Colombia

Colombia ( pron.: / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b i ə <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/  <span class="Unicode" style="font-family:'ArialUnicodeMS','LucidaSansUnicode';" title="English pronunciation respelling">kə-  lum  -biə, or  <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"> <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">k <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ə/ 'a' in 'about'">ə <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ˈ/ primary stress follows">ˈ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">l <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ɒ/ short 'o' in 'body'">ɒ <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">m <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';">b <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/i/ 'y' in 'happy'">i <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';"><span style="border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;" title="/ə/ 'a' in 'about'">ə <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">/   <span class="Unicode" style="font-family:'ArialUnicodeMS','LucidaSansUnicode';" title="English pronunciation respelling">kə-  lom  -biə ), officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish: República de Colombia <span class="IPA" style="font-family:'LucidaSansUnicode','ArialUnicodeMS';" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)">[reˈpuβlika ðe koˈlombja] ), is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. It is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the northwest by Panama; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the east by Venezuela<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-lablaa_7-0" style="line-height:1em;">[7] and Brazil;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IBS_8-0" style="line-height:1em;">[8]  to the south by Ecuador and Peru;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;">[9]  and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is the 26th largest country by area and the fourth largest in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. With over 46 million people, Colombia is the 27th largestcountry in the world by population and has the second largest population of any Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico. Colombia is a middle power, and is the fourth largest economy in Latin America, and the third largest in South America.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-imf2_4-4" style="line-height:1em;">[4]  The production of coffee, flowers, emeralds, coal, and oil form the primary sector of Colombia's economy. The world's third biggest bank HSBC has created a perspective on the economic outlook in 2050 where Colombia is seen playing a decisive role in the global economy, especially in the Americas, as the 25th-largest world economy by GDP.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada(comprising modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, north-western Brazil and Panama), with its capital at Bogotá.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LABLAA6_10-0" style="line-height:1em;">[10] Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 "Gran Colombia" had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CIAWFB_11-0" style="line-height:1em;">[11]  Panama seceded in 1903. Colombia was the first constitutional government in South America, and an important promoter of the Pan American organizations, initially through the Congress of Panama and later as founder of the Organization of American States. The Liberal and Conservative parties, founded in 1848 and 1849, are two of the oldest surviving political parties in the Americas.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">Colombia is ethnically diverse. The interaction between descendants of the original native inhabitants, Spanish colonists, African people originally brought to the country as slaves and 20th-century immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, have produced a varied cultural heritage.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;">[12]  This has also been influenced by Colombia's varied geography. The majority of the urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains, but Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines. Ecologically, Colombia is one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, and is considered the most megadiverse per square kilometer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;">[14]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">Tensions between political parties have frequently erupted into violence, most notably in the Thousand Days War (1899–1902) and La Violencia, beginning in 1948. Since the 1960s, government forces, left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries have been engaged in the continent's longest-running armed conflict.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;">[15]  This escalated dramatically in the 1980s. Since 2010 the violence has decreased, with some paramilitary groups demobilising as part of a controversial peace process and the guerrillas losing control of much of the territory they once dominated.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CIAWFB_11-1" style="line-height:1em;">[11]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;font-family:sans-serif;">Colombia is considered a strong performer of the EPI (Environmental Performance Indicator) policies,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1em;">[16]  ranking second among all the Latin American countries, just after Costa Rica, and the 27th considering all the countries involved in the rank.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1em;">[17]