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    Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Las Lajas in Ipiales, Nariño Department.

    Colombia is a country with a long and complicated history that is situated in northern South America. Originally, a number of indigenous peoples, including the Muisca, Zenu, Tairona, and Wayuu, lived in what is now Colombia. Although the Kingdom of the New Granada was founded in 1538, the first permanent Spanish settlement in Colombian territory was founded in 1510 as part of their quest for the fabled city of El Dorado. [1]

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    History of ColombiaHistory of Colombia

    Muisca raft, representation of the initiation of the new Zipa in the lake of Guatavita. Dated between 1200 and 1500 BC.

    The history of Colombia encompasses the arrival of indigenous peoples and the formation of agricultural communities, such as the Tairona Chiefdoms, the Quimbaya Civilization, and the Muisca Confederation. After the Spanish conquistadores arrived in 1499, they began a period of colonization and annexation that resulted in the creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, which had Bogotá as its capital. After obtaining independence from Spain in 1819, the ensuing "Gran Colombia" Federation was disbanded by 1830 and was separated into Venezuela, Ecuador and the Republic of New Granada, which was formed from what is now Colombia and Panama. Before the Republic of Colombia was formally established in 1886, the newly formed country experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858) and the United States of Colombia (1863). Following a period of ongoing political unrest, Panama seceded in 1903. The country has experienced an irregular, low-intensity armed conflict since the 1960s, which worsened in the 1990s before abating after 2005. Rich cultural heritage has been left over from Colombia's past, and the country's diverse geography and climate have aided in the emergence of distinct regional identities.

    Geography of ColombiaGeography of Colombia

    A beach in the Caribbean coast of Colombia.

    Colombia's geography is typically divided into five natural regions: the Andes mountain range, which it shares with Ecuador and Venezuela; the Pacific Ocean coastal region; the Caribbean Sea coastal region; the plains known as Llanos, which it shares with Venezuela; and the Amazon Rainforest region, which it shares with Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela. The only nation in South America with coastlines on both the Atlantic and Pacific seas is Colombia.

    The regions of ColombiaThe regions of Colombia

    Bogotá serves as the capital of the country as well as of the department of Cundinamarca. Colombia is divided into 32 departments and one capital district, which is treated as a department. Departments are further divided into municipalities, which are further divided into comunas in urban areas and corregimientos in rural areas. Each municipality is given a municipal seat.

    1. Amazonas
    2. Antioquia
    3. Arauca
    4. Atlántico
    5. Bolívar
    6. Boyacá
    7. Caldas
    8. Capital District
    9. Caquetá
    10. Casanare
    11. Cauca
    12. Cesar
    13. Chocó
    14. Córdoba
    15. Cundinamarca
    16. Guainía
    17. Guaviare
    18. Huila
    19. La Guajira
    20. Magdalena
    21. Meta
    22. Nariño
    23. Norte de Santander
    24. Putumayo
    25. Quindío
    26. Risaralda
    27. San Andrés y Providencia
    28. Santander
    29. Sucre
    30. Tolima
    31. Valle del Cauca
    32. Vaupés
    33. Vichada

    Researching family history in ColombiaResearching family history in Colombia

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    Colombian surnamesColombian surnames

    Colombian Electoral Certificate of José Celestino Sánchez. 1935.


    While most Colombian surnames in Colombia are of Spanish origin[2] due to the Spanish colonization and conversion of indigenous people and African slaves into Christianity, a large number of individuals of these groups retained their ancestral clans names as their surnames, especially in areas where indigenous people are the majority, like in the Guajira on the northeast and Cundinamarca and Boyacá in the center of the country, where Muisca mestizos are the majority. Additionally, Basque surnames are relatively common in the Coffee Axis and Antioquia, as a significant number of Basque immigrants settled there in the seventeenth century.[3]

    See alsoSee also

    Explore family history in ColombiaExplore family history in Colombia

    References

    1. ↑ Massimo Livi Bacci (2012). El dorado en el pantano (in Spanish). Marcial Pons Historia. ISBN 978-84-92820-65-8
    2. ↑ Most Common Last Names In Colombia
    3. ↑ Basque Families of Antioquia. Buber's Basque
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