History UsefulNotes / Colombia

* Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll: just known as Music/{{Shakira}} by most people, you'll have almost certainly heard one of her songs. Actually a quarter Lebanese (which somewhat explains the [[BellyDancer belly-dancing]]).

During colonial times, the capital city of Bogotá was the administrative center of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, which encompassed present-day Colombia, UsefulNotes/{{Ecuador}}, UsefulNotes/{{Panama}} and UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}. After independence in 1819, it was renamed Colombia, but the new country split apart one by one throughout the next century; Ecuador and Venezuela broke off in 1831, while Panama seceded in 1903, thanks to the lucrative deal it had with the US in building the Panama Canal. (Colombia initially refused to recognize it, until Panama paid $500,000 to cover its debt.)

Subject to InconsistentSpelling: often misspelled as 'Col'''u'''mbia'. Usually by Americans, as they're used to seeing that spelling associated with places in their own country (for example, the city of Columbia is the state capital of South Carolina). Also by Canadians, for the same reason, and by loads of Europeans, because the name of the country is spelt differently, but always with a 'u' instead of an 'o', in German, Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian.

Colombia, like most of Latin America, is highly Roman Catholic, to the point where you can be an atheist, but people will still mistake you for a Catholic.

Subject to SpellMyNameWithAnS: often misspelled as 'Col'''u'''mbia'. Usually by Americans, as they're used to seeing that spelling associated with places in their own country (for example, the city of Columbia is the state capital of South Carolina). Also by Canadians, for the same reason, and by loads of Europeans, because the name of the country is spelt differently, but always with a 'u' instead of an 'o', in German, Bulgarian, Czech, Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian.

It's usually painted like a [[CrapsackWorld hellhole wallowing in drugs and bloodshed]], which couldn't be farther from the truth. Since 2005 the country has progressively gotten better, so much ''Magazine/TheEconomist'' has written over it in a couple of "Gotten Better countries". The drugs trade is still active, though it has been less common and more and more of the trade is moving to Mexico due in part to government crackdowns.

It's usually painted like a [[CrapsackWorld hellhole wallowing in drugs and bloodshed]], which couldn't be farther from the truth. Since 2005 the country has progressively gotten better, so much ''The Economist'' has written over it in a couple of "Gotten Better countries". The drugs trade is still active, though it has been less common and more and more of the trade is moving to Mexico due in part to government crackdowns.

a credible political force has been an uphill struggle of its own, and with some former members still being persecuted and killed during the government of Ivan Duque, Santos' successor as president, whose implementation of the Treaty has been deemed tepid at best by both former insurgents and political observers. Unfortunately, this has led to [[TheRemnant splinter factions of the FARC]] to take cover in the jungle, and occasionally neighboring countries, to continue pursuing violent insurgency.

Most notorious for its (now heavily diminished) drug production, kidnappings (also outdated) and its past dispute with the Marxist ''Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia'', or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- better known as FARC (now a political party).

Its notorious 50-year-conflict with the Marxist FARC rebel forces was offically terminated in 2016 thanks to the Peace Treaty arranged and signed between former President Juan Manuel Santos' own government and the FARC guerrilla. After the signing, the FARC has gone from being an irregular army to a political party, though its transition into

The '''Republic of Colombia''' is one of the few countries in the world bordering two oceans.

** Quindío: Another of the Departments belonging to the Coffee Axis, has also the National Park of the Coffee and Panaca, touristical attractions based on Coffee as not only a delicious drink but a main sustenance for not only the families involved with it also for the country. Its capital is Armenia. [[NamesTheSame Not that Armenia in Europe.]]

Currently led by Iván Duque, the state is a stable pro-American democracy and usually faces tensions with its neighbors because of this. Its notorious conflict with FARC has been finally terminated in 2016 thanks to the Peace Treaty arranged and signed between former President Juan Manuel Santos' own government and the FARC guerrilla. After the signing, the FARC has gone from being an irregular army to a political party not taken seriously enough for it to occupy a majority in Congress, and with some former members still being persecuted and killed during Ivan Duque's government, who hasn't implemented the Treaty. Unfortunately, many of those in FARC take cover in neighboring countries with "affinity" to its "ideology" (in theory communism, but in RealLife they just used to kidnap people and hold them for ransom like any other criminal group).