Colombia:
The Ultimate Backpackers Travel Guide

A Brief History Of Colombia

The First Settlers: Pre-Columbian Times

No one knows when the first settlers arrived in the lands known as Colombia. But it is suggested to be some 12,000 years ago. The first settlers were scattered individuals, and it'd take several millennia for societies to form.

At some point, around 4,000 BC, those societies started to appear. Many endure by way of Colombia's indigenous peoples. Amongst the most notable of Colombia's first cultures were the people of San Agustín, the tribes of the Tayronas, and the Muiscas.

The people of San Agustín remain Colombia's most enigmatic ancient civilization. We know little about them beyond the towering effigies uncovered in the San Agustín Archeological Park.

We know more about the tribes of Tayrona. Many of whom endure today in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

The Muiscas are Colombia's most famous ancient civilization. Alongside the Aztecs, Incans, and Mayans, they are one of Latin America's four great ancient civilizations. The Muiscas were famous for their agricultural prowess and mining of salt, gold, and emeralds. They're also credited with the origins of South America's most endearing legend: El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold.

Conquest: Arrival Of The Conquistadors

In 1499, the first Spaniard set foot on Colombian soil, making landfall on Cabo de la Vela — part of the La Guajira Peninsula. A generation would pass before the Spanish began their annexation of Colombia.

In 1525, the city of Santa Marta, Colombia's oldest city, was founded. It was the first permanent Spanish settlement in the country. The port city of Cartagena was founded eight years later, and went on to became the most prosperous port city in the new world throughout the 1600s.

After colonizing Colombia's Caribbean coast, the Spanish grew restless. Rumors of a civilization within Colombia's interior swirled. As did whispers that this civilization had mined vast amounts of gold and emeralds — the Muiscas. In April 1536, conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada led a company of Spanish infantry into the heart of the Colombian Andes. After several skirmishes where the Spanish demonstrated their superior technology, the Muiscas yielded. The city of Bogotá was founded shortly after.

Bogotá became the seat of Spanish power in the Americas and was named the capital city of the Spanish viceroyalty of New Granada – an area covering modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. The Spanish would maintain their grip on the region and subjugate its indigenous people until the 18th century.

Independence

As the 18th century drew to a close, the grip of the Spanish Empire started to loosen. Far away, the conquests of Napoleon Bonaparte swept across Europe, leading to the heart of the Spanish Empire. The royal family was overthrown, and Napoleon anointed his brother as the new king of Spain.

The colonies refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of this new ruler, and one by one, towns declared independence, with a formal declaration signed in 1810. A series of small civil wars ensued, with the fractured nation unable to agree on the course independence should take. Between 1814 and 1816, the Spanish re-established control over the territory, and the remaining pro-independence forces fled to Venezuela, where they met Simon Bolivar.

Bolivar established himself as the de facto leader of pro-independence forces, and the Colombian and Venezuelan wars of independence began. Bolivar came to the nation of New Granada in 1819, heading a small army that rapidly cleared a path through Spanish forces.

On August 7th, 1819, Bolivar's forces crushed the Spanish in the decisive Bottle of Boyaca. Three days later, Bolivar captured Bogotá without meeting resistance. The Republic of Gran Colombia was formed later that year, consisting of modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama. This did not last, though. Over the next several decades, the country's borders would shrink, and its name would change several times before settling on the Republic of Colombia.

Civil War & La Violencia

In the years between securing independence and the formation of the Republic of Colombia, a divide in ideologies became apparent. Those two ideologies were Centralist (Conservative) and Federalist (Liberal). Many saw Bolivar's initial Centralist government as inept, blaming them for the dissolution of Gran Colombia in 1830. The ideological divide continued to widen, and between 1863 and 1885, dozens of anti-government insurrections rocked the country.

In 1899, the divide came to a head. A civil war — The War of a Thousand Days – erupted. The war ended in a Conservative victory but came at a dear cost. The conflict left over 100,000 dead, and Panama was formed, breaking away from Colombia to form its own state.

After a period of fragile peace, war broke out again in 1948, following the assassination of popular Liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. The assassination led Liberals across the country to take up arms. The conflict, known as La Violencia, cost 300,000 people their lives.

La Violencia ended in 1953 when Liberal and Conservative leaders came together, supporting a military coup to pacify revolutionaries in the countryside. Then, in 1957, both parties agreed to share power. However, the pact repressed political activity outside the two main parties. This sowed the seeds for the formation of armed guerrilla groups that would terrorize Colombia for decades to come.

Birth Of The FARC

Out of the fires of La Violencia, Colombia faced a new problem; the formation of paramilitary groups. Most notably, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as the FARC.

While La Violencia was the spark that lit the fire, the origins of the FARC stretch back much further. In 1930, a Colombian Communist Party was formed, establishing itself in rural areas and coordinating strikes, protests, land seizures, and the organization of self-defense communities.

Fast-forward to the pact between Colombia's Conservative and Liberal parties to share power after La Violencia, and the Colombian Communist Party was suppressed.

In the 1960s, the Colombian government began attacking communist groups and reintegrating their communities with wider society. In 1964, 16,000 soldiers were dispatched to Marquetalia with orders to eliminate a communist group numbering just 48 individuals. The 48 fled into the mountains. When they emerged, The FARC was born.

Over the next several decades, the FARC would expand its wealth through kidnapping, ransoms, illegal mining, extortion, and the production and distribution of drugs. In the 80s, the guerrilla group began moving their operations toward major cities. They also founded a political party named the Patriotic Union. The goals of the Patriotic Union included seeking constitutional reform, more democratic local elections, and political decentralization.

At its peak, the FARC numbered 18,000 militia and is believed to bear responsibility for the deaths of 21,500 civilians during the static conflict that gripped Colombia from 1964 onwards. While the FARC was Colombia's most notorious guerrilla group, dozens of far-left and far-right paramilitaries were formed during the conflict. Together, they caused an estimated 68,000 civilian deaths.

The War on Drugs

As the FARC and other paramilitary groups gained a foothold in Colombian society, so to did another issue. The drugs trade. Many already know about this aspect of Colombia's history, so we won't go into huge detail.

In 1972, the Medellín cartel was formed, led by Pablo Escobar. 10 years later, cocaine had surpassed coffee as Colombia's biggest export. At its peak, the Medellín cartel made $420 million per week, supplying over 80% of the world's cocaine.

The Medellín cartel is believed to have killed at least 4,000 people through shootings, bombing campaigns, targeted assassinations, or acts of domestic terrorism. Their activities also gave the city of Medellín, the organization's namesake, the title 'Murder Capital of the World.' Eventually, in 1993, the day after his 44th birthday, Escobar was shot dead on the rooftops of Medellín following a chase with the city's police force.

With Escobar's death, the Calí cartel came to prominence. The Calí Godfathers came together in 1975, though it wasn't until Escobar's death that they came to the fore. The cartel quickly became a $7 billion per year criminal enterprise, supplying 90% of the world's cocaine.

In 1995, one-half of Calí's leadership, the Rodriguez brothers, were jailed. The other half of Calí's leadership were killed in 1996 and 1998, respectively. However, rumors persisted that the Rodriguez brothers continued to run the cartel's operations from their Colombian prison cells. The cartel didn't cease operating until the pair were extradited to the United States in 2006.

After Calí fell, several smaller-scale cartels came and went. The impact of the drug trade on Colombian society has lingered. Everyone over 30 in Medellín knows of someone who lost their life to the cartels. Colombia's reputation was tainted on the international stage, and the country acquired an image it desperately tries to shake to this day.

The Road To Peace

In 2006, when the Rodriguez brothers were extradited to the US, President Álvaro Uribe was re-elected.

Uribe pursued a military-led policy to reduce crime and guerrilla activity. Uribe deemed this a necessary prelude to any serious negotiation with paramilitary forces and greater security for the country, even if it came at the expense of other societal issues. This policy had its critics, but it did work. Uribe left office after putting Colombia on a much better footing to negotiate peace.

Two years after Uribe left office, his successor, Juan Manuel Santos, began peace talks with the FARC, Colombia's deadliest paramilitary group. After four long years of negotiation, a 297-page peace agreement was ratified, and a ceasefire ensued.

In October 2016, the peace agreement was put to a public referendum, which failed to pass by 0.3%. The Colombian government conferred with victims of the armed conflict on how the peace agreement could be improved. In November of that same year, an amended agreement was put to Colombia's Senate and House of Representatives. There the amended agreement was approved and fast-tracked for implementation.

President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded a Nobel peace prize for his efforts on the long road to enduring peace in Colombia.

Colombia Today

Colombia's history has been tumultuous, fraught with instability and tragedy. But finally, lasting peace for the country and its people is in sight.

The version of Colombia we see through the eyes of outdated prejudices in film and television doesn't exist anymore. The days of the mega cartels are over, and the peace deal with the FARC has proved monumental.

Kidnappings have plummeted by 92% since 2000. Homicides have plateaued and stabilized to 25.4 per 100,000 people since 2014 – most of which are inter-gang-related. Gun violence is increasingly rare, 15 times lower than gun violence in the United States. And, in 2017, the Colombian capital – Bogotá – saw less violent crime than cities such as Miami and Florida. Even the poverty rate, which stood at 50% in 2002, dropped to 29% in 2019 and continues to drop by 3% annually. All while Colombia's GDP has increased five times over since the '80s.

The motivations behind Colombia's recent troubled past are fading into memory.

The country's coastlines, lost cities, national parks, metropolises, and abundance of history mean that the tourism industry in Colombia is one of the fastest-growing globally. Now is the time to discover it for yourself.