movement by building a wall around
West Berlin. The BerlinWall became a
symbol of the ColdWar.
The ColdWar soon extended beyond
Europe. The Soviet Union gave support
to other countries throughout the world
that had Communist governments. At
the same time, the United States tried to
prevent Communism from spreading
any further. Both the KoreanWar in the
1950s and the VietnamWar in the
1960s and ’70s were part of that
struggle.
Other battles took place in the countries
of theWestern Hemisphere. In 1959
Fidel Castro established a Communist
government in Cuba. In 1962, after
spotting nuclear missiles on Cuba, the
United States cut off supplies to the
island. After several tense days of the
Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union
agreed to remove the weapons.
End of the ColdWar
In the 1970s the United States and the
Soviet Union signed agreements to limit
the number of nuclear weapons that
they each had. Other changes took place
when Mikhail Gorbachev took power in
the Soviet Union in 1985. He tried to
reorganize the economic system and
encouraged glasnost, or open discussion.
In 1989 the BerlinWall was torn down.
TheWarsaw Pact was dissolved in July
1991, and later that year the Soviet
Union itself broke up into 15 separate
nations. Communist rule ended in
many countries, bringing an end to the
ColdWar.
#More to explore
Berlin • Communism • Cuba • Korean
War • North Atlantic Treaty
Organization • Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics • United States • Vietnam
War
People from East Berlin and West Berlin
gather at the Berlin Wall on November 10,
1989. The wall had been opened the day
before.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Cold War 151
Colombia
Colombia is the only country named
after Christopher Columbus. He sailed
near its Caribbean shores in the late
1400s. Colombia is located in northwestern
South America. The capital is
Bogota.
Geography
Colombia shares borders with Venezuela,
Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Panama.
The Caribbean Sea lies to the north, and
the Pacific Ocean is to the west.
Three ranges of the Andes Mountains
cut through the western half of Colombia.
In the east, tributaries of the Amazon
and Orinoco rivers cross a vast
plain. The country’s most important
river is the Magdalena, which flows
north into the Caribbean. The climate is
generally tropical, with warm temperatures
year-round.
Plants and Animals
Colombia has areas of mangrove swamp,
desert scrub, savanna grasslands, and
tropical rain forest. Its animal life
includes jaguars, tapirs, armadillos, ocelots,
deer, monkeys, and rare spectacled
bears. Colombia has more than 1,500
kinds of birds, ranging from the huge
Andean condor to the tiny hummingbird.
Turtles, piranhas, crocodiles, and
electric eels live in the country’s waters.
People
Nearly half of Colombians are mestizos,
or people with mixed European and
Native American roots. About one fifth
of the people have mixed African and
European roots. About the same number
of people are white. There are smaller
groups of blacks and Native Americans.
Spanish and various Indian languages
are spoken. Most of the people are
Roman Catholics. More than three
fourths of Colombians live in cities,
mostly in the west.
Economy
Colombia’s economy is based on banking
and other services, agriculture, and
manufacturing. Major crops include
sugarcane, potatoes, rice, bananas, corn,
and coffee. Some people illegally grow
coca and marijuana plants, which are
made into drugs. Colombia is also an
important cattle-producing country.
Factories make food products, beverages,
textiles, chemicals, and machinery.
152 Colombia BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
Colombia is rich in natural resources,
including oil, natural gas, coal, nickel,
gold, and emeralds. Oil is the top
export.
History
The first people to live in what is now
Colombia were Native Americans. The
most important group was the Chibcha.
The Spanish explorers who followed
Columbus began to conquer the area in
1525. The Spanish called the region the
Kingdom of New Granada. They forced
their language, religion, customs, and
laws on the Indians.
Late in the 1700s the Spanish colonists
in New Granada began to rebel against
Spanish rule. In 1819 New Granada
gained its independence. It became a
republic known as Gran Colombia,
which included what are now Colombia,
Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. In
1830 Venezuela and Ecuador left the
republic.
Colombia’s political parties, the Conservatives
and the Liberals, soon began
fighting. The conflict reached its peak in
theWar of a Thousand Days, which
lasted from 1899 to 1903. After the war
Panama gained independence from
Colombia.
Political violence broke out again in
1948. In nine years of civil war about
300,000 Colombians died. In 1957 the
Conservatives and the Liberals agreed to
share power. That agreement lasted until
1974. Since then Colombia has suffered
from violence. Much of the violence has
been caused by rebel political groups
and illegal drug traders.
..More to explore
Andes • Bogota • Columbus,
Christopher
A church in Colombia was built on a bridge
overlooking the Guaitara River.
Many coffee plants grow on a plantation,
