At the time of the Spanish arrival in Colombia at the end of the 15th century, it was populated by various Indian tribes, each with distinct languages and cultures. The most distinct were the Tayronas, fine goldsmiths who lived on the Caribbean coast, the warrior Chibchas who settled the mountainous centre of the country and the culture which inhabited the area around San Agustin in the south, leaving behind them a series of mysterious burial grounds and statues.

The Spaniards founded their first city at Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast in 1525 and European settlement quickly spread, with Bogota founded in 1538. In 1718, the Madrid Crown created the Vice-royalty of New Granada which included modern-day Colombia.

Independence from the Spanish Crown was declared in 1819, when the new republic joined with Venezuela and Ecuador to form Simon Bolivar's "Greater Colombia." Venezuela broke off in 1829 and Ecuador a year later, while Panama was lost to the United States in 1903. Politics during the Nineteenth Century was dominated by a number of wars between the Liberal and Conservative parties and between regional chieftains.

The country's most brutal civil war, known as "La Violencia" was sparked in 1948 by the assassination of the popular Liberal leader, Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.

Some 300,000 people died in the ensuing bloodshed, which also featured a 1953-57 military dictatorship and ended in 1958 with a formal agreement between the two countries to share power which lasted until 1978. The military has not held power or mounted a coup attempt since 1957.

Elections to a constitutional convention were held in 1990, in which the former guerrilla movement M19 gained 30 percent of the vote, and a new constitution was promulgated in 1991. Congressional elections to the 102-seat Senate and the 163-seat House of Representatives held in March 1994 heralded the re-emergence of the traditional parties. The Liberal candidate Ernesto Samper narrowly defeated the Social Conservative Party (PSC) candidate.

National elections were next held in March 1998. Although Samper is a member of the PSC, the PL has a majority in both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The next congressional elections are due by March 2002, and the next presidential elections by May 2002. Local and regional elections are scheduled for 29 October 2000, but municipalities want them postponed in rebel areas.

A three-decade-long conflict has cost some 35,000 lives. Marxist guerrilla groups began their insurgency in the early 1960s. An estimated 10,000 rebels remain active in various areas. The largest is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), followed by the National Liberation Army (ELN) and a splinter group of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL).

Right-wing paramilitary groups number an estimated 5,000 to 7,000, and are accused of widespread human rights abuses.

Both paramilitaries and guerrillas are reported to rely on growing and selling coca to finance their operations. Paramilitaries are accused of deliberately displacing civilians, often to benefit wealthy patrons.

As many as 1.8 million Colombians were internally displaced at the end of 1999. The number of Colombians seeking refuge abroad was also on the increase, both in neighbouring countries and in North America and Europe.

Following a number of fierce rebel attacks in November and December 1998, President Pastrana received the full support of political leaders and members of Congress to pursue peace negotiations with the various guerrilla movements; grant presidential pardons to rebels, and offer guarantees for their return to society.

In November 1998, Pastrana pulled some 2,000 government troops out of a 16,000-square-mile (42,000-sq-km) area of southeast Colombia - an area the size of Switzerland - to make way for release of troops held prisoner by the FARC. The FARC insisted that Pastrana crack down on illegal right-wing death squads, which it accused of fighting a "dirty war" with the help of the armed forces against leftist sympathisers.

Peace talks began in January 1999, but stalled in the same month, to resume in October. Guerrillas increased their use of kidnapping during 1999 as a way of raising funds.

In January 1999, a strong earthquake measuring 6.3 killed at least 1,170 people in the central coffee-growing region, centred in the provincial capital Armenia.

President Pastrana's $7.5 billion "Plan Colombia" aims to destroy the country's drug market -- the world's leading supplier of cocaine -- while pouring money into social resources to help turn the economy around.

A $1.3 billion aid package -- mostly military -- was approved by the U.S. Senate in June 2000. U.S. President Bill Clinton waived human rights conditions on aid in August 2000 so that assistance could be released.

(Source:Human Development Report 2000, UNDP)

(Source: The Military Balance,2000/2001, IISS)

(The Military Balance 2000/2001, IISS)