Colombia was named after Christopher Columbus, Christophorus Columbus in Latin, a European explorer who was was instrumental in Spanish colonization of the Americas

The name was conceived by the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda as a reference to the New World, especially to all American territories and colonies under Spanish and Portuguese rule.

Currently, the Republic of Colombia is located in the north west area of South America, and thus, it has wonderful coasts in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

In addition, a stretch of the great Amazon River inside the Amazon trapezium is also within Colombia’s jurisdiction. This country is bordered by Venezuela to the east, Brazil to the southeast, Peru and Ecuador to the south and Panama to the northeast.

The Colombian government, however, officially recognizes as neighboring countries those with which it shares maritime border treaties such as Jamaica, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic.

In the western half of the country, the Andes mountain range dominates the landscape. This chain is divided into three parts: the Western, the Central and the Eastern regions. Between them and towards the low plains of the Caribbean coast flow the Cauca and Magdalena rivers.

Volcanoes are another feature of Colombia’s geography, some of them occasionally active, in the highest parts of the mountain range. The highest point in Colombia is the Cristobal Colon peak in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta.

Towards the east area of the country flat lowlands cover large part of the area, some of them with bushy vegetation and numerous rivers such as the Putumayo, the Caquetá, the Meta, the Guavire that flow into the Orinoco or the Amazonas.

Finally, Colombia has several though small islands in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific ocean.

Bogota is the capital city of Colombia, headquarters of the National government and capital city of the department known as Cundinamarca. This city is described as a Capital District divided into twenty localities.

About eight million people live in Bogota and according to the 2005 census carried out by the National Administrative Department of Statistics this city is South America’s fifth most populated city.

One of Bogota’s distinctive features is the fact that people coming from different parts of the country live there, and have contributed to establishing the most typical traditions of the city.

Not only in Bogota but also in the rest of the country, a close-knit and peaceful family takes on high importance at both personal and social level. This is made clear at every religious celebration and special day.

The origins of Colombia’s culture lie in the mixed races of native populations and the influence of the Spanish colonization. Religion, for instance, has played a major role in the creation of the country’s cultural identity.

Nowadays, ninety per cent of the country’s population belongs to the Catholic religion and a large part of the cultural habits developed by this population are common to almost every Latin American country.

However, due to geographic isolation and the poor access and contact between different regions of the country, a variety of sub regions have developed, each of them with their own distinctive features.