Geography
This Capital District is by far Colombia’s densest first-level division, with roughly 4,800+ inhabitants per km².
What is Bogota DC
This 1899–1902 civil war, one of Colombia’s bloodiest, helped lead to the separation of Panama.
What is the Thousand Days’ War
This half-man, half-caiman creature from the Magdalena River region (especially Plato, Magdalena) is said to have been a fisherman trapped in hybrid form.
What is El Hombre Caimán?
This Cartagena-born statesman holds the record for the most times elected president of Colombia (four non-consecutive terms in the late 19th century).
Who is Rafael Núñez?
This mid-20th-century period of bipartisan Liberal–Conservative bloodshed (roughly 1948–1958) killed tens to hundreds of thousands and set the stage for later guerrilla groups.
What is La Violencia?
This Caribbean department (capital Barranquilla) is the densest *department* (excluding Bogotá and the islands), with over 800 people per km².
What is Atlántico?
The only Afro-Colombian president in the country’s history was born in what is now this Caribbean department.
What is Atlántico? (Juan José Nieto Gil)
This Pacific-coast (especially Afro-Colombian) shapeshifting female spirit lures victims by impersonating loved ones and then “entundas” them.
What is La Tunda?
This president took office at age 84 in 1898, making him the oldest person ever to assume the Colombian presidency.
Who is Manuel Antonio Sanclemente?
The assassination of this Liberal leader in Bogotá in 1948 is widely seen as the spark that ignited La Violencia.
Who is Jorge Eliécer Gaitán?
This Amazonian department is Colombia’s largest by area (over 109,000 km²) yet one of the least densely populated.
What is Amazonas?
: This 1839–1842 conflict, named after local caudillos who declared themselves “supreme,” was one of the early post-independence civil wars.
What is the War of the Supremes (Guerra de los Supremos)?
This one-legged female spirit of the mountains and forests is said to seduce travelers before revealing her true form.
What is La Patasola?
This short-term interim president in 1893 held power for only two days during a Bogotá artisans’ riot.
Who is Antonio Basilio Cuervo?
This 19th-century civil war (1860–1862) pitted federalists against centralists and helped produce the Rionegro Constitution.
What is the Colombian Civil War of 1860–1862 (or Guerra de las Soberanías / Guerra Magna)?
Colombia’s highest peak, Pico Cristóbal Colón (approx. 5,730–5,775 m), lies in this northern mountain range shared mainly by Magdalena and Cesar.
What is the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta?
The Muisca ceremony that gave rise to the legend of El Dorado took place at this lake in the highlands of Cundinamarca/Boyacá.
What is Lake Guatavita?
This moss-and-leaf-covered female guardian of the wilderness punishes those who destroy forests or harm nature; she is especially associated with the Amazon and eastern plains.
What is La Madremonte (or Madreselva)?
He assumed executive power in the early Gran Colombia period at the remarkably young age of about 27.
Who is Francisco de Paula Santander?
This long internal armed conflict (roughly 1960s–2016 with the main FARC agreement) is the longest-running in the Western Hemisphere.
What is the Colombian armed conflict / Colombian civil war (Conflicto armado interno)?
This tiny Andean department (capital Armenia) is one of the smallest by area yet among the densest outside the Caribbean coast.
What is Quindío?
In 1964 the Colombian army attacked this “independent republic” in Tolima, an event that helped crystallize the formation of the FARC.
What is Marquetalia?
This mischievous river and forest spirit (sometimes called Poira in Tolima) is known for living in caves, playing tricks on fishermen, and protecting waterways.
What is El Mohán?
This only Black president of Colombia (1861) had his portrait later “whitened” in Europe before humidity restored its original appearance.
Who is Juan José Nieto Gil?
In the 1876–1877 “War of the Schools,” Conservatives rose against Liberal educational and religious policies.
What is the War of the Schools (Guerra de las Escuelas)?