Colombia Research Paper

With a population of 48.32 million and about the size of California and Texas combined is the Republic of Colombia. Located at the northern tip of South America. Similarly to the United States it has a republic form of government with executive,judicial,and legislative branches. There President is Juan Manuel Santos and they use the Colombian pesos for money. They have free education systems that are Primary school which is elementary school for us and Secondary school which to us is high school and there major language is Spanish. Colombia’s flag is striped mostly yellow then blue then red on the bottom.

Colombia is named after Christopher Columbus who discovered the "New World" although he never went to Colombia, but he inspired a lot of people to colonize the new land. Not

much is know or recorded before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s but many natives prospered in Colombia.Much like the Maya and Incas they made art of stone.These people lived in mud covered huts and made human sacrifices to the sun. When the Spanish arrived the Chibcha ,Carb ,Arawak ,Tairina , and Musica were the only known group of people that were there around at the time.After the Spanish arrived they named Colombia, New Granada and named the capital Santa Fe de Bogota which is now Bogota. They brought the Catholic religion with them they made the natives labor for them because they had better weapons,attack dogs,and horses which they used to control the natives and force them to honor the queen of Spain.Diseases also came along with the arrival of everything else the Spanish brought with them which wiped a lot of them out so they had to bring African slaves to make up for the loss.
A need for declaration grew when Spain started to restrict trade with other countries and only allowed Colombia to trade to with Spain.Colombia finally strikes back at the perfect time when Spain was in conflict with Napoleon and the King was imprisoned. Tensions rose to the breaking point when Joaquín Gonzalez Llorente, a Spanish merchant who had a flower vase that the patriots wanted to display at a dinner table party for Antonio Villavicencio , a Colombia patriot that would be tempered if Llorente did not let him use it this would make them start a riot and that day,July,20 1810 Colombia declared its independence from Spain. The last battle that Colombian fought was when Simon Bolivar defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Boyaca in 1819. It took Colombia a couple of centuries to declare its independence from Spain but they did with the help of Simon Bolivar and many others .
Colombia has 20 national holidays that we have in common which include New Years Day,Good Friday,Mothers and Fathers day(not national holidays),Declaration of Independence,Columbus Day,and Christmas Day and there are the ones that we don't have are Epiphany,Saint Joseph Day,Maundy Thursday,May Day,Ascension day,Corpus Christi,Sacred Heart,Saint Peter and Saint Paul,Battle of Boyacá,Assumption day,All Saints Day,Independence Of Cartagena,and ,Immaculate Conception day.

Colombia has the second highest number of national holidays and many of the holidays are based around the Catholic church since 90% of the population is Catholic.Easter is one of the biggest celebrated holidays in Colombia because it has to do with Christ's resurrection. On Easter people carry a wooden carvings of Jesus crucifixion,death,and resurrection through 1 mile route through the city of Popayan. Some of the other important holidays are in December and they celebrate them by lighting up the city with candles,raising Christmas trees ,people often gather together to pray,they attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve,and eat a big meal on Christmas day,but they do not have a Santa they only have Jesus to bring them

presents.
In Conclusion Colombia has a very rich and interesting history and is a very unique country. Even though it has some differences there are similar things to compare to the United States such as government and history. Colombia would not be what is today if it had not declared its independence from Spain and if they had never came to Columbia and brought the Roman Catholic Church.