According to Countryaah website, Colombia has about 50 million residents.
Ethnic composition
Mestizo 58%; Europeans 20%; Mulatto 14%; Africans 4%; other 4%
Religious
affiliation Catholics 95%; other 5%
National languages
Spanish
Capital, other cities
The capital of Colombia is Bogotá, with a population of around 8 million. According to Abbreviation Finder, COL stands for Colombia in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.
Other cities are:
Cali with around 1,986,000 residents
Medellín with around 1,971,000 residents
Barranquilla with around 1,158,000 residents
Cartagena with around 813,000 residents
Cútuta with around 589,000 residents.
Colombia: geography, map
Colombia is located on the strategically important north coast of South America. It has the only mainland connection to the states of Central America and borders both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Colombia.
Area, land use and national borders
Colombia covers an area of 1.14 million km².
Thereof:
ForestAround 44% of the country is forested.
Meadows and pasture landAround 26% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.
Arable land and fieldsAround 6% of the land is used as arable land or fields.
Colombia is located in the northwest of South America and has a common border with a total of five countries. There are limits to:
Brazil with a length of around 1,645 km
Ecuador with a length of around 590 km
Panama with a length of around 225 km
Peru with a length of around 1,626 km
Venezuela with a length of around 2,050 km.
Colombia has a coastline of around 1,760 km to the Caribbean Sea and around 1,448 km to the Pacific Ocean.
Tidal range
In Cartagena the mean tidal range is only around 0.3 m.
For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.
Compare:
The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 meters, and at spring tide even over 20 meters. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.
On the German North Sea coast it varies between one and three meters. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 meters, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.
Longitude and latitude
Colombia extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):
Δφ = from 12 ° 15 ‘N to 4 ° 21’ S
Δλ = from 66 ° 45 ‘W to 78 ° 52’ W.
You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.
Legal time
For Colombia, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without summer time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there, a plus sign that it is later than CET.
Δt (CET) = – 6 h
Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.
The highest point of the sun in Bogota
Bogota in Colombia is located at a north latitude of around φ 04.5 °.
If the sun, or its pixel, is over Bogota, i.e. at 04 ° 30 ‘N, the sun is exactly perpendicular over the city. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 17 days after March 21 and 17 days before September 21.
For more information, see Sun Position.
Attention
If the image point of the sun (declination) is north of the latitude of Bogota, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. So the sun moves from east to north to west, where it sets.
Mountains
Pico Cristobal Colón,
The highest mountain in the country is the Pico Cristobal Colón, which is located in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and has an altitude of 5,800 meters. The mountain is about km from the coast to the Karik
Pico Simón Bolívar
The Pico Simón Bolívar reaches a height of 5,775 m and is located in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The mountain is about km from the coast to the Karik
Nevado del Huila
The Nevado de Huila is an active volcano that reaches an altitude of 5,750 m. Its last outbreak occurred in November 2008, which claimed several lives. The mountain is the highest volcano north of the equator. The mountain is located in the south-west of the country around km from the sea.
Nevado del Tolima
The Nevado del Tolima is a 5,200 m high volcano. it is located together with the Nevado del Ruiz and the Nevado de Santa Isabel in the Parque de los Nevados National Park in the Andes. Its height is also given as 5,615 m. The summit region is glaciated and covered with snow.
Nevado del Ruiz
The Nevado del Ruiz is an active volcano and has an altitude of 5,390 m. After the Nevado de Huila, it is the second highest active volcano north of the Equator. Its summit is covered with glaciers and snow on an area of approx. 25 km². The mountain lies together with the Nevado del Tolima and the Nevado de Santa Isabel in the Parque de los Nevados National Park in the Andes
A spectacular eruption occurred on November 13, 1985, about 2.5 hours later a mudslide (lahars) in the city of Armero, about 50 km away, buried numerous buildings and over 22,000 people.
Puracé
The Puracé is an active volcano with an altitude of 4,755 m, which is in the Central Cordillera in the province. Cauca is located in the national park of the same name. The following rivers have their source in the national park: the Rio Magdalena, the Rio Cauca, the Rio Caquetá and the Rio Patia.
For those particularly interested in culture, it should be mentioned that the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt () climbed the mountain in November 1801.
Galeras
The Galeras is a 4,275 m high active stratovolcano, which has a crater diameter of 320 m and a crater depth of 80 m. It is near the town of Pasto.
The volcano last erupted in February 2009, but since around 8,000 people had been evacuated from the province of Nariño in time, there were no victims to complain about.
Azufral de Tuquerres
The Azufral de Tuquerres is a stratovolcano located in the south-west of the country. The summit of the volcano consists of a caldera with a diameter of 2.5 km x 3 km and a rhyodacite lava dome complex.
Pico Codazzi
The Pico Codazzi has a height of 4,859 m. The mountain is
Rivers
Río Magdalena
The longest river in the country is the Río Magdalena with a length of around 1,550 km. It rises in the Central Cordillera in the Laguna de Magdalena in the national park and flows into the Caribbean in the north of the country.
Río Cauca
The Río Cauca is a tributary of the Río Magdalena and has a length of around 1,350 km. It flows between the central and western cordillera in the Andes. Its source is in the Sotará plateau in the province of Cauca, near the town of Popayán. At the town of Mompós the river flows into the Río Magdalena.
Río Caquetá
The Río Caquetá (in Brazil: Japurá) has a total length of 2,815 km. It rises in the Andes – east of Pasto – and flows into the Amazon at Tefé in Brazil over numerous river arms.
Río Guainía, Río Negro
The 2,255 km long Río Negro rises under the name Río Guainía in the southeast of Colombia in the province of Guainía. From there it runs east and later south, where it forms the border between Colombia and Venezuela. This river is one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. Its water then finally reaches the Atlantic via the Amazon
Río Meta
The Río Meta is a 1,200 km long river. The Meta is fed by the rivers Humea, Guayuriba and Guatiquía on the high altitudes of the Sumapaz on the eastern cordillera of the Andes.
It then flows through the eastern Llanos of Colombia and flows between Puerto Carreño in Colombia and Puerto Páez in Venezuela in the Orinoco. The Río Meta plays an important role in the movement of goods with Venezuela.
Río Guaviare
The Río Guaviare is an approximately 1,495 km long tributary of the Orinocos. It arises from the Ariari and the Guayabero rivers, whose sources lie in the eastern cordillera of the Andes. The river is navigable for over 600 km. Its confluence with the Orinoco lies in Venezuela – across from San Fernando de Atabapo
Río Vaupes,
The Río Vaupes is a tributary of the Rio Negro, into which it flows after around 1,375 km – around 40 km south of Icana.
Río Putumayo
The Río Putumayo is a tributary of the Amazon. After a distance of around 1,815 km in Brazil it flows into the Amazon – near San Antônio do Içá. In Brazil, the river is also called Içá. In Brazil, the river is navigable and is used by rubber manufacturers to transport their goods.
Río Tomo
The only about 650 km long Río Tomo flows through the east of Colombia (Llanos). For the first 100 km the river is only a few meters wide and only then does it widen to up to 20 m during the dry season and to over 100 m during the rainy season. The Río Tomo flows into the Río Orinoco at the border with Venezuela, which then forms the eastern border between Colombia and Venezuela. There are numerous spectacular rapids here.
Río Bogotá
The Río Bogotá has a length of only 375 km and is a tributary of the Río Magdalena. It rises north of Bogotá – hence the name. It then flows through the west of Bogotá and the city of Soacha.
A little below the village of El Charquito, the river falls about 150 m over the Salto (= waterfall) del Tequendama. Because of the great height differences up to the confluence with the Río Magdalena near the city of Girardot, there are a number of hydroelectric plants in the course of the river. Incidentally, the Río Bogotá is one of the most polluted rivers in America.
Lakes
The country includes numerous smaller and larger reservoirs:
The Alberto Lleras Dam
The Alberto Lleras Dam with an area of 13.44 km²
La Esmeralda
La Esmeralda with an area of 12.28 km².
Guatavita Bergsee
There is also the Guatavita Bergsee with an average diameter of 1.6 km.
Islands
The country has a few islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean: a
total of less than 65 km², an archipelago in the Caribbean that forms the San Andrés y Providencia Intendency, Santa Catalina, Roncador, Quita Sueño, Serrana and Serranilla, whose ownership is disputed, and a prison colony in the Pacific on Gorgona and the island of Malpelo west of Buenaventura.
Pacific and Caribbean
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is also known as the Pacific, Pacific, or Great Ocean. At
1,448 in length, Colombia borders the Pacific Ocean, the largest and deepest ocean in the world. It stretches between the Arctic, North, Central and South America as well as the Antarctic, Australia, Oceania and Asia. It has a gigantic area of 166.24 million km² (not including secondary seas) and therefore covers around 35% of the entire surface of the earth.
Caribbean
The Caribbean Sea covers an area of 2,754,000 km² and is a tributary of the Atlantic and lies between the islands of the Caribbean and the American continent. Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean forms the “American Mediterranean”. Detailed descriptions of the two seas under the following links:
