GEOGRAPHY
Location: northwestern coast of South America.
Boundaries: Caribbean Sea to N, Venezuela and Brazil to E, Peru and Ecuador to S, Panama and Pacific Ocean to W.
Total land area: 440,831 sq. mi (1,141,748 sq. km).
Coastline: 1,992 mi. (3,208 km).
Comparative area: about the size of Texas, and New Mexico combined, or slightly less than three times size of Montana.
Land use: 4% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 29% meadows and pastures; 49% forest and woodland; 16% other.
Major cities: Santafe de Bogota (capital); Medellin; Cali; Barranquilla;
Cartagena.
PEOPLE
Population: 37,685,000 hab (1998)
Nationality: noun-Colombian(s); adjective-Colombian.
Ethnic groups: 58% mestizo, 20% white, 14% mulato, 4% black, 4% other. Languages: Spanish. Religion: 95% Roman Catholic.
GOVERNMENT
Type: republic; executive branch dominates government structure.
Structure: president; bicameral legislature (congress-Senate, House of representatives); judiciary.
Independence: July 20, 1810 (from Spain). National holiday: Independence Day, July 20.
Constitution: august 4, 1886, with amendments codified in 1946 and 1968. New constitution in 1992.
ECONOMY
Monetary unit: peso. Budget: (1988 est.) income: $4.6 bil; expend: $4.7 bil. GNP: $70
bil.(1995 est.); $1,910 per capita (1995 est.). GDP: $76 bil. (1995 est.); $2,125 per capita (1995 est.)
Chief crops: coffee, rice, corn, sugarcane, plantains, cottons, tobacco, bananas. Livestock: cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, goats.
Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, emeralds, gold, copper, lead, salt.
Major Industries: textiles, food processing, oil.
Exports: $5.4 bil. (F.o.b. 1986); coffee, coal, fuel oil, cotton, tobacco.
Imports: $3.9 bil. (C.i.f., 1986); transportation equipment, machinery, industrial metals, and raw materials, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, fuels.
Major trading partners: (1986) exports: 36% U.S., 18% W.Germany, 5% Japan, 4% Netherlands, 3% France, 3% Sweden; Imports: 38% U.S., 11% Japan, 8% W. Germany, 4.4% France, 4.3% Spain.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: FAO, G-7, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD,
IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, ITU, NAM, OAS, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO.
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