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South America: Caribbean

The United States of Colombia, formerly known as New Granada, is one of the most progressive of the South American Republics. It lies in the extreme N.-W. angle of the continent, embracing territory between lat. 12° 21′ N., and 1° 20′ S., and long. 68° 52′ and 83° 5' W. On the N. is the Caribbean Sea; on the N.-E. and E., Venezuela; on the S.-E. and S., Brazil and Ecuador; and on the W., the Pacific and Costa Rica. Its extreme length from N. to S. is 1000 m., and the extreme breadth from E. to W., 760; on the isthmus of Panama, however, the breadth is but 28 m. It has an area estimated at from 480,000 to 520,000 sq. m. The population by the last census was 2,880,633. Of these, rather less than a million are whites, and about an equal number have a large admixture of Indian blood. The remainder are civilized Indians, mulattoes, savage Indians, and the various crosses between whites, Indians, and negroes.