Colombia

American  

[kuh-luhm-bee-uh, kaw-lawm-byah] / kəˈlʌm bi ə, kɔˈlɔm bjɑ /

noun

1. a republic in northwestern South America. 439,828 sq. mi. (1,139,155 sq. km). Bogotá.

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Colombia British  

/ kəˈlɒmbɪə /

noun

1. a republic in NW South America: inhabited by Chibchas and other Indians before Spanish colonization in the 16th century; independence won by Bolívar in 1819; became the Republic of Colombia in 1886; violence and unrest have been endemic since the 1970s. It consists chiefly of a hot swampy coastal plain, separated by ranges of the Andes from the pampas and the equatorial forests of the Amazon basin in the east. Language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority. Currency: peso. Capital: Bogotá. Pop: 45 745 783 (2013 est). Area: 1 138 908 sq km (439 735 sq miles)

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Colombia Cultural  

1. Republic in northwestern South America, bordered by Panama to the northwest, Venezuela to the northeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south, and Brazil to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Bogotá.

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Discover More

Trafficking of marijuana and cocaine remains a problem in Colombia. With support from the United States, the Colombian government has attacked drug traffickers, but the country continues to be torn by civil war between left-wing and right-wing factions.

Its major legal crop is coffee.

Other Word Forms

• Colombian
  adjective

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Colombia

Colombia has received millions of dollars in aid from countries like the United States and organizations like the World Bank, but rebuilding will take time.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Days after the strongest quake to hit Colombia this century, destitute families continue to pour into Pereira's makeshift camps.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

After laying their family members to rest, the brothers went to live with their father in a modest, work-class neighbourhood of low-rise houses in the north-eastern outskirts of Cali, Colombia.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

For context, the recent Colombia and Venezuela earthquakes were both magnitude 7.4 and 7.5 respectively.

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

I correctly answered that Tokyo was the capital of Japan, Addis Ababa the capital of Ethiopia, Ottawa the capital of Canada, and Bogota the capital of Colombia.

From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper