Description
Book SynopsisUpdated to include the historic 2022 presidential election, this deeply informed and accessible book traces the history of Colombia thematically over the past two centuries. Michael J. LaRosa and Germán R. Mejía move beyond the common perception of a failed state to explore the rich heritage and dynamism that have characterized Colombia past and present.
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Pamela S. Murray
Introduction
1 Origins
Precedents
The Crisis of Empire
1810: The Development of the Juntas
The First Republic (1811–1816)
The Final Battle against Absolutism
Colombia: The Second Republic (1819–1830)
The End of an Era of Change
2 The Colombian Nations
Colombian Indigenous Population
The Afro-Colombian Population
Other Colombians
Demography and Its Numbers
Colonizers and Settlers: The Nineteenth Century
An Urban Country: The Twentieth Century
3 The Dynamics of a Political Community
Citizenship
Rights
The Democratic Model and Politics
Government
The Formation of Law
4 The Cadence of Unity
The Parties and the Nation
Communion in Beliefs
A Common Memory
A Single Institutionalism
5 Conflict
The Spanish Evacuation
Political Conflict in the Nineteenth Century
Panama Separates
Conflict in the Twentieth Century
La Violencia
Insurgency Intervention
Narco-violence
Plan Colombia, 2000
6 Colombians Search for Peace
The Nature of the Colombian Armed Conflict
The Stages of the War
The Peace Processes in Historic Perspective
The Future
7 Economic Unity
Colonial Colombia Compared
Monopoly and Political Problems in the Eighteenth Century
Coffee
The Percolating Twenties
Oil and Industrialization
The National Front
Modern Times
Photo Essay
8 A Common Space
From Horse Path to Highway
Steamships and Railways
Aerial Cables and Airplanes
Mail and Communications Systems
Print Media
9 Cultural Dynamism
Sculpture and Painting
Literature
Theater
Architecture
Music
10 Daily Life
Popular Religious Celebrations
Sports
Beauty Pageants
Retaking the Colombian Urban Centers
Radio, TV, and Soap Operas
Gastronomy, Colombian Style
University Life in Colombia
11 Colombia and the World
The Early Days
The Canal Project
1928
World War II and Jorge Eliécer Gaitán
Korea and the Alliance for Progress
Pope Paul VI and the Close of the 1960s
Contadora, Central America, and Colombia’s Neighbors
Uribe and Bush: Brothers in Arms
Enter Santos
12 Colombians Abroad
Preliminary Observations on Colombian Emigration
Why Colombians Leave: A Historic Overview
Bienvenidos to Queens
The 1980 Refugee Act
The Special Case of Colombians in Venezuela
Remesas—Sending Money Home
Colombians Abroad: Some Names
Some Sustained (and Unfortunate) Stereotypes
Peace Process and the Great Reverse Migration?
13. 2016 and Beyond: ¡Basta Ya!
The Elusive Peace
The Pandemic
Economic Data
Migratory Processes
Trouble on the Streets of Colombia
Tourism: The Contemporary Trend
Conclusion
Colombian Chronology, 1810–2022
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
