Administrative divisions of Colombia

Colombia is a centralist country, that means that the capital, Bogotá manages everything and that the government of every state from the central government depends. That is the reason why the states are called departments. There are 32 departments:

1. Amazonas	12. Chocó	23. Putumayo
2. Antioquia	13. Córdoba	24. Quindío
3. Arauca	14. Cundinamarca	25. Risaralda
4. Atlantico	15. Guainía	26. San Andrés y Providencia
5. Bolívar	16. Guavira	27. Santander
6. Boyacá	17. Huila	28. Sucre
7. Caldas	18. La Guajira	29. Tolima
8. Caquetá	19. Magdalen	30. Valle del Cauca
9. Casanare	20. Meta	31. Vaupés
10. Cauca	21. Nariño	32. Vichada
11. Cesar	22. Norte de Santander

Every department (except Bogotá, which is also a municiple) are divided into municiples. Every municiple is ruled by a mayor and a council. There are a total of 1123 municiples. 

Well todays post wasn't so big but it is important that you know that. It is a base to understand how Colombia is organized.

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Colombian hydrographie

Colombia is one of the countries with most rivers in the world, with a total of. In this blog post i will talk about the most important ones, the Magdalena, the Cauca, the Guaviare, the Putumayo, and the Caquetá rivers. I will not talk about the Amazon river because Colombia just own some few kilometers.

The Magdalena river:

It is the principal river in Colombia with 1589 km (949 miles). It is considered the most important one, not because of its length, but because it goes through a lot of departaments and is located in the middle of the country (as you can see on the left map). It is navigable from Honda to the Caribbean sea. 

The Cauca river:

It is the second biggest waterway in Colombia. It lies between the central and the western mountain ranges (for more information about relief check this post). It also goes through seven colombian departments. It joins the Magdalena River near Magangué and the combined river flows into the Caribbean sea. It is navigable for 640 km (400 miles).

The Guaviare river:

It is a long river that starts in the eastern mountain range and falls into the Orinoco river. It also goes through Venezuela. 630 km are navigable.

The Putumayo river:

It starts in Colombia and flows into the Amazon river in Brazil. It is the border between Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. it is 1.813 km long (1.126 miles). It is an important fluvial transport way, because it is navigable in almost its whole lenght. 

The Caquetá River:

It is a long amazonian river with 2.280 km (1416 miles). It goes through Colombia and Brazil, here I will obviously about the colombian part, It goes mostly through the cauca department. It is the natural Border between two departments (I will talk about colombian departments in another blog post). 

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Colombian relief

Colombian relief
Colombia is very biodiverse, which gets also represented on the Colombian relief. In Colombia you can find different kinds of reliefs. Mountains, plains and valleys.
Mountains:

The Andes mountains:
They start in Argentina and end in Venezuela, in Colombia these mountains enter through the south on the border with Ecuador. Then they get divided into three, the western, the middle and the eastern part.

The western Part:
The place where it starts is called el nudo de los pastos and the place where it ends is called el nudo de paramillo. This mountain range has an extension of 1200 km (745 miles) with an average height of 2000m. Its highest place is 4750m (15500 ft) above sea level and it’s called the Chile volcano.

The middle Part:
It starts in el nudo de los pastos too, but it ends on the Caribbean plane. It has an extension of 1000 km (620 miles) and has an average height of 3000m. You can also find heights of 5000 m over sea level, like el Nevado del Huila or the Galeras volcano. This mountain range is very productive and it is where most of the coffee of the land gets produced.

The eastern Part:
It is the longest one with an extension of 1200km, being geologically the youngest and the widest one. It starts on the Macizo Colombiano and ends in the Guajira peninsula.  It is important to say that the Colombian capital, Bogotá is located here. The highest place is el nevado del cocuy being 5380 m above the sea level.

The inter-Andean valleys
They divide the mountain ranges and are accompanied by rivers that normally generate them. In Colombia, these valleys are very fertile and are very productive. The are three important valleys, the Magdalena, the Cauca and the Atrato ones.

Plains
The plains represent 67% of the country. The whole western zone and some of the north and eastern zones of the country are plains. You can find 4 important plains in Colombia:
The Amazon plains
It is located between the Guaviare river, The Amazon river, the eastern mountain range and Brazil. It has an area of 380000 km2 where you mostly find tropical rainforests. Because of this it is full of rivers. This is also one of the most biodiverse zones of the whole planet.

The Pacific plains
It is just 83170 km2 and it extends from the Urabá gulf to the border with Ecuador. It isn’t very useful for farming, but you can find different species of plants and animals.
The Caribbean plains
They are 142.000 km2 big and it extends form the foothill of the three mountain ranges (the eastern, the middle and the western part) to the Atlantic coast.

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta:
Located near the Caribbean coasts and with a triangular pyramid form has a surface of 17000 km2. The north side limits against the Caribbean Sea, being this the highest mountain to limit with the sea. Its highest peak (called Cristobal Colón) is also the highest peak in Colombia, being 5700 m (18700 ft.) over the sea level.

Conclusion
In Colombia you will find different types of heights, from the sea level to 5700 m.

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Climate of Colombia

There are four main climate zones in Colombia. The tropical rainforests, the savannas, the deserts and the mountain climate. This last one can be also divided into five sub-zones. The hot land, the temperate land, the cold land, the páramo and the glacial land.

The tropical rainforests:

They are very humid with heavy rainfalls. The temperature is mostly between 25 and 30°C (77 and 86°F).

The savannas:

They are semi humid and have a rainy and a dry season. The temperature here doesn't vary much, it is always between 24 and 27°C (75 and 80°F).

The deserts:

There are 2 famous deserts in Colombia. The Tatacoa and the Guajira desert. Both are like everywhere in the world, very dry and very hot. The temperature during theday goes between 30 and 40°C (86 and 104°F)

Mountain climate

The mountain climate zone gets divided into 5 sub-zones:

Hot land

Located between the sea level and 1000m (3300 ft.). The temperature is always over 24°C (75.2°F).

Temperate Land

Located between 1000 and 2000m (3300 and 6500 ft.). The temperature varies between 17 and 24°C (50 to 62.6°F). On the left you can see Medellín, am important city that is located on this climate zone.

Cold land

Between 2000 and 3000m (6500 and 9800 ft.). The temperature is always between 10 and 17°C (50 and 62°F). The image on the left is Bogotá, the colombian capital. It is located at 2600m above sea level. This means it isn't really warm there.

Páramo

It is maybe the most important climate zone, because 70% of the countries water gets produced here. It is located between 3000 and 4000m (9800 and 13100 ft.) and the temperature is always below 15°C.

Glacial Land

Over 4000m (13100ft.) it is already glacial zone. It is the coldest one with temperatures below 10°C. Because of this extreme conditions nothing lives there.








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Location of Colombia

Many people refeer to the U.S.A as "America". Well, that is wrong. The U.S.A is the U.S.A. and not America. There are actually 35 countries in this countinent, and one of them is Colombia.

Colombia is located on the northwest part of south America. Colombia is also the 26th largest country in the world and the fourth biggest one in south America, after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. 

Its limits are: 

1. On the north, the Guajira Peninsula
2. On the east the orinoco river
3. On the south the Amazon Jungle
4. On the west the Oacific Ocean and Panama

Colombian limits

It is also important to say that Colombia borders 5 countries (more than the U.S.A):

1. Venezuela on the east
2. Brazil on the southeast
3. Peru on the south
4. Ecuador on the southwest
5. Panama on the northwest

The equator goes also through Colombia, wich gets represented on the climate. 

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