The Rich History of Colombia

Colombia has a very rich and epic history, one that is filled to the brim with emotions from both ends of the spectrum. Colombia, as a nation, has gone through so much. From subjugation to revolution, to independence, to inner conflict, and then finally, to rebirth. Colombia has seen its fair share of horrors, but over the past decade, the country underwent massive, drastic changes—changes for the better. Today, Colombia is safer than it has ever been, and the country’s economy and tourism is booming now more than ever.

Colombia is the only American country named after Christopher Columbus, despite him not directly having a hand in its conquest. It has gone through a lot of name changes throughout the centuries, due to different leadership and/or changes in constitutional governance. Today, the nation is officially called the Republic of Colombia.

Throughout the history of Colombia, a lot of ethnic groups have settled in this land. Most of its inhabitants today are descendants of Indians, Africans, and Europeans—resulting in what is now the country’s rich culture. This culmination of traditions from different cultures is visible in their daily lives—from the food they eat to the music they listen and dance to, to the worldwide known (highly searched in dating sites) beautiful faces of the women in Colombia.

How Colombia Came to Be

To understand how Colombia became what it is today, we trace back its past, even before the Spanish inquisition.

During the pre-Columbian era, the land was mostly a settlement for different indigenous people. A few of these tribes still live in the country today, comprising about 3 percent of the country’s whole population.

In the year 1499, the Spaniards arrived in Colombia and they would conquer the Southern American lands slowly but surely and fiercely over the years. They began establishing their settlements in the early 1500s, and by the mid-1600s, they had conquered a vast majority of the land already.

In 1538, the provinces established by the Spanish conquerors in the Southern Americas were christened to become the New Kingdom of Granada. The land in this territory is what we now know as Colombia, alongside Panama and Venezuela, with Santafé de Bogotá (or simply known today as Bogota) as its capital. This kingdom was then integrated to become a part of the Viceroyal of New Granada with most of the Spanish territories in South America.

After three centuries, Spain’s hold of their territories in South America became more vast and stronger. Incidentally, it was around this time that the people started uprisings and rebellions demanding independence, and at the end of 1819, independence was finally attained with the help of Venezuelan military and political leader, Simon Bolivar, who was also the first president of Gran Colombia, the outcome of the viceroyalties’ collapse.

Just a couple of years after its creation, Gran Colombia was dissolved, and in turn, the Republic of New Granada was born. This new republic consisted of what is now Colombia and Panama with some areas of other South American countries.

The Republic of New Granada underwent a constitutional shift in 1858, trying its hand at running under federal governance, and became the Granadine Confederation. This change was short-lived, however, because just 5 years later, the Confederation was replaced by the United States of Colombia.

Conflict from within was present in Colombia during these years, and then finally in 1886, the United States of Colombia was abolished and the Republic of Colombia was created. Panama was a part of this nation until they decided to separate in 1903.

The new Republic of Colombia is the predecessor to our modern Colombia of today. After centuries of conflict and struggle, culmination, and segregation, Colombia was finally its own country. This is how Colombia came to be.

It is amazing to see a country not lose its traditional values and cultural aspects despite going through so many different changes. People have come and gone in this country, but its core values have always remained the same even up to this day. They’ve seen so many horrors, but when the time came for the horrible things to finally disperse, the country seems to have kept the wonderful aspects of the people that visited it: the culture, the love that is present in people, the beauty, especially of the Colombian women.

Visit the beautiful country of Colombia and see it for yourself. See the wonderful culture that they have upheld for centuries. See and meet Colombian singles, the mixture of genes from different people from all over the world. Even be a part of their culture by marrying a Colombian woman. Most of all, see a wonderful place. A once wounded and scarred nation, now a healed, wonderful community. Those things should be enough reasons why you should travel to Colombia.