Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest. Colombia is divided into 32 departments. The Capital District of Bogotá is also the country's largest city hosting the main financial and cultural hub. Other major urban areas include Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cúcuta, Ibagué, Villavicencio and Bucaramanga. It covers an area of 1,141,748 square kilometers and has a population of around 52 million. Its rich cultural heritage—including language, religion, cuisine, and art—reflects its history as a colony, fusing cultural elements brought by immigration from Europe and the Middle East, with those brought by the African diaspora, as well as with those of the various Indigenous civilizations that predate colonization. Spanish is the official language, although Creole, English and 64 other languages are recognized regionally.
The National University of Colombia is a national public research university in Colombia, with general campuses in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, and satellite campuses in Leticia, San Andrés, Arauca, Tumaco, and La Paz, Cesar. Established in 1867 by an act of the Congress of Colombia, it is one of the largest universities in the country, with more than 53,000 students. The university grants academic degrees and offers 450 academic programmes, including 95 undergraduate degrees, 83 academic specializations, 40 medical specialties, 167 master's degrees, and 65 doctorates. Approximately 44,000 students are enrolled for an undergraduate degree and 8,000 for a postgraduate degree. It is also one of the few universities that employs postdoctorate fellows in the country.
The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana is a private university in Colombia founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its main facilities in Bogotá and a second campus in Cali. "La Javeriana", as it is known by its students, has traditionally educated the Colombian upper class. It is one of the 33 universities entrusted to the Society of Jesus in Latin America and one of 167 around the world.
The Altiplano Cundiboyacense is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. The altiplano corresponds to the ancient territory of the Muisca. The Altiplano Cundiboyacense comprises three distinctive flat regions; the Bogotá savanna, the valleys of Ubaté and Chiquinquirá, and the valleys of Duitama and Sogamoso. The average altitude of the altiplano is about 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level but ranges from roughly 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Saint Thomas University is a Roman Catholic university located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the oldest Colombian university, founded in 1580 by the Dominican Order. It has campuses in Bucaramanga, Tunja, Medellín, and Villavicencio, and offers distance education.
The Bogotá savanna is a montane savanna, located in the southwestern part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the center of Colombia. The Bogotá savanna has an extent of 4,251.6 square kilometres (1,641.6 sq mi) and an average altitude of 2,650 metres (8,690 ft). The savanna is situated in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes.
Adriana Vargas is a Colombian journalist and news presenter for New York's WXTV Univision 41 Nueva York.
Guillermo Abadía Morales was a Colombian linguist, academic, anthropologist, folklore researcher and indigenous language expert. Abadía Morales was one of the first to champion the study of indigenous languages in Colombia.
Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno is a Colombian diplomat, politician and economist. He is the current Ambassador of Colombia to the United States and former Minister of Defence. Pinzon comes from a military family, his father was a Colonel in the Colombian Army.
Guillermo Bermúdez Umaña was a Colombian architect and professor of the National University of Colombia. His works are mainly private homes and public buildings, mostly in Bogota.
Thomas van der Hammen was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He had published more than 160 works in five languages.
The Eastern Hills are a chain of hills forming the eastern natural boundary of the Colombian capital Bogotá. They are part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau of the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The Eastern Hills are bordered by the Chingaza National Natural Park to the east, the Bogotá savanna to the west and north, and the Sumapaz Páramo to the south. The north-northeast to south-southwest trending mountain chain is 52 kilometres (32 mi) long and its width varies from 0.4 to 8 kilometres. The highest hilltops rise to 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) over the western flatlands at 2,600 metres (8,500 ft). The Torca River at the border with Chía in the north, the boquerón Chipaque to the south and the valley of the Teusacá River to the east are the hydrographic limits of the Eastern Hills.
The Thomas van der Hammen Natural Reserve or Thomas van der Hammen Forest Reserve is an area of the Bogotá savanna that is under environmental protection. The natural reserve was declared as such in year 2000 by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable development. It takes its name from the Dutch-Colombian geologist Thomas van der Hammen who devoted his life to the research of the region. The surface area of the protected reserve is approximately 1,395 hectares and it is located in the north of Bogotá.
The biodiversity of Colombia is the variety of indigenous organisms in the country with the second-highest biodiversity in the world. As of 2021, around 63,000 species are registered in Colombia, of which 14% are endemic. The country occupies worldwide the first position in number of orchids, birds and butterflies, second position in plants, amphibians and fresh water fish, third place in species of palm trees and reptiles and globally holds the sixth position in biodiversity of mammals.
The Sabana Formation is a geological formation of the Bogotá savanna, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The formation consists mainly of shales with at the edges of the Bogotá savanna lignites and sandstones. The Sabana Formation dates to the Quaternary period; Middle to Late Pleistocene epoch, and has a maximum thickness of 320 metres (1,050 ft), varying greatly across the savanna. It is the uppermost formation of the lacustrine and fluvio-glacial sediments of paleolake Humboldt, that existed at the edge of the Eastern Hills until the latest Pleistocene.
Sandra Myrna DíazForMemRS is an Argentine ecologist and professor of ecology at the National University of Córdoba, who has been awarded with the Linnean Medal for her scientific work. She studies the functional traits of plants and investigates how plants impact the ecosystem.
Ana María Hernández Salgar is a Colombian professional in international relations. She is currently the Head of Office International Affairs, Policy and Cooperation at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute.
Diana Carolina Pombo Holguín was a Colombian environmentalist, architect and writer. Pombo was born in Bogotá, where she studied architecture at the National University of Colombia, further specializing in environmental topics in universities of France, Germany and Brazil. She contributed to the construction of current environmental policies, and the creation of the National Environmental Movement.
Rebeca Uribe Bone was the first woman to graduate in engineering in Colombia. She was a chemical engineer and the first woman to graduate in Chemical Engineering from the Pontifical-Bolivarian University of Medellin.
María Susana Muhamad González is a Colombian political scientist, environmentalist and politician belonging to the Humane Colombia party. Since August 7, 2022, she has held the position of Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development in the government of Gustavo Petro. She has called for phasing out fossil fuels including coal, which Colombia exports.
