Located at the top, Northwestern corner of South America, Colombia is the only country with coastlines on both sides of that continent. Colombia's official name is the Republic of Colombia. It is fourth in size among the countries of South America- after Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Its area is about 1,138,910 sq. km and 439,735 sq. miles. .
Colombia has several large cities. The largest one and its capital are Bogota. Bogota has a population of 5,484,244 people. Other popular cities include Medellin(pop. 1,834,881), Cali(pop. 1,847,176), and Barranquilla(pop. 1,910,567). The total population of Colombia is 37,422,791.
Colombia also has a very diverse population, which is made up of many ethnic groups. These include Mestizo 58%, White 20%, Mulatto 14%, Black 4%, Mixed Black-Amerindian 3%, and Amerindian 1%. 95% of the population is Roman Catholic. The other 5% practice a number of different religions. The main language spoken in Colombia is Spanish, but there is also about 200 indigenous languages that were spoken by the natives before the Spanish came.
The highest point of elevation in Colombia is Nevado del Huila at 5,750 miles high. The lowest point of elevation in Colombia is the Pacific Ocean at 0 miles. The literacy rate of Colombia's population is 91.3%. Colombia's monetary unit is the Colombian peso.
Colombia's agricultural products are coffee, livestock, rice, root crops, sugarcane, plantains, sorghum, cotton, cacao, tobacco, soybeans, wheat, barley, cut flowers, and tropical fruits. The industrial products are textiles, food processing, clothing, footwear, beverages, petroleum products, chemicals, iron, steel, other metal products, cement, paper, lumber, glass, automobiles, and fertilizer. Colombia is an illicit producer of coca, opium poppies, and cannabis. The world's leading coca cultivator (cultivation of coca in 1998 - 101,500 hectares, a 28% increase over 1997) The cultivation of opium in 1998 remained steady at 6,600 hectares.