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Colombia

How is the land laid out?

The national centerpiece is the Andes Mountains. West of them is a narrow coastal plain; east of them, broad lowland forests--part of the Amazon (Amazonas) basin and the Orinoco Plains. The Andes have five pieces. In the north are the Perijá--along the Venezuelan border--and the seaside Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Snowy Mountains of Saint Martha), which feature Cristóbal (5,700 meters). The more southerly three ranges (cordilleras) are the Western (Occidental), the Central and the Eastern (Oriental). Chiles in the west reaches 4,890 meters;1 Nevado (Snowy Peak) Huila in the Central, 5,750 meters; and Sierra Nevada in the Eastern, 5,493 meters. Between the Western and the Central, the Cauca River flows; and between the Central and Eastern, the Magdalena.

In the Colombian part of the Amazon basin is the Guainía, a headwater of the Negro (Black) and two starters for the Japurá: the Yarí and the Caquetá.

Colombia also includes some small islands off the coast of Nicaragua.

There are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites focused on nature: the Malpelo Fauna and Fora Sanctuary on Malpelo Island; and Los Katiós National Park along the border with Panamá and contiguous with a Panamanian national park.

Who lives there?

The majority throughout Colombia speak Spanish and are Roman Catholic Christians.

There are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites focused on culture: the Historic Centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox in Bolívar Department; the Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments in Cartagena; and the National Archeological Park of Tierradentro2 in Cauca Department; and San Agustín Archeological Park in Huila Department.

There are four cities with more than a million residents:
Barranquilla
Bogotá
Cali
Medellín

Other cities of note are Santa Marta, Papayán, San Andrés and Mucaramanga.

Other local topics

Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Norte de Santander Departments; Arauca and Casanere Intendencies; Distrito Especial; and Vichada, Guaviare, Guainía, Vaupés and Amazon Administrative Territories

Córdoba, Sucre, Bolívar, Atlántico, Magdalena, César, Santander and La Guarija Departments

Chocó, Antioquia, Risaralda, Valle de Cauca, Caldas, Tolima, Huila, Quindío, Meta, Caquetá, Cauca and Nariño Departments and Putumayo Intendency

San Andrés and Providencia Intendency

Footnotes

1. Some atlases have 4764 for Cumbal and do not show Chiles--New International Atlas (Rand McNalley and Company, 1999) and The Times Atlas of the World (Random House, 1992); the Atlas de Colombia (Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi, 1967) lists both with the heights I gave (Colombia Hundida 4000 Metros).
2. Might be translated as toothed-land.