tenth of the inhabitants are pure white and there are 200,000 wild Indians, living primitively under tribal chiefs, nominally under the control of the local government. The remainder are mixtures of 117white, black and Indian in varying proportion, over 300,000 of whom are negroes and mulattoes. Little can be hoped for from the majority of these people owing to their poor source of origin and the climatic conditions which surround them. ”