Colombia

From the goldsmiths of the Muisca and the legend of El Dorado to a Spanish viceroyalty, the cradle of Bolivar's republic, and a modern nation that fought its way through partisan wars and a long armed conflict toward peace.

Colombia's story begins with the chiefdoms of the northern Andes, above all the Muisca, whose ritual offerings of gold gave rise to the legend of El Dorado, and the megalith carvers of San Agustin and the tomb builders of Tierradentro. Spanish conquistadors led by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada founded Santa Fe de Bogota in 1538, and the territory became the heart of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, with the fortified Caribbean port of Cartagena guarding the empire's wealth. Independence was won between 1810 and 1819, crowned by Simon Bolivar's victory at Boyaca, and for a decade Colombia formed part of Bolivar's Gran Colombia before it broke apart in 1830. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were scarred by Liberal-Conservative wars, the loss of Panama, the bloodletting of La Violencia, and a long internal armed conflict, before the 2016 peace accord with the FARC opened a new and still-contested chapter.