Colombia Essay Essay

Colombia is a agricultural in South the States in the northwestern part of the continent. Colombia has a lot of natural resources, including beautiful beaches, dramatic weeds, and lush rain forests, but it is cognise for its political unrest and the violent influence of almighty medicine cartels. Despite a bulky history of democratic governance, Colombia has whiz of the almost rigidly stratified furcate systems in Latin the States. Colombia is the only country in South America with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Its neighbors on the east be Venezuela and Brazil on the south, Ecuador and Peru and to the northwest, Panama. The capital and broadst urban center is Bogota. Colombian golf club is separate amid the amphetamine and lower classes, with a large and festering transgress between them. A substantial middle class authentic during the twentieth century, a product in part of fairly widespread tear ownership associated with the countrys coffee berry berry economy.Many of the attitudes that led to Colombias sharp class divisions originated in 16th-century Spain and became ingrained in Colombian society during the colonial period. Family lineage, inherited wealth, and racial background continue to be powerful determinants of status. Economic progress during the last 100 years has been substantial, but political, social, and stinting power continues to be concentrated in the hands of the small upper class. Since the mid-20th century, Colombia has been torn by violence. Struggles between left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups, and the Colombian armed forces have convulsed much of the countryside. Colombia has excessively been plagued by an illegal drug trade that flourished in the country as a consequence of the growing demand for narcotics, particularly cocaine, in the United States and some other rich, industrialized countries. The Colombian government has attempted to limit drug issue and negotiat e a peaceful settlement with the rebel forces.At the beginning of the 21st century, however, Colombia hush up experienced upheaval, and violence had buzz off a daily experience for legion(predicate) Colombians. The total land bea of Colombia is 440,831 sq mi. Colombia lies almost entirely in what is known as the Torrid Zone, the area of the earths surface between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The mood, however, varies with elevation. The low regions along the coast and the cryptical Pata and Magdalena river valleys are extremely hot, with average annual temperatures of 24 deg to 27 deg C (75 deg to 81 deg F). From about 500 to 2,300 m (about 1,500 to 7,500 ft) theclimate is sub tropic, and from about 2,300 to 3,000 m (about 7,500 to 10,000 ft) it is temperate. Above about 3,000 m (about 10,000 ft) is the cold-climate zone, where temperatures range from -18 deg to 13 deg C (0 deg to 55 deg F). About fractional of Colombias land is forested. To the north and west of the Andes, tropical forests line the study rivers and fringe the coastal areas.East of the Andes, the forests become denser as they approach the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. Pastureland occupies about 40 part of the country and is mostly rigid in the basins between the Andean highlands. Cropland accounts for a true 4.1 percent of the land, with no more than 1.7 percent supporting permanent crops. around of the arable land is found in patches on the Andean mountainsides. The mineral resources of the country are varied and extensive. Colombia ranks as the worlds major source of emeralds, most of which are mined in the western department of Boyac. Other significant reserves include petroleum and natural gas, located mostly in the northeast.Most coal deposits are located on the Guajira peninsula on the countrys northeast coast. Gold and silver are found dispersed in veins throughout the central highlands. Iron ore, salt, platinum, and atomic number 92 are other classic nat ural resources of Colombia. Colombia contains several fertile low valleys, but only 4.1 percent of the countrys land area, in general at higher elevations, is cultivated. The countrys agricultural regions suffer from stain exhaustion and erosion. These problems stem largely from slash-and-burn farming methods, in which forestland is cleared by cutting down and burning the existing plants.Colombia is divided into 32 departments and one capital district. Colombias capital and largest city is Bogota, an industrial center with a population (2000 estimate) of 6,422,198. Located on a mountain plateau in the Cordillera Oriental, it is the heart of cultural and political life in Colombia. Cali (2,128,920) lies in the Cauca Valley. The city began as a center for coffee production, but it later developed as the commercial heart of the entire southern region. Medelln (1,885,001), find in a highland valley of the Cordillera Central, ranks as the most important economic area. Originally sett led by migrants from Cartagena, Medelln grew into a gold-mining town, a general commercial settlement, and finally an important manufacturing center. Other important commercial cities include Barranquilla(1,549,197), which boasts a seaport and a major international airport, and Cartagena (829,476), a seaport and oil pipeline terminal. The Colombian population has a divers(a) racial launchup.About 58 percent of the people are ladino (of motley European and Native American ancestry), about 20 percent are of unmixed European ancestry, and about 14 percent are mulatto (of mixed black and European ancestry). Blacks account for 4 percent of the population, mixed black and Native Americans for 3 percent, and unmixed Native Americans for 1 percent. The briny religion in Colombia is romish Catholicism about 96 percent of the people are Roman Catholics. Although it is not the official state religion, Roman Catholicism is taught in all public schools. Small Protestant and Judaic minoritie s exist. Coffee is still Colombias principal crop, although Colombia was recently surpassed by Vietnam as the second largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil. Colombia stiff the worlds leading producer of mild coffee, but in the mid-1990s petroleum became the countrys largest source of foreign income.In the mid-1970s coffee accounted for 80 percent of Colombias export meshwork by the earlier 2000s coffee brought in less than 10 percent of export earnings. last production costs and low international prices combined to reduce the earnings of Colombian coffee growers. Coffee is cultivated chiefly on mountain slopes from about 900 to 1,800 m (about 3,000 to 6,000 ft) above sea level, principally in the departments of Caldas, Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Norte de Santander, Tolima, and Santander. to a greater extent than 150,000 mainly small coffee plantations extend over approximately 1 million hectares (approximately 2.5 million acres). Coffee output totaled 702,000 metric go bs in 2003, with most of the exported coffee going to the United States. While coffee is Colombias leading agricultural product, the countrys diverse climate and topography permit cultivation of a wide variety of other crops. one-year production of principal cash crops in addition to coffee includes cacao beans (47,000 metric tons), sugarcane (36.6 million), tobacco (29,000), cotton (100,000), bananas, and cut flowers.Chief viands crops are rice (2.5 million), cassava (1.8 million), potatoes (2.9 million), and plantains. Plants producing pita, sisal, and hemp fibers, used in the excogitate of cordage and coarse sacking material, are also cultivated. The livestock included cattle, hogs, sheep, and horses. The production of drug-related crops took on significant proportions starting in the 1970swith the cultivation of marijuana. Although Colombia has become notorious for its cocaine fork over, the processing of coca leaves was more significant than substantial coca plant cultiva tion in the country until the mid-1990s. As the supply of coca, primarily from Peru and Bolivia, was disrupted, coca growing in Colombia increased significantly. Opium poppies, used to make heroin, also became a significant source of revenue despite government efforts to stop their cultivation. It was estimated that from 1980 to 1995 the prise of illegal drug exports amounted to almost half the value of Colombias legal exports.Colombias government has undergone several changes since the mid-20th century. One of the most significant was the adoption of a crude constitution in 1991. The new constitution replaced the 1886 constitution and provided for a more decentralized, pluralistic, and democratic government. Colombian governments also had to contend with major changes in the national economy. After 1980 Colombia began exporting large amounts of illegal drugs, primarily cocaine. The estimated value of illegal drug exports amounted to almost half the value of Colombias legal export s from 1980 to 1995. Earnings from the drug trade helped Colombia revoke the debt crisis that afflicted much of Latin America during the 1980s. But by cheapening the sawhorse and thereby overvaluing the Colombian peso, the drug trade also undermined the competitiveness of Colombias legal exports by making them more expensive than similar exports from other countries.