colombia

=Colombia=

Fast Fact File
Full name - Republica de Colombia Population - 44,227,550 Area - 1,038,669 km sqaured Capital city - Santafe de Bogota Language - Spanish Currency - Peso Head of Country - Alvaro Uribe Flag

__location__
The country of Colombia is located in South America. It is situated in northern South America so it has many borders. Some of the borders are Peru, Brazil, Equador and Panama. The coordinates of Colombia are 4 degrees south and 72 degrees west. The country borders the North pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and is also the only South American country that borders both of the two oceans. The equator runs through the southern part of the country. Columbia is located south east of Mexico and north west of Brazil.

Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America and has a total area of 1,138,910 km squared. The whole of the country is situated in the tropics. Colombia is slightly less than 3 times the size of the American state of Montana. Colombia's capital city, Bogota is located within the centre of the country. The country of Colombia is located east of Australia.

__Geographical Features__
Colombia is located near the carribean so there are many tropical islands around the coast. Because Colombia is located so far, north the mountains need to be at least 5,000m to be able to have snow covering them. Colombia has the highest sierra in the world at a total height of 5,775 metres. There are many snow covered volcanoes in Colombia that can rise to a total height of 5,000m high.

Not all of Colombia is Mountainous, there are many low lying areas near the coast. The very famous Amazon river, which runs through the Amazin Rainforest also runs through many other South American countries including Colombia. There are also many rivers that flow through Colombia, but the longest of them all is the Magdalena river at 1,540km long. Colombia has no deserts but it does have many other flat areas. The biggest island, which is off the coast is called San Andres island.

__Climate__
The northern part of Colombia has a tropical climate because the equator runs through it. The Andes run through part of Colombia, which means that part of the country has a cold climate. Colombia has no rainfall problems because they have an average of 1000mm per year. Because Colombia is situated in South America, the Amazon rainforest is located partly in Colombia making warm humid temperatures in that area.

Because Colombia is located at the equator the country can recieve tropical storms such as hurricanes of cyclones. In 2006 the capital city Bogota recieved a terrifying hail storm which are very uncommon in Colombia. Colombia can recieve snow in the coastal mountains and in the Ande Mountain range, but never recieve snow in the areas that are lying near the coast.

__Economy__
Colombia has a small to medium economy. It's main industry is oil, which they produce a lot of. Colombia is also know for being a coffee producer, because 1 third of the country's exports are made from coffee. The currency for the country is the peso. The GDP total per capita is $6,300 and the country's GDP total is $262 billion. Colombia exports $12.96 billion worth of goods and they import $13.06 billion worth of goods.

Colombia's natural recources are petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds and hyrdropower. Colombia's agriculture products are coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, suger cane, cocoa beans, oilseed, vegetables, forest products and shrimp farming. Colombia's industries are textiles, food processing, petroleum, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement, gold, coal and emeralds.

__Government__
The full name of Colombia is the Republica de Colombia. Because Colombia is a Republic it has a president and his name is Alvaro Uribe. Colombia has 3 branches just like Australia, the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch and the judicial Branch. Colombia has a Bicameral system which means that the countries government uses 2 houses, the Chamber of Representatives, which has 166 seats and the Senate of Colombiam, which has 102 seats.

Colombia is divided into 32 departments which are then divided into many muncipalities. Alvaro Uribe is not only the President but he is also the head of the country. People who are in the Colombian parliament can get voted out every 4 terms.Colombia's constitution was written in the year 1991 for people to have people look after different roles in the government, such as health or education.

__History__
Colombia has an extensive history dating back many years. The first people to live in Colombia were the Hunter-gatherer societies, which were based where Bogota is now. There were many people living along the rivers aswell. The Spanish settled on the coast in the early 1500's and made many settlements. The capital city Bogota was settled in the mid 1500's. There is a very famous museum in Colombia that acommodates many ancient artefacts.

In the year 1863 Colombia's name was formaly changed to the United States of Colombia. During the Colombian history the Colomia government has taken control of the country 3 times. From 1899-1902 was them Thousand days war which claimed the lives of about 100,000 Colombians. The Colombian civil war started in the year 1964. In 2006 presidents of Colombia will be able to be reelected at each election since the new consitution was written.

By Ryan Braun