Independence in Colombia Today

Independence day in Colombia is celebrated on June 20, 1810.. There are numerous gatherings and celebrations in honor of the day Bogota, Colombia's capital, gained independence from the Spanish.  Check out this video below of a Colombian Independence Day festival!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvkL_pjdHhs

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Colombia's Independence Day is also recognized by the US.  Last year, as seen in this press statement below from the US Secretary of State, the United States wished Colombia a happy Independence Day.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/07/168725.htm

The Battle for Independence

        The initial movement for Independence in Colombia began in the 1790s, a period of time after the French revolution. [1]  The Venezuelans who tried to set up an independent government, the first major attempt for independence in Colombia, in Bogota through revolt in 1796 to 1806, but failed.[1]  Four years later, in May of 1810, Cartagena declared its’ independence, which drove Bogota to declare independence on June 20, 1810. [1]  Colombia  went on with 6 years of independence. Spain then regained their power over Colombia in 1816 when they shifted their attention back to Colombia. [1]  They were preoccupied before because they were fighting a war against France from 1810 to 1816. [1]

       The Colombians finally gained independence when Simon Bolivar and his generals fought the Spaniards at the Battle of Boyaca and won in August of 1819. [1]  Instability arose when Bolivar and his generals, Jose Antonio Paez and Francisco de Paula Santander, wanted different forms of government. Bolivar wanted a strong central government while his two generals campaigned for a federation of sovereign states, where the land would be divided up governed in states. [1] They even extended their plot of land with the Constitution of Cucuta,  established in 1821. [1]  This constitution set up the Republic of Colombia which included Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Colombia itself. [1]

          Bolivar ended up being named the president of Colombia, otherwise known Gran Colombia, and his general, Francisco de Paula Santander was his vice president. Bolivar continued to fight for Ecuador’s liberation and Peru’s independence. During Bolivar's absence Francisco de Paula Santander governed Gran Colombia, which was named Colombia in 1863. [1]  This was a great end to the tough battle for independence.  It took numerous trials, rebellions, and battle, but in the end it was worth it for the Colombians.

The Discovery: Colombia

The initial conquest of modern-day Colombia began when various Spanish explorers embarked on the search for “El Dorado” or “the treasure”. [1,3]  The vast land was plentiful in gold, emerald, and tobacco. [1]  The opportunity looked appealing to them because Spain, as well as other conquerors, strove for Gold, God, and Glory.   As the Spanish came in, they began founding cities.  In 1525, Rodrigo de Bastidas founded Santa Marta and later in 1533, Pedro de Heredia founded Cartegena. [2]  Once they realized the extremity of their success and their power, the Spanish decided to go for the whole territory. This sparked the interest of the Spanish conqueror, Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, who conquerered Colombia in 1536. [1] Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada founded today's capital, Bogota by defeating and conquering the Chibcha Indians, an agricultural tribe on the eastern chain of the Andes Mountains. [1, 3] Once he completed the conquering, Spain gave him the military title of Marshal.[1]  Spain went on to conquer modern-day Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, and parts of Peru and Brazil; they named this new, immense plot of land, Nueva Granada [1]

Colonial Life in Colombia

Once the Spanish took control of Colombia, there was a significant change within society politically, economically, socially, and religiously. 

            As soon as the Spanish established control, trade ports went up due to the variety of trade-able resources on their new land. [1]  The geography of Colombia made the trade industry extremely prosperous because of the rivers that ran through Colombia (Attrato, Sinu and Magdalena).The convenient rivers facilitated the transport of natural resources to trade ports. [1]  The main economy soon became mining, agriculture, and the textile industry, as a result of the new technology brought by the Spanish. [2] 

            In 1739, the Spanish changed the ruling system in Colombia to a viceroyalty. [1]  This new political system created the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada.[1]  As a viceroyalty, the Spanish kings divided up the land and assign a governor to each area. Each of those governors would be ruled by the King of Spain. This system gave Spain a lot of power over the Colombians because Spain chose the governors of the small land portions and then ruled over them. [2] This system suggested political order, stability, and control. [2]

            The majority religion in Spain was Catholicism and the religions in Colombia prior to their succumb to Spain were vast.  The native Colombians were all of different aboriginal tribes who worshipped their indigenous gods and deities that varied upon each tribe, but not for long. After Spain came in, the aboriginals were converted to Catholicism.  This broke much of the culture and tradition of the  indigenous tribes. Pretty soon religion change, acculturation and intermarriage with the Spanish and the Indigenous destroyed all native culture and traditions. [2]

            Natives were treated very poorly, almost like slaves. [2] The indigenous population decreased because they couldn’t keep up with the European economic demands, refusing to put up with the poor treatment that they received from the Spanish, and the contraction of European diseases because their immune system wasn’t used to the foreign sicknesses. [2]

            The colonial experience was all together different from indigenous life. Not only did the society take a complete 360 change in various aspects, but so did the population.  The changes brought to Colombia from the Spanish altered life for the natives, that were still left, forever.