South America · COL

Colombia

The story · 11 chapters

How it was drawn

The heart of the Viceroyalty of New Granada led the union of Gran Colombia, saw it break into three, then lost Panama in 1903.

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Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Colombia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Spanish Empire1525 to 1600
Spanish conquerors subdued the Muisca chiefdoms of the high plateau from 1537, then fought many other peoples. The Tairona of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta were crushed after a last revolt around 1600.
Kingdom of England, later Great Britain1586 to 1741
Francis Drake captured and ransomed Cartagena in 1586. In 1741, in the War of Jenkins' Ear, Admiral Vernon besieged the city with one of the largest fleets of the age, but the defenders under Blas de Lezo held out.
Kingdom of France1697
In 1697 a French expedition under the Baron de Pointis, joined by Caribbean buccaneers, captured Cartagena and carried off a vast treasure, one of the richest raids on the Spanish Main.
Spanish Empire1810 to 1821
Spain sent Pablo Morillo to retake New Granada in 1815; his siege of Cartagena and the executions that followed crushed the first republic. Bolivar's victory at Boyaca in 1819 freed Bogota, and Cartagena fell to the patriots in 1821.
Republic of Peru1828 to 1829
Peru and Gran Colombia went to war over Guayaquil and the southern borderlands. Sucre defeated the Peruvian army at Tarqui in February 1829, and a peace treaty followed that year.
Republic of Ecuador1832 to 1863
After Gran Colombia broke up, Ecuador and New Granada quarrelled over the borderlands of Pasto and Cauca. In December 1863 Colombian forces under Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera defeated Ecuador's army at Cuaspud.
United States1903 to 1921
When Colombia's senate rejected a canal treaty in 1903, the United States backed Panama's secession with warships. Colombia accepted the loss only in a 1921 treaty that paid it 25 million dollars.
Republic of Peru1932 to 1934
Peruvians seized the Amazon port of Leticia in 1932, and the two countries fought a short jungle and river war. A protocol signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1934 confirmed Leticia as Colombian.
NicaraguaSince 1980Still open
In 1980 Nicaragua declared void the 1928 treaty that gave Colombia the San Andres islands. The International Court of Justice upheld Colombia's sovereignty over the islands in 2012 but gave Nicaragua a large share of the surrounding sea.
VenezuelaSince 1987Still open
The two countries have never agreed their sea border in the Gulf of Venezuela. In August 1987 the Colombian corvette Caldas entered the disputed waters and both sides mobilised before it withdrew.

Today

Colombia now

Colombia was one of three countries that emerged after the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830 -- the others are Ecuador and Venezuela. A decades-long conflict among government forces, paramilitaries, and antigovernment insurgent groups heavily funded by the drug trade -- principally the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- escalated during the 1990s. In the wake of the paramilitary demobilization in the 2000s, new criminal groups arose that included some former paramilitaries.

Capital: Bogotá
Government: presidential republic
Head of government: Abelardo de la Espriella
Languages: Spanish
Area: 1,140,619 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population52.3 million2023 · 11.8 million in 1950
Life expectancy77.7 years2023 · 48.3 years in 1950
GDP per person$14,4682022 · $3,432 in 1950
Living in cities79%2025 · 39% in 1950
Literacy95%2024 · 53% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesRio Pact2024 · Rio Pact in 1950
Military spending3.2% of GDP2025
War deaths1.8 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United States
Brazil
Chile
Argentina

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Colombia fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Spanish Empire1525 to 1600

Spanish conquerors subdued the Muisca chiefdoms of the high plateau from 1537, then fought many other peoples. The Tairona of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta were crushed after a last revolt around 1600.

Kingdom of England, later Great Britain1586 to 1741

Francis Drake captured and ransomed Cartagena in 1586. In 1741, in the War of Jenkins' Ear, Admiral Vernon besieged the city with one of the largest fleets of the age, but the defenders under Blas de Lezo held out.

Kingdom of France1697

In 1697 a French expedition under the Baron de Pointis, joined by Caribbean buccaneers, captured Cartagena and carried off a vast treasure, one of the richest raids on the Spanish Main.

Spanish Empire1810 to 1821

Spain sent Pablo Morillo to retake New Granada in 1815; his siege of Cartagena and the executions that followed crushed the first republic. Bolivar's victory at Boyaca in 1819 freed Bogota, and Cartagena fell to the patriots in 1821.

Republic of Peru1828 to 1829

Peru and Gran Colombia went to war over Guayaquil and the southern borderlands. Sucre defeated the Peruvian army at Tarqui in February 1829, and a peace treaty followed that year.

Republic of Ecuador1832 to 1863

After Gran Colombia broke up, Ecuador and New Granada quarrelled over the borderlands of Pasto and Cauca. In December 1863 Colombian forces under Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera defeated Ecuador's army at Cuaspud.

United States1903 to 1921

When Colombia's senate rejected a canal treaty in 1903, the United States backed Panama's secession with warships. Colombia accepted the loss only in a 1921 treaty that paid it 25 million dollars.

Republic of Peru1932 to 1934

Peruvians seized the Amazon port of Leticia in 1932, and the two countries fought a short jungle and river war. A protocol signed in Rio de Janeiro in 1934 confirmed Leticia as Colombian.

NicaraguaSince 1980Still open

In 1980 Nicaragua declared void the 1928 treaty that gave Colombia the San Andres islands. The International Court of Justice upheld Colombia's sovereignty over the islands in 2012 but gave Nicaragua a large share of the surrounding sea.

VenezuelaSince 1987Still open

The two countries have never agreed their sea border in the Gulf of Venezuela. In August 1987 the Colombian corvette Caldas entered the disputed waters and both sides mobilised before it withdrew.

Colombia now

Capital

Bogotá

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Abelardo de la Espriella

Languages

Spanish

Area

1,140,619 km²

Then and now

Population52.3 million2023 · 11.8 million in 1950

Life expectancy77.7 years2023 · 48.3 years in 1950

GDP per person$14,4682022 · $3,432 in 1950

Living in cities79%2025 · 39% in 1950

Literacy95%2024 · 53% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesRio Pact2024 · Rio Pact in 1950

Military spending3.2% of GDP2025

War deaths1.8 per 100,0002025