哥伦比亚(Colombia)
正式名称哥伦比亚共和国（Republic of Colombia）
南美洲西北部国家。面积约1,141,748平方公里。人口约43,071,000（2001）。首都︰波哥大。半数以上人口为梅斯蒂索人（mestizo，欧洲人与美洲印第安人的混血後裔）、欧洲人（约1/5）、穆拉托人（mulattoe）、黑人和印第安人。语言：西班牙语（官方语）。宗教︰天主教。货币：哥伦比亚披索（Col$）。哥伦比亚地形主要是哥伦比亚安地斯山脉。东南部为广阔的低地，有奥利诺科河和亚马逊河流经。哥伦比亚的开发中经济是以服务业、农业和制造业为主，咖啡是主要的经济作物。古柯和大麻大规模非法种植，古柯硷和海洛因贩运，需大加关注。矿产丰富，哥伦比亚是世界最大的祖母绿产国和南美洲最大的黄金产国之一。政府形式是多党制共和国，两院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。
最早居住在该地的是讲奇布查诸语言的印第安人。约1500年西班牙人到达，到1538年击败印第安人，使该区归属秘鲁总督辖区。1740年後，当局迁往新成立的新格拉纳达总督辖区。1810年哥伦比亚部分地区摆脱西班牙管辖，1819年玻利瓦尔击败西班牙，获得完全独立。1840年的内战阻碍了国家的发展。自由党与保守党之间的冲突，导致「千日战争」（1899～1903）。经过数十年平静後，1948年又再次爆发战争。1958年达成协议，由两党轮流执政。1991年采用新宪法，但因内部不稳定，民主力量仍受到威胁。21世纪初期，许多左派反对者和右翼准军事团体都经由绑架和贩运毒品取得活动资金。
English version：
Colombia
Country, northwestern South America. Area: 440,762 sq mi (1,141,568 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 42,299,000. Capital: Bogotá. More than half of the population is mestizo, followed by Europeans (about one-fifth), mulattoes, blacks, and Indians. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism. Currency: peso. It is dominated by the Colombian Andes. To the southeast lie vast lowlands, drained by the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. Colombia's developing economy is based primarily on services, agriculture, and manufacturing, coffee being the principal cash crop. Coca and opium poppies are grown illicitly on a major scale, and cocaine and heroin trafficking are serious concerns. Rich in minerals, Colombia is the world's largest producer of emeralds and one of South America's largest producers of gold. It is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president. Its earliest known inhabitants were Chibchan-speaking Indians. The Spanish arrived c. 1500 and by 1538 had defeated them and made the area subject to the viceroyalty of Peru. After 1740 authority was transferred to the newly created viceroyalty of New Granada. Parts of Colombia threw off Spanish jurisdiction in 1810, and full independence came after Spain's defeat by Simón Bolívar in 1819. Civil war in 1840 checked development. Conflict between the Liberal and Conservative parties led to the War of a Thousand Days (1899-1903). Years of relative peace followed, but hostility erupted again in 1948; the two parties agreed in 1958 to a scheme for alternating governments. A new constitution was adopted in 1991, but democratic power remained threatened by civil unrest. In the early 21st century, many leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups funded their activities through kidnappings and narcotics trafficking.