CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN COLOMBIA 
By CARLOS ANGULO VALD^:S 
InsHtuto Colomhiano de Antropologia, Bogota, Colombia 
Colombia is a country of marked geographical contrasts, which 
align into two general regions, ( 1 ) a mountainous zone beginning near 
the Caribbean coast and occupying the western half of the country, 
and (2) lowlands extending eastward from the Andean foothills to 
the Orinoco and Amazon River drainages. 
The mountainous region represents the northernmost extension of 
the Andean chain, which on reaching Colombia subdivides into three 
principal ranges. These form two intermontane valleys through which 
flow the Cauca and Magdalena Rivers (fig. 7). To the north the land 
flattens into the Caribbean coastal plain, rising again in the northeast 
to form the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia's highest peak. 
From here to the Venezuelan border stretch the arid plains of the 
Guajira Peninsula. On the Pacific side, a broad depression between the 
Cordillera Occidental and the Serrama de Baudo comprises the 
Choco. It is drained by two rivers, the Atrato flowing north and the 
San Juan flowing south. 
The eastern zone, equal to the mountainous area in extent, is a 
broad alluvial plain stretching from the foothills of the Cordillera 
Oriental to the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers. This area, which varies 
from 100 to 500 meters in elevation above sea level, is made up of 
two very different regions. From the Rio Arauca in the north to the 
Rio Guaviare in the south, a combination of relatively sparse sea- 
sonal rainfall and high temperatures produces a vegetation pattern of 
savanna and gallery forest. From the Guaviare southward, the influ- 
ence of continental climate, expressed principally in increased tem- 
perature and more constant rainfall, produces continuous forest like 
that characteristic of the Amazon Basin. 
This geographical diversity is paralleled by a variety of climates. 
All temperature variations can be found within Colombia, from the 
enervating and humid Pacific coast and Amazonian lowlands, through 
the relatively dry and hot eastern llanos and Caribbean coast, to tem- 
perate high valleys, and finally the snow-covered peaks above 4,600 
meters. When this temperature range is added to variability of rain- 
fall, both in amount and frequency, the result is a multitude of re- 
gional differences. 
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