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History
of Colombia:
Pre-Columbian period
About twelve thousand years ago hunter-gatherer societies
existed near present-day Bogotá (at El Abra and Tequendama),
and they traded with one another and with cultures living
in the Magdalena River valley. Beginning in the first millennium
CE, groups of Amerindians developed a political system, the
cacicazgo, a pyramidal power structure headed by a cacique.
Within Colombia, the two cultures with the most complex cacicazgo
systems were the Tayronas in the Caribbean region, and the
Muiscas in the highlands near Bogotá, both of which
belonged to the Chibcha language family. The Muisca people
had one of the most developed political systems in South America,
surpassed only by the Incas.
Colonial times
The Spanish settled along the north coast of today's Colombia
as early as 1500, but their first permanent settlement, at
Santa Marta, was not established until 1525. In 1549, the
institution of the Audiencia in Santa Fe de Bogotá
gave that city the status of capital of New Granada, comprised
in large part of what is now territory of Colombia. In 1717
the Viceroyalty of New Granada was originally created, and
then it was temporarily removed, to finally be reestablished
in 1739.
Struggle for independence
On July 20, 1810, the citizens of Bogotá created the
first representative council to defy Spanish authority, with
full independence being proclaimed later in the year. A long
Independence War, led mainly by Simón Bolívar
and Francisco de Paula Santander in New Granada ended after
the Battle of Boyaca, on August 7, 1819. That year, the Congress
of Angostura established the Republic of Gran Colombia, which
included all territories under jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty
of New Granada. For more information, see Bolivar's War.
Recent developments
As of 2004, two years after its implementation began, the
security situation of inside Colombia has shown some measure
of an improvement and the economy, while still fragile, has
also shown some positive signs according to observers, but
relatively little has yet to have been accomplished in structurally
solving most of the country's other grave problems, possibly
in part due to legislative and political conflicts between
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