You want to know who I am?

I am in the Caribbean Sea, people love me, my climate is warm, and here you can visit Caño Cristales, Tayrona Park and, of course, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.

To help you know, I am going to tell you the story that begins more than 2 millennia ago, when the first settlers arrived in these lands. They were the indigenous people who belonged to various communities. Some of them were the Chibchas or Muiscas, the Caribes, the Calimas, among others. Each of them had specific customs or rituals, although they also shared some; for example, the elaboration of sacred figures with metals or stone. Many of them do not exist today, but we have all their heritages in museums.

Many centuries later, specifically in the 1.492th century in the year XNUMX, an expedition of the Spanish Crown (here our great diversity begins) with a European man at the head of this adventure; that character is Christopher Columbus, who came to this magical and mysterious part of the world. These adventurers discovered a very rich and different geography from the one they knew, such as the Caribbean Sea (warm waters that bathe my coasts like in the city of Cartagena), the Pacific Ocean (where the humpback whales visit me between July and November) , the plains (warm lands that we share with the neighboring country), jungles full of fauna and flora (such as the current department of Chocó the Amazon), mountain ranges with diverse climates, among others. Likewise, they also found some people with physical characteristics different from their own. You already know who I am? I think you are thinking of a country in South America ... Well, you are correct.

During this process of contact and cultural mixing in the Spanish Colony (which lasted many years), strong traits of many populations to which we currently owe our culture stood out. Let's start with the heritage of our indigenous people; the consumption of corn, either whole or ground in other preparations (such as arepa), or some words with the sound of CH (such as chicha – fermented corn drink-; the my choice – typical soup with broth, egg, milk and toast; or the choza – house made of wood with a thatched roof). In the same way, when the Africans arrived on our shores, they brought us a fun and charming musical magic with the rhythms and instruments of that continent, and that today are part of our idiosyncrasy. Additionally, the Spaniards left us some very valuable contributions as well. On the one hand, from what the Roman Empire left us, we have the Catholic religion and the second most spoken language in the world now; the Spanish. On the other hand, the mixture with the Arab culture that was fostered during the Turkish-Ottoman Empire in the territory of the Iberian Peninsula for many centuries. Thus, in the Spanish language we have words of Arabic origin such as pillow, sugar or carrot, or the custom of using horses to ride.

And the mystery is not solved yet. Much time later, when the people who were born in this place wanted to become independent from Spain, a battle began within the department of Boyacá on August 7, 1819 led by Simon Bolivar. After that, I had a name in honor of Christopher Columbus from that year. Can you tell who I am?

I'm going to give you some last clues. I still have the same name, but I'm not that big anymore. I was divided over time. In my current territory, there are 32 departments and each one with a capital city. Some of them are "The city of eternal spring" where do you find the Flower Fair every year and is the second largest city in the country. Or, it's also "The beautiful city" or also call “The city of parks”, also very close to cities with old buildings and where you can do extreme sports. And what can we say about my Capital? It is the home of museums like the Botero Museum or the Gold Museum (here you can find those sacred figures and handicrafts of the Muiscas).

You want to know who I am?

If you were thinking of Colombia, you were right. A magical country where you can find different cultures with a lot of history and interesting stories. And the best part, you can learn it in Spanish, our official language. How can you do it? In Nueva Lengua You will learn about my history and our culture, and you will get to know our diverse landscapes and climates by learning Spanish as well. There will be a lot of fun. Don't forget to visit me!