Colombia Overview

Demographic and Geographic Setting

Colombia's history has been one of many cultures, with evidence of human occupation for over 13,000 years. Many Andean and Caribbean cultures inhabited the region before the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s. The Spanish arrived along the coastal areas of Colombia and the country became Spain's main source of gold; Cartagena and Bogota were founded by mid-century.

Spain increased taxation on the colonists to fund their home-front war expenses, which led to a revolution in 1819, which saw the defeat of the Spanish, and the independent Republic of Gran formed. This included Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. By the early 20th century, all of the original partners had withdrawn from the association, and in 1905, Colombia became a sovereign state.

Colombia has a total area of approximately 1,138,910 square kilometres with an estimated population of around 47 million. The nation is located at the north-western corner of South America, and bordered by Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Panama, and has coastline along both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The geography of Colombia consists of the Caribbean and Pacific lowlands, the eastern Amazon lowlands that extend to its borders with Brazil and Venezuela, and the western third of Colombia which is crossed by three rugged and rocky parallel ranges of the Andes Mountains, namely the Eastern, Central, and Western Cordilleras, with the highest point some 5,775 metres above sea level. These elevations are the source of the most significant rivers in Colombia including the Cauca, Magdalena and Putumayo. The Cauca and Magdalena (which flow northward) separate the three principal Andean mountain ranges, draining into the Caribbean Sea. The project area of Titiribi is close to the Cauca River, providing transport possibilities.

Colombian Physiography

Colombia can be divided into four geographic regions: the Andean highlands, consisting of the three Andean ranges and intervening valley lowlands; the Caribbean coastal lowlands; the Pacific coastal lowlands (separated from the Caribbean lowlands by swamps at the base of the Isthmus of Panama) and Eastern Colombia, a great plain that lies to the east of the Andes including the Amazon portion of the country. The majority of the population is concentrated in the Andean highlands and valleys. The Andean region is the centre of national political and economic power, with most of the country's population in large cities, including Bogota, Medellin, and Cali, the three most populous. The Cauca Valley and the Antioquia highlands are perhaps the most dynamic centres of economic activity and growth.

Colombia's climate is tropical but annual precipitation is variable. Climatic differences are related to altitude and the displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone between the two major air masses from which the northeast and southeast trade winds originate. The climate of the tropical rainforest in the Amazon region, the northern Pacific coast, and the central Magdalena valley is marked by an annual rainfall of over 2500mm and annual average temperatures above 23°C.

Temperature is directly related to elevation, and average temperature decreases uniformly by about 0.6°C per hundred metres of ascent. Popular terminology recognizes distinct temperature zones, which are sometimes referred to as tierra caliente or hot lands up to about 900m, tierra templada (temperate lands, corresponding to the coffee region) 900 to 2,000m, and tierra fría (cold lands) 2,000 to 3,000m above sea level.

The temperate region has moderate rainfall and temperatures between 18 and 24°C. In the highlands, the capital Bogota at 2,640 m has an average of 223 days of precipitation, an average rainfall of 1,000 mm and mean temperature of 14°C. The climate of the high mountain regions or páramos that range between 3,000 and 4,600m, is characterized by average temperatures below 10°C.

Politics and Financial Status

Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and Venezuela).

Political and internal unrest limited the economic and social development of Colombia throughout the latter half of the 20th Century. It has recently been recovering and is now the fourth-largest economy in South America.

In recent years, Colombia has managed to sustain economic growth, and during 2007 the Colombian economy grew over 7%. According to the National Planning Department, poverty has been reduced from 56% in 2002 to 45% in 2006 and extreme poverty went down from 22% to 12% during the same period.

The government type is Republic (executive, legislative and judicial branches), however the executive branch dominates government structure. The President and Vice President are elected by popular vote. Three branches of power also exist at national, regional and municipal levels.

The legislative branch of government in Colombia is represented by the National Congress of Colombia which is formed by an Upper House, the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives. Bicameral Congress "Congreso" consists of the Senate "Senado". This has 102 seats and members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The House of Representatives "Camara de Representantes" holds 166 seats and members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.

At a provincial level the legislative branch is represented by department assemblies and at the municipal level with municipal councils. Both the legislative and executive branches share most of the government power while the judicial branch of Colombia functions as an independent body from the other two branches, which are vested with a shared power.

The Judicial branch comprises of four coequal, supreme judicial organs:

• Supreme Court of Justice "Corte Suprema de Justical", the highest court of criminal law. Judges are selected from the nominees of the Higher Council of Justice for eight-year terms.
• Council of State, the highest court of administrative law. Judges are selected from the nominees of the Higher Council of Justice for eight-year terms.
• Constitutional Court, that guards integrity and supremacy of the constitution, rules on constitutionality of laws, amendments to the constitution, and international treaties.
• Higher Council of Justice, that administers and disciplines the civilian judiciary. Members of the disciplinary chamber resolve jurisdictional conflicts arising between other courts. The members are elected by three sister courts and Congress for eight-year terms.

The Colombian legal system is based on Spanish law, with a new criminal code modelled after US procedures enacted in 1992-93.

Colombia's administrative division is based on one capital district and 32 departments; each administrative division has a government (Gobernación) and the head of the government is the Governor (Gobernador). Each department is compound of municipalities and these too have their local governments (Alcaldía) and their head of government is the Mayor (Alcalde). All of these governments are elected democratically. Although there exists a central government with its own national policies, there is a high degree of autonomy in the regional and local governments.

Antioquia is one of Colombia's departments, and one of the few that hold Mining Authority (for applications and registry). Although ultimately reporting to INGEOMINAS, the federal mining entity, the Gobernación is autonomous in their decisions and procedures.

In the case of gold, the royalties generated from mining activity are collected by either the refineries or the Central Bank and transferred to INGEOMINAS. From INGEOMINAS they are transferred back to the municipalities that produced them (87%), the Department (10%), with the remaining 3% going to the National Royalties Trust.