face of ahout 1,200,000 square miles, or an area 14
times the extent of Great Britain ; but over this
wide domain the human inhabitants are supposed
not to exceed 3,000,000. In its north-western ex-
tremity, it includes the Isthmus of Panama, with
several spacious and commodious harbours. On
its eastern extremity it is bounded by the Esse-
quibo River, which divides it from French Guyana
and the English and Dutch settlements of Deme-
rara, Berbice, and Surinam; from the 59th to the
05th deg. of W. long., it is bounded on the south
by a mountain ridge, which divides it from Por-
tuguese Guyana, the most northern part of Brazil;
whilst the Tunguragua, or, as it is afterwards
called, the Maranon River, divides it from Peru ;
the whole of its western boundaries being washed
by the Pacific Ocean, and its northern by the
Carribean Sea, and the N. E. by the Atlantic
Ocean. The earlier history of this territory will
be found more particularly adverted to under the
heads of New Granada and Venezuela. A futile
attempt was made by General Miranda to revolu-
tionize Venezuela in 1800; but it was not till
1811 that the people generally exerted themselves
in favour of independence : from which period
up to 1819, various sanguinary conflicts ensued be-
tween the European Spaniards and the natives,
with alternate success. It was on the 17th of
Dec. 1819, that the two territories of New Grana-
da and Venezuela became united under the title of
the Republic of Colombia, and a popular repre-
sentative government divided into legislative,
executive, and judicial. On the 6th of May, 1821,
in conformity with the fundamental law, the in-
stallation of the general congress took place in the
city of Rosario de Cucuta, but the seat of gov-
ernment has since been established at Bogota.
It was at Carabobo, on the 24th of June of the
same year, that the last battle was fought which
decided the downfall of Spanish domination, and
independence of the Colombian Republic. The
territory was at first divided into four parts ; viz.
Quito, Cundinamarca, Venezuela and Spanish
Guyana ; but it was afterwards divided into twelve
provinces. The local circumstances of each pro-
vince will be found under their respective heads.

The aggregate features of the Colombian ter-
ritory are, in the highest degree, grand and im-
posing. The Andes, in a parallel ridge of about
200 miles in extent, between which is a valley
twenty or thirty miles wide, at an elevation of
about 9,000 feet above the level of the sea, enter
at the S. W. extremity, in which direction the
peaks of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and Antisana,
rear their majestic heads, all south of the equa-
tor ; and in the lat. of 2. N. the chain diverges
into three ridges, the most easterly of which
takes an E. N. E. direction towards the shore
of the Carribean Sea, with which it runs parallel
through seven deg. of long, to near the Delta of
the Orinoco, opposite to the island of Trinidad.
It is on the eastern declivity of this ridge, which
is called the Venezuelan chain, at an altitude of

1,000 feet above the level of the sea, in the lat.
of 4. 45. N. that Bogota is situate. Between this
and the central ridge, which is called the Chain
of Santa Martha, runs for a course of 650 m. the
fine River Magdalena; and between the Chain
of Santa Martha and the main ridge, runs the
River Cauca, which unites with the Magdalena
at the foot of the Santa Martha Chain,hbout 150
miles above the entrance of the Magdalena into
the Carribean Sea. From the lat. of 6. N. the
main ridge of the Andes takes a N. by W. direc-
tion into the isthmus that unites the two grand
divisions of the western hemisphere, whilst anoth-
er collateral ridge runs nearly due north towards
Carthagena. Between these two ridges runs the
river Atrato N. into the Gulf of Darien, the head
waters of which river are contiguous to those of
the St. Juan, which runs S. into the Bay of Cho-
co in the Pacific Ocean, which rivers seem to
form the most favourable means for effecting a
water communication between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. East of the Andes, the country
is intersected by innumerable streams, those in the
south part running into the Maranon, or Amazon,
and those in the north part into the Orinoco.
From the extreme north the country is indented
hy a spacious bay called the Gulf of Maracaibo,
which leads by a narrow strait into a spacious
lake of the same name. This lake, wmch is
about 180 miles in length and 70 in width, is
bounded on the E. by the Venezuelan chain of
the Andes, and on the W. by a ridge which di-
verges from it in the lat. of 8. N. ; and with the
lake forms a very distinguishing feature of the
country. Numerous islands flank the coast of
the Carribean Sea, from the long, of 61. to the
Gulf of Maracaibo in the long, of 70.: the most
easterly and important of these is Trinidad, in
possession of the English, and near the entrance
of the Gulf of Maracaibo is Curasao in possession
of the Dutch. The rest may be considered as
forming part of the Colombian territory, the most
important being Margarita. The principal sea-
ports on the side of the Atlantic and coast of the
Carribean Sea, are Cumana, Laguira (the out-
portof Leon de Caracas), Maracaibo, Carthagena,
and Portobello; and on the side of the Pacific
Ocean, Panama, Bay of Choco, and, Guayaquil.
The most important towns in the interior, be-
sides Bogota, are Lojan, Juan de Bracomoros,
Cuenca, Riobamba, Quito, Popayan, Merida, and
Angostura.