< OLOMT.IA 



355 



i:,060, the forei-n ilel.t was calculated at 

 SHi.-llMl.UOO, ami 126,185,600 Of government paper- 

 nioney was in circulation. There appears, how- 

 ever, some reason to expect that the measures 

 adopted t> meet the nation's liabilities may prove 

 cHertual, ami the present financial condition of 

 tin- repulilii- is saiil to lie comparatively hopeful. 

 For the re>t, the government can only look to rigid 

 economy ami the development of its rich mines, 

 which it is endeavouring to encourage to the utmost, 

 for relief from its embarrassments. All enterprise, 

 however, is sadly hampered by the difficulty of com- 

 munication. Tin- Magdalena and the other great 

 streams are the principal arteries of commerce, and 

 a good deal of steamer traffic is carried on ; but, 

 besides that of Panama, there were in 1895 eight 

 railways OJMJII for traffic, with only a total length 

 of 220 miles, although several others were expected 

 to be completed shortly. The telegraph system has 

 6900 miles of lines, and this and the postal service 

 (including a parcel post with Great Britain since 

 1888) are worked as efficiently as the condition of 

 the country will permit. For the railway, canal, 

 and other information as to the Isthmus, see the 

 article PANAMA. 



Population. The chief aborigines of the country, 

 the Chibchas or Muyscas, who inhabited the plateau 

 of BogotA, ranked among the nations of the New 

 World second to the Aztecs and Peruvians alone. 

 They worshipped the sun, had a calendar, and 

 a government closely resembling that of Japan, 

 lived in communes, were industrious farmers, and 

 dressed in garments of cotton. Their rich, 

 beautiful language has been forgotten by their 

 descendants, but is preserved in a grammar 

 published at Madrid by the Dominican mission- 

 ary, Bernardo de Lugo, in 1619. The rest of the 

 country was occupied by a great number of 

 tribes, with as many dialects as divisions, sinking 

 from the grade of the Chibchas to the naked 

 savages of the plains, who were little above the 

 level of the brutes they hunted. Some of the inter- 

 mediate races, while understanding Spanish, have 

 preserved their primitive speech ; the uncivilised 

 Indians are now mostly confined to the eastern 

 plains, the northern portion of Magdalena, and the 

 district of Darien and the Atrato. The pure whites 

 form about a fifth of the entire population, and the 

 Indian half-breeds more than hair ; there are now 

 scarcely any pure negroes left in the country, but 

 the mulattoes and zambos, resulting respectively 

 from the union of negroes with whites and Indians, 

 exceed a sixth of the whole. Slavery was finally 

 abolished in 1852, and in 1870 a system of com- 

 pulsory education was adopted which has on the 

 whole proved successful. Parochial, secondary, 

 normal, and technical schools are now within 

 general reach, and all the departments boast univer- 

 sities of more or less efficiency, except Magdalena, 

 Tolima, and Panama. Journalism is largely repre- 

 sented in most of the large towns ; and at the capital 

 a considerable number of l>ooks are published every 

 year. The state church is the Roman Catholic, 

 which in the management of its own affairs is inde- 

 pendent of the civil authority ; religious orders 

 were suppressed in 1803, and toleration in matters 

 of religion is guaranteed ; but, by the terms of 

 a concordat entered into with the holy see in 

 1888, in the universities and all educational 

 establishments public instruction is directed in 

 conformity with the dogmas of the Roman 

 Catholic Church, religion is one of the obligatory 

 subjects of study, and diocesans are empowered 

 to suspend teachers or professors who neglect or 

 disobey this order. 



History. The northern coasts of Colombia were 

 visited by Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci in 1499, 

 and afterwards by Bastidas ; in 1502 Columbus 



explored part of the country, and endeavoured, to 

 found on the Isthmus of Panama the first Spanish 

 colony on the American mainland. In 1513 Balboa 

 (q. v. ) discovered the Pacific, and Pizarro and 

 Almagro sailed along the western coast of Colombia 

 on their way to Peru in 1520. Ten years later 

 Jimenez de Que&ada broke the power of the 

 Muyscan empire, and the Nuevo Reino de Granada 

 was formed. As the country was opened up, the 

 Indians sank, in spite of legislation designed for 

 their protection, to the condition of serfs, and 

 the policy of the crown, aided by the Inquisi- 

 tion, which was introduced in 1571, put an end 

 to the democratic institutions of the early settlers. 

 The region was administered by the Council of 

 the Indies ; nearly all posts were sold to Spanish 

 speculators, who recouped themselves at the 

 expense of the colonists ; and even the com- 

 merce of the new possessions was granted as a 

 monopoly to the merchants of Seville. The country 

 formed a presidency (except during the years 1718- 

 24) from 1504 to 1739, a period memorable for the 

 disastrous descents of Drake, Morgan, Dam pier, and 

 others on the coast towns ; it was then raised to a 

 viceroyalty, which lasted until the war of inde- 

 pendence. 



On the 20th July 1810 the colony shook off the 

 yoke of the mother-country, and entered upon 

 the long struggle which ended in the election of 

 Bolivar (q.v. ) to the presidency of the Republic of 

 Colombia, a term which, like the viceroyalty, em- 

 braced all that now belongs to Venezuela, Colombia, 

 and Ecuador. Independently of the singular diffi- 

 culties of communication, and of the resulting 

 absence of anything like natural unity, this un- 

 wieldy state contained from the beginning the 

 germs of its own dissolution in the national charac- 

 ter of its inhabitants. So long as union was neces- 

 sary to meet external dangers, it maintained an 

 imposing attitude in the eyes of the world ; but 

 gradually sectional interests and political jealousies 

 did their work, and in 1831 the ill-assorted elements 

 of the confederation were separated for ever. What 

 is now Colombia was then formed under the title of 

 the Republic of New Granada ; but in 1861 a fresh 

 civil war led to the establishment of theUnited States 

 of Colombia. In 1803 a constitution was adopted, 

 based on that of the United States of America, with 

 a president elected for two years; but this proved 

 altogether unsuited to the Colombians, ana, after 

 twenty years' trial, brought about the revolution 

 of 1884-85. In 1886 a fresh constitution was 

 adopted for the new Republic of Colombia, placing 

 the central authority in the strengthened hands 

 of the federal government, and reducing the nin 

 former self-governing states of Antioquia, Bolivar, 

 Boyaca, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Pa- 

 nama, Santander, and Tolima to subordinate 

 departments, which still, however, retain the 

 management of their own finances. The executive 

 authority is vested in a president, whose term is 

 extended to six years, assisted by a vice-president, 

 seven ministers, and a council of state ; and the 

 legislative power rests with a senate and House of 

 Representatives. Capital punishment has been 

 again established, and the niemliers of the supreme 

 court of justice are made immovable. The streng t h 

 of the army is fixed at 0500 in time of peace, but in 

 case of war the executive can raise this as circum- 

 stances may require. 



See E. Beclus, Voyage a la Sierra- Nc\-ada de Sainte- 

 Marthe (Paris, 1861); Colonel F. Hall, Colombia (Phil*. 

 1871 ) ; Esguerra, Diccionario Geogrdfico de Colombia 

 (Bogota, 1879); Pereira, Let Etatt-Unit de Colombi* 

 (Paris, 1883); Perez, Geoffrafla General (Bogota, 1883); 

 Etienne, Jiouvelle Grenade (Geneva, 1887); Dr W. 

 Sievers, Reise in der Sierra Netada de .Santo Marta 

 (Leip. 1887); and the same author's Cordillcrc von 



