Chapter XIII: Part 13

Commercially, Cologne is one of the chief centres on the Rhine, and has a very important trade in corn, wine, mineral ores, coals, drugs, dyes, manufactured wares, groceries, leather and hides, timber, porcelain and many other commodities. A large new harbour, with spacious quays, has been constructed towards the south of the city. In 1903, the traffic of the port amounted to over one million tons. Industrially, also, Cologne is a place of high importance. Of the numerous manufactures, among which may be especially mentioned sugar, chocolate, tobacco and cigars, the most famous is the perfume known as _eau de Cologne_ (q.v.) (_Kolnisches Wasser_, i.e. Cologne-water).

Of the newspapers published at Cologne the most important is the _Kolnische Zeitung_ (often referred to as the "Cologne Gazette"), which has the largest circulation of any paper in Germany, and great weight and influence. It must be distinguished from the _Kolnische Volkszeitung_, which is the organ of the Clerical party in the Prussian Rhine provinces.

_History._--Cologne occupies the site of _Oppidum Ubiorum_, the chief town of the Ubii, and here in A.D. 50 a Roman colony, _Colonia_, was planted by the emperor Claudius, at the request of his wife Agrippina, who was born in the place. After her it was named Colonia Agrippina or Agrippinensis. Cologne rose to be the chief town of Germania Secunda, and had the privilege of the Jus Italicum. Both Vitellius and Trajan were at Cologne when they became emperors. About 330 the city was taken by the Franks but was not permanently occupied by them till the 5th century, becoming in 475 the residence of the Frankish king Childeric. It was the seat of a _pagus_ or _gau_, and counts of Cologne are mentioned in the 9th century.

The succession of bishops in Cologne is traceable, except for a gap covering the troubled 5th century, from A.D. 313, when the see was founded. It was made the metropolitan see for the bishoprics of the Lower Rhine and part of Westphalia by Charlemagne, the first archbishop being Hildebold, who occupied the see from 785 to his death in 819. Of his successors one of the most illustrious was Bruno (q.v.), brother of the emperor Otto I., archbishop from 953 to 965, who was the first of the archbishops to exercise temporal jurisdiction, and was also "archduke" of Lorraine. The territorial power of the archbishops was already great when, in 1180, on the partition of the Saxon duchy, the duchy of Westphalia was assigned to them. In the 11th century they became _ex-officio_ arch-chancellors of Italy (see ARCHCHANCELLOR), and by the Golden Bull of 1356 they were finally placed among the electors (_Kurfursten_) of the Empire. With Cologne itself, a free imperial city, the archbishop-electors were at perpetual feud; in 1262 the archiepiscopal see was transferred to Bruhl, and in 1273 to Bonn; it was not till 1671 that the quarrel was finally adjusted. The archbishopric was secularized in 1801, all its territories on the left bank of the Rhine being annexed to France; in 1803 those on the right bank were divided up among various German states; and in 1815 by the congress of Vienna, the whole was assigned to Prussia. The last archbishop-elector, Maximilian of Austria, died in 1801.

In Archbishop Hildebold's day Cologne was still contained by the square of its Roman walls, within which stood the cathedral and the newly-founded church of St Maria (known later as "im Capitol"); the city was, however, surrounded by a ring of churches, among which those of St Gereon, St Ursula, St Severin and St Cunibert were conspicuous. In 881 Norman pirates, sailing up the Rhine, took and sacked the city; but it rapidly recovered, and in the 11th century had become the chief trading centre of Germany. Early in the 12th century the city was enlarged by the inclusion of suburbs of Oversburg; Niederich and St Aposteln; in 1180 these were enclosed in a permanent rampart which, in the 13th century, was strengthened with the walls and gates that survived till the 19th century.

The municipal history of Cologne is of considerable interest. In general it follows the same lines as that of other cities of Lower Germany and the Netherlands. At first the bishop ruled through his burgrave, advocate, and nominated jurats (_scabini_, _Schoffen_). Then, as the trading classes grew in wealth, his jurisdiction began to be disputed; the _conjuratio pro libertate_ of 1112 seems to have been an attempt to establish a commune (see Commune, Medieval). Peculiar to Cologne, however, was the _Richerzeche_ (_rigirzegheide_), a corporation of all the wealthy patricians, which gradually absorbed in its hands the direction of the city's government (the first record of its active interference is in 1225). In the 13th century the archbishops made repeated efforts to reassert their authority, and in 1259 Archbishop Conrad of Hochstaden, by appealing to the democratic element of the population, the "brotherhoods" (_fraternitates_) of the craftsmen, succeeded in overthrowing the Richerzeche and driving its members into exile. His successor, Engelbert II., however, attempted to overthrow the democratic constitution set up by him, with the result that in 1262 the brotherhoods combined with the patricians against the archbishop, and the Richerzeche returned to share its authority with the elected "great council" (_Weiter Rat_). As yet, however, none of the trade or craft gilds, as such, had a share in the government, which continued in the hands of the patrician families, membership of which was necessary even for election to the council and to the parochial offices. This continued long after the battle of Worringen (1288) had finally secured for the city full self-government, and the archbishops had ceased to reside within its walls. In the 14th century a narrow patrician council selected from the Richerzeche, with two burgomasters, was supreme. In 1370 an insurrection of the weavers was suppressed; but in 1396, the rule of the patricians, having been weakened by internal dissensions, a bloodless revolution led to the establishment of a comparatively democratic constitution, based on the organization of the trade and craft gilds, which lasted with but slight modification till the French Revolution.

The greatness of Cologne, in the middle ages as now, was due to her trade. Wine and herrings were the chief articles of her commerce; but her weavers had been in repute from time immemorial, and exports of cloth were large, while her goldsmiths and armourers were famous. So early as the 11th century her merchants were settled in London, their colony forming the nucleus of the Steelyard. When, in 1201, the city joined the Hanseatic League (q.v.) its power and repute were so great that it was made the chief place of a third of the confederation.

In spite of their feuds with the archbishops, the burghers of Cologne were stanch Catholics, and the number of the magnificent medieval churches left is evidence at once of their piety and their wealth. The university, founded in 1389 by the sole efforts of the citizens, soon gained a great reputation; in the 15th century its students numbered much more than a thousand, and its influence extended to Scotland and the Scandinavian kingdoms. Its decline began, however, from the moment when the Catholic sentiment of the city closed it to the influence of the Reformers; the number of its students sank to vanishing point, and though, under the influence of the Jesuits, it subsequently revived, it never recovered its old importance. A final blow was dealt it when, in 1777, the enlightened archbishop Maximilian Frederick (d. 1784) founded the university of Bonn, and in 1798, amid the confusion of the revolutionary epoch, it ceased to exist.

The same intolerance that ruined the university all but ruined the city too. It is difficult, indeed, to blame the burghers for resisting the dubious reforming efforts of Hermann of Wied, archbishop from 1515 to 1546, inspired mainly by secular ambitions; but the expulsion of the Jews in 1414, and still more the exclusion, under Jesuit influence, of Protestants from the right to acquire citizenship, and from the magistracy, dealt severe blows at the prosperity of the place. A variety of other causes contributed to its decay: the opening up of new trade routes, the gradual ossification of the gilds into close and corrupt corporations, above all the wars in the Netherlands, the Thirty Years' War, and the Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Succession. When in 1794 Cologne was occupied by the French, it was a poor and decayed city of some 40,000 inhabitants, of whom only 6000 possessed civic rights. When, in 1801, by the treaty of Luneville, it was incorporated in France, it was not important enough to be more than the chief town of an arrondissement. On the death of the last elector in 1801 the archiepiscopal see was left vacant. With the assignment of the city to Prussia by the congress of Vienna in 1815 a new era of prosperity began. The university, indeed, was definitively established at Bonn, but the archbishopric was restored (1821) as part of the new ecclesiastical organization of Prussia, and the city became the seat of the president of a governmental district. Its prosperity now rapidly increased; when railways were introduced it became the meeting-place of several lines, and in 1881 its growth necessitated the pushing outward of the circle of fortifications.

See L. Ennen, _Gesch. der Stadt Koln_ (5 vols., Cologne, 1863-1880) to
1648, and _Frankreich und der Niederrhein_ (2 vols., ib., 1855, 1856),
a history of the city and electorate of Cologne since the Thirty
Years' War; R. Schultze and C. Steuernagel, _Colonia Agrippinensis_
(Bonn, 1895); K. Heldmann, _Der Kolngau und die Civitas Koln_ (Halle,
1900); L. Korth, _Koln im Mittelalter_ (Cologne, 1890); F. Lau,
_Entwickelung der kommunalen Verfassung der Stadt Koln bis zum Jahre
1396_ (Bonn, 1898); K. Hegel, _Stadte und Gilden der germanischen
Volker im Mittelalter_ (2 vols., Leipzig, 1891), ii. p. 323; H.
Keussen, _Historische Topographie der Stadt Koln im Mittelalter_
(Bonn, 1906); W. Behnke, _Aus Kolns Franzosenzeit_ (Cologne, 1901);
Helmken, _Koln und seine Sehenswurdigkeiten_ (20th ed., Cologne,
1903). For sources see L. Ennen and G. Eckertz, _Quellen zur
Geschichte der Stadt Koln_ (6 vols., Cologne, 1860-1879); later
sources will be found in U. Chevalier, _Repertoire des sources hist.
Topo-bibliographie_ (Montbeliard, 1894-1899), s.v. Cologne, which
gives also a full list of works on everything connected with the city;
also in Dahlmann-Waitz, _Quellenkunde_ (ed. Leipzig, 1906), p. 17,
Nos. 252, 253. For the archdiocese and electorate of Cologne see
Binterim and Mooren, _Die Erzdiozese Koln bis zur franzosischen
Staatsumwalzung_, new ed. by A. Mooren in 2 vols. (Dusseldorf, 1892,
1893).

COLOMAN (1070-1116), king of Hungary, was the son of King Geza of Hungary by a Greek concubine. King Ladislaus would have made the book-loving youth a monk, and even designated him for the see of Eger; but Coloman had no inclination for an ecclesiastical career, and, with the assistance of his friends, succeeded in escaping to Poland. On the death of Ladislaus (1095), he returned to Hungary and seized the crown, passing over his legitimately born younger brother Almos, the son of the Greek princess Sinadene. Almos did not submit to this usurpation, and was more or less of an active rebel till 1108, when the emperor Henry V. espoused his cause and invaded Hungary. The Germans were unsuccessful; but Coloman thought fit to be reconciled with his kinsman and restored to him his estates. Five years later, however, fearing lest his brother might stand in the way of his heir, the infant prince Stephen, Coloman imprisoned Almos and his son Bela in a monastery and had them blinded. Despite his adoption of these barbarous Byzantine methods, Coloman was a good king and a wise ruler. In foreign affairs he preserved the policy of St Ladislaus by endeavouring to provide Hungary with her greatest need, a suitable seaboard. In 1097 he overthrew Peter, king of Croatia, and acquired the greater part of Dalmatia, though here he encountered formidable rivals in the Greek and German emperors, Venice, the pope and the Norman-Italian dukes, all equally interested in the fate of that province, so that Coloman had to proceed cautiously in his expansive policy. By 1102, however, Zara, Trau, Spalato and all the islands as far as the Cetina were in his hands. But it was as a legislator and administrator that Coloman was greatest (see HUNGARY: _History_). He was not only one of the most learned, but also one of the most statesmanlike sovereigns of the earlier middle ages. Coloman was twice married, (1) in 1097 to Buzella, daughter of Roger, duke of Calabria, the chief supporter of the pope, and (2) in 1112 to the Russian princess, Euphemia, who played him false and was sent back in disgrace to her kinsfolk the following year. Coloman died on the 3rd of February 1116.

COLOMB, PHILIP HOWARD (1831-1899), British vice-admiral, historian, critic and inventor, the son of General G. T. Colomb, was born in Scotland, on the 29th of May 1831. He entered the navy in 1846, and served first at sea off Portugal in 1847; afterwards, in 1848, in the Mediterranean, and from 1848 to 1851 as midshipman of the "Reynard" in operations against piracy in Chinese waters; as midshipman and mate of the "Serpent" during the Burmese War of 1852-53; as mate of the "Phoenix" in the Arctic Expedition of 1854; as lieutenant of the "Hastings" in the Baltic during the Russian War, taking part in the attack on Sveaborg. He became what was known at that time as a "gunner's lieutenant" in 1857, and from 1859 to 1863 he served as flag-lieutenant to rear-admiral Sir Thomas Pasley at Devonport. Between 1858 and 1868 he was employed in home waters on a variety of special services, chiefly connected with gunnery, signalling and the tactical characteristics and capacities of steam warships. From 1868 to 1870 he commanded the "Dryad," and was engaged in the suppression of the slave trade. In 1874, while captain of the "Audacious," he served for three years as flag-captain to vice-admiral Ryder in China; and finally he was appointed, in 1880, to command the "Thunderer" in the Mediterranean. Next year he was appointed captain of the steam reserve at Portsmouth; and after serving three years in that capacity, he remained at Portsmouth as flag-captain to the commander-in-chief until 1886, when he was retired by superannuation before he had attained flag rank. Subsequently he became rear-admiral, and finally vice-admiral on the retired list.

Few men of his day had seen more active and more varied service than Colomb. But the real work on which his title to remembrance rests is the influence he exercised on the thought and practice of the navy. He was one of the first to perceive the vast changes which must ensue from the introduction of steam into the navy, which would necessitate a new system of signals and a new method of tactics. He set himself to devise the former as far back as 1858, but his system of signals was not adopted by the navy until 1867.

What he had done for signals Colomb next did for tactics. Having first determined by experiment--for which he was given special facilities by the admiralty--what are the manoeuvring powers of ships propelled by steam under varying conditions of speed and helm, he proceeded to devise a system of tactics based on these data. In the sequel he prepared a new evolutionary signal-book, which was adopted by the royal navy, and still remains in substance the foundation of the existing system of tactical evolutions at sea. The same series of experimental studies led him to conclusions concerning the chief causes of collisions at sea; and these conclusions, though stoutly combated in many quarters at the outset, have since been generally accepted, and were ultimately embodied in the international code of regulations adopted by the leading maritime nations on the recommendation of a conference at Washington in 1889.

After his retirement Colomb devoted himself rather to the history of naval warfare, and to the large principles disclosed by its intelligent study, than to experimental inquiries having an immediate practical aim. As in his active career he had wrought organic changes in the ordering, direction and control of fleets, so by his historic studies, pursued after his retirement, he helped greatly to effect, if he did not exclusively initiate, an equally momentous change in the popular, and even the professional, way of regarding sea-power and its conditions. He did not invent the term "sea-power,"--it is, as is shown elsewhere (see SEA-POWER), of very ancient origin,--nor did he employ it until Captain Mahan had made it a household word with all. But he thoroughly grasped its conditions, and in his great work on naval warfare (first published in 1891) he enunciated its principles with great cogency and with keen historic insight. The central idea of his teaching was that naval supremacy is the condition precedent of all vigorous military offensive across the seas, and, conversely, that no vigorous military offensive can be undertaken across the seas until the naval force of the enemy has been accounted for--either destroyed or defeated and compelled to withdraw to the shelter of its own ports, or at least driven from the seas by the menace of a force it dare not encounter in the open. This broad and indefeasible principle he enunciated and defended in essay after essay, in lecture after lecture, until what at first was rejected as a paradox came in the end to be accepted as a commonplace. He worked quite independently of Captain Mahan, and his chief conclusions were published before Captain Mahan's works appeared.

He died quite suddenly and in the full swing of his literary activity on the 13th of October 1899, at Steeple Court, Botley, Hants. His latest published work was a biography of his friend Sir Astley Cooper Key, and his last article was a critical examination of the tactics adopted at Trafalgar, which showed his acumen and insight at their best.

His younger brother, SIR JOHN COLOMB (1838-1909), was closely associated in the pioneer work done for British naval strategy and Imperial defence, and his name stands no less high among those who during this period promoted accurate thinking on the subject of sea-power. Entering the Royal Marines in 1854, he rose to be captain in 1867, retiring in 1869; and thenceforth he devoted himself to the study of naval and military problems, on which he had already published some excellent essays. His books on _Colonial Defence and Colonial Opinions_ (1873), _The Defence of Great and Greater Britain_ (1879), _Naval Intelligence and the Protection of Commerce_ (1881), _The Use and the Application of Marine Forces_ (1883), _Imperial Federation: Naval and Military_ (1887), followed later by other similar works, made him well known among the rising school of Imperialists, and he was returned to parliament (1886-1892) as Conservative member for Bow, and afterwards (1895-1906) for Great Yarmouth. In 1887 he was created C.M.G., and in 1888 K.C.M.G. He died in London on the 27th of May 1909. In Kerry, Ireland, he was a large landowner, and became a member of the Irish privy council (1903), and in 1906 he sat on the Royal Commission dealing with congested districts.

COLOMBES, a town of France in the department of Seine, arrondissement of St Denis, 7 m. N.N.W. of Paris. Pop. (1906) 28,920. It has a 16th-century church with 12th-century tower, a race-course, and numerous villa residences and boarding-schools. Manufactures include oil, vinegar and measuring-instruments. A castle formerly stood here, in which died Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. of England.

COLOMBEY, a village of Lorraine, 4 m. E. of Metz, famous as the scene of a battle between the Germans and the French fought on the 14th of August 1870. It is often called the battle of Borny, from another village 2-1/2 m. E. of Metz. (See METZ and FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.)

COLOMBIA, a republic of South America occupying the N.W. angle of that continent and bounded N. by the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela, E. by Venezuela and Brazil, S. by Brazil, Peru and Ecuador, and W. by Ecuador, the Pacific Ocean, Panama and the Caribbean Sea. The republic is very irregular in outline and has an extreme length from north to south of 1050 m., exclusive of territory occupied by Peru on the north bank of the upper Amazon, and an extreme width of 860 m. The approximate area of this territory, according to official calculations, is 481,979 sq. m., which is reduced to 465,733 sq. m. by Gotha planimetrical measurements. This makes Colombia fourth in area among the South American states.

The loss of the department of Panama left the republic with unsettled frontiers on every side, and some of the boundary disputes still unsolved in 1909 concern immense areas of territory. The boundary with Costa Rica was settled in 1900 by an award of the President of France, but the secession of Panama in 1903 gave Colombia another unsettled line on the north-west. If the line which formerly separated the Colombian departments of Cauca and Panama is taken as forming the international boundary, this line follows the water-parting between the streams which flow eastward to the Atrato, and those which flow westward to the Gulf of San Miguel, the terminal points being near Cape Tiburon on the Caribbean coast, and at about 7 deg. 10' N. lat. on the Pacific coast. The boundary dispute with Venezuela was referred in 1883 to the king of Spain, and the award was made in 1891. Venezuela, however, refused to accept the decision. The line decided upon, and accepted by Colombia, starts from the north shore of Calabozo Bay on the west side of the Gulf of Maracaibo, and runs west and south-west to and along the water-parting (Sierra de Perija) between the drainage basins of the Magdalena and Lake Maracaibo as far as the source in lat. 8 deg. 50' N. of a small branch of the Catatumbo river, thence in a south-easterly direction across the Catatumbo and Zulia rivers to a point in 72 deg. 30' W. long., 8 deg. 12' N. lat., thence in an irregular southerly direction across the Cordillera de Merida to the source of the Sarare, whence it runs eastward along that river, the Arauca, and the Meta to the Orinoco. Thence the line runs south and south-east along the Orinoco, Atabapo and Guainia to the Pedra de Cucuhy, which serves as a boundary mark for three republics. Of the eastern part of the territory lying between the Meta and the Brazilian frontier, Venezuela claims as far west as the meridian of 69 deg. 10'. Negotiations for the settlement of the boundary with Brazil (q.v.) were resumed in 1906, and were advanced in the following year to an agreement providing for the settlement of conflicting claims by a mixed commission. With Ecuador and Peru the boundary disputes are extremely complicated, certain parts of the disputed territory being claimed by all three republics. Colombia holds possession as far south as the Napo in lat. 2 deg. 47' S., and claims territory occupied by Peru as far south as the Amazon. On the other hand Peru claims as far north as La Chorrera in 0 deg. 49' S. lat., including territory occupied by Colombia, and the eastern half of the Ecuadorean department of Oriente, and Ecuador would extend her southern boundary line to the Putumayo, in long. 71 deg. 1' S., and make that river her northern boundary as far north as the Peruvian claim extends. The provisional line starts from the Japura river (known as the Caqueta in Colombia) in lat. 1 deg. 30' S., long. 69 deg. 24' W., and runs south-west to the 70th meridian, thence slightly north of west to the Igaraparana river, thence up that stream to the Peruvian military post of La Chorrera, in 0 deg. 49' S. lat., thence west of south to Huiririmachico, on the Napo. Thence the line runs north-west along the Napo, Coca and San Francisco rivers to the Andean watershed, which becomes the dividing line northward for a distance of nearly 80 m., where the line turns westward and reaches the Pacific at the head of Panguapi Bay, into which the southern outlet of the Mira river discharges (about 1 deg. 34' N. lat.).

_Physical Geography._--Colombia is usually described as an extremely
mountainous country, which is true of much less than half its total
area. Nearly one half its area lies south-east of the Andes and
consists of extensive _llanos_ and forested plains, traversed by
several of the western tributaries of the Amazon and Orinoco. These
plains slope gently toward the east, those of the Amazon basin
apparently lying in great terraces whose escarpments have the
character of low, detached ranges of hills forming successive rims to
the great basin which they partly enclose. The elevation and slope of
this immense region, which has an approximate length of 640 m. and
average width of 320 m., may be inferred from the elevations of the
Caqueta, or Japura river, which was explored by Crevaux in 1878-1879.
At Santa Maria, near the Cordillera (about 75 deg. 30' W. long.), the
elevation is 613 ft. above sea-level, on the 73rd meridian it is 538
ft., and near the 70th meridian 426 ft.--a fall of 187 ft. in a
distance of about 400 m. The northern part of this great region has a
somewhat lower elevation and gentler slope, and consists of open
grassy plains, which are within the zone of alternating wet and dry
seasons. In the south and toward the great lower basin of the Amazon,
where the rainfall is continuous throughout the year, the plains are
heavily forested. The larger part of this territory is unexplored
except along the principal rivers, and is inhabited by scattered
tribes of Indians. Near the Cordilleras and along some of the larger
rivers there are a few small settlements of whites and mestizos, but
their aggregate number is small and their economic value to the
republic is inconsiderable. There are some cattle ranges on the open
plains, however, but they are too isolated to have much importance. A
small part of the northern Colombia, on the lower courses of the
Atrato and Magdalena, extending across the country from the Eastern
to the Western Cordilleras with a varying width of 100 to 150 m., not
including the lower river basins which penetrate much farther inland,
also consists of low, alluvial plains, partly covered with swamps and
intricate watercourses, densely overgrown with vegetation, but in
places admirably adapted to different kinds of tropical agriculture.
These plains are broken in places by low ranges of hills which are
usually occupied by the principal industrial settlements of this part
of the republic, the lower levels being for the most part swampy and
unsuited for white occupation.

The other part of the republic, which may be roughly estimated at
two-fifths of its total area, consists of an extremely rugged
mountainous country, traversed from south to north by the parallel
river valleys of the Magdalena, Cauca and Atrato. The mountain chains
which cover this part of Colombia are the northern terminal ranges of
the great Andean system. In northern Ecuador the Andes narrows into a
single massive range which has the character of a confused mass of
peaks and ridges on the southern frontier of Colombia. There are
several lofty plateaus in this region which form a huge central
watershed for rivers flowing east to the Amazon, west to the Pacific,
and north to the Caribbean Sea. The higher plateaus are called
_paramos_, cold, windswept, mist-drenched deserts, lying between the
elevations of 10,000 and 15,000 ft., which are often the only passes
over the Cordilleras, and yet are almost impassable because of their
morasses, heavy mists, and cold, piercing winds. The _paramos_ of Cruz
Verde (11,695 ft.) and Pasto, and the volcanoes of Chiles (15,900
ft.), Chumbul (15,715 ft.), and Pasto (13,990 ft.) are prominent
landmarks of this desolate region. North of this great plateau the
Andes divides into three great ranges, the Western, Central and
Eastern Cordilleras. The Central is the axis of the system, is
distinguished by a line of lofty volcanoes and _paramos_, some of
which show their white mantles 2000 to 3000 ft. above the line of
perpetual snow (approx. 15,000 ft. in this latitude), and is sometimes
distinguished with the name borne by the republic for the time being.
This range runs in a north-north-east direction and separates the
valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca, terminating in some low hills
south-west of El Banco, a small town on the lower Magdalena. The
principal summits of this range are Tajumbina (13,534 ft.), Pan de
Azucar (15,978 ft.), Purace (15,420 ft.), Sotara (15,420 ft.), Huila
(over 18,000 ft.), Tolima (18,432 ft.), Santa Isabel (16,700 ft.),
Ruiz (18,373 ft.), and Mesa de Herveo (18,300 ft.). The last named
affords a magnificent spectacle from Bogota, its level top which is 5
or 6 m. across, and is formed by the rim of an immense crater, having
the appearance of a table, down the sides of which for more than 3000
ft. hangs a spotless white drapery of perpetual snow. The Western
Cordillera branches from the main range first and follows the coast
very closely as far north as the 4th parallel, where the San Juan and
Atrato rivers, though flowing in opposite directions and separated
near the 5th parallel by a low transverse ridge, combine to interpose
valleys between it and the Cordillera de Baudo, which thereafter
becomes the true coast range. It then forms the divide between the
Cauca and Atrato valleys, and terminates near the Caribbean coast. The
general elevation of this range is lower than that of the others, its
culminating points being the volcano Munchique (11,850 ft.)and Cerro
Leon (10,847 ft.). The range is covered with vegetation and its
Pacific slopes are precipitous and humid. The Cordillera de Baudo,
which becomes the coast range above lat. 4 deg. N., is the southern
extension of the low mountainous chain forming the backbone of the
Isthmus of Panama, and may be considered the southern termination of
the great North American system. Its elevations are low and heavily
wooded. It divides on the Panama frontier, the easterly branch forming
the watershed between the Atrato and the rivers of eastern Panama, and
serving as the frontier between the two republics. The passes across
these ranges are comparatively low, but they are difficult because of
the precipitous character of their Pacific slopes and the density of
the vegetation on them. The Eastern Cordillera is in some respects the
most important of the three branches of the Colombian Andes. Its
general elevation is below that of the Central Cordillera, and it has
few summits rising above the line of perpetual snow, the highest being
the Sierra Nevada de Cocui, in lat. 6 deg. 30' N. Between Cocui and the
southern frontier of Colombia there are no noteworthy elevations
except the so-called Paramo de Suma Paz near Bogota, the highest point
of which is 14,146 ft. above sea-level, and the Chita _paramo_, or
range, north-east of Bogota (16,700 ft.). Between the 5th and 6th
parallels the range divides into two branches, the eastern passing
into Venezuela, where it is called the Cordillera de Merida, and the
northern continuing north and north-east as the Sierra de Perija and
the Sierra de Oca, to terminate at the north-eastern extremity of the
Goajira peninsula. The culminating point in the first-mentioned range
is the Cerro Pintado (11,800 ft.). West of this range, and lying
between the 10th parallel and the Caribbean coast, is a remarkable
group of lofty peaks and knotted ranges known as the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta, the highest snow-crowned summit of which rises 17,389 ft.
above the sea according to some, and 16,728 according to other
authorities. This group of mountains, covering an approximate area of
6500 sq. m., lies immediately on the coast, and its highest summits
were long considered inaccessible. It stands detached from the lower
ranges of the Eastern Cordillera, and gives the impression that it is
essentially independent. The eastern Cordillera region is noteworthy
for its large areas of plateau and elevated valley within the limits
of the vertical temperate zone. In this region is to be found the
greater part of the white population, the best products of Colombian
civilization, and the greatest industrial development. The "sabana" of
Bogota is a good illustration of the higher of these plateaus (8563
ft., according to Stieler's _Hand-Atlas_), with its mild temperature,
inexhaustible fertility and numerous productions of the temperate
zone. It has an area of about 2000 sq. m. The lower valleys, plateaus
and mountain slopes of this range are celebrated for their coffee,
which, with better means of transportation, would be a greater source
of prosperity for the republic than the gold-mines of Antioquia. The
mountainous region of Colombia is subject to volcanic disturbances and
earthquake shocks are frequent, especially in the south. These shocks,
however, are less severe than in Venezuela or in Ecuador.

Islands.

There are few islands on the coast of Colombia, and the great majority
of these are too small to appear on the maps in general use. Gorgona
is one of the larger islands on the Pacific coast, and is situated
about 25 m. from the mainland in lat. 3 deg. N. It is 5-3/4 m. long by
1-3/4 m. wide, and rises to an extreme elevation of 1296 ft. above
sea-level. It is a beautiful island, and is celebrated as one of
Pizarro's stopping places. It has been used by the Colombian
government for political offenders. Malpelo island, 282 m. west by
south of Charambira point, in lat. 3 deg. 40' N., long. 81 deg. 24'
W., nominally belongs to Colombia. It is a small, rocky, uninhabited
island, rising to an elevation of 846 ft. above the sea, and has no
ascertained value. The famous Pearl islands of the Gulf of Panama are
claimed by Colombia, and their pearl oyster fisheries are considered a
rentable asset by the government. The group covers an area of about
450 sq. m., and consists of 16 islands and several rocks. The largest
is Rey Island, which is about 17 m. long, north to south, and 8 m.
broad, with an extreme elevation of 600 ft. The other larger islands
are San Jose, Pedro Gonzales, Casaya, Saboga and Pacheca. There are
several fishing villages whose inhabitants are largely engaged in the
pearl fisheries, and a number of cocoa-nut plantations. The islands
belong chiefly to Panama merchants. There are several groups of small
islands on the northern coast, and a few small islands so near the
mainland as to form sheltered harbours, as at Cartagena. The largest
of these islands is Baru, lying immediately south of the entrance to
Cartagena harbour. North-west of Colombia in the Caribbean Sea are
several small islands belonging to the republic, two of which (Great
and Little Corn Is.) lie very near the coast of Nicaragua. The largest
and most important of these islands is Vieja Providencia (Old
Providence), 120 m. off the Mosquito Coast, 4-1/2 m. long, which
supports a small population.

Rivers.

The rivers of Colombia may be divided, for convenience of description,
into three general classes according to the destination of their
waters, the Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic--the last reaching their
destination through the Amazon and Orinoco. Of these, the Caribbean
rivers are of the greatest economic importance to the country, though
those of the eastern plains may at some time become nearly as
important as transportation routes in a region possessing forest
products of great importance and rich in agricultural and pastoral
possibilities. It is worthy of note that the principal rivers of these
three classes--the Patia, Cauca, Magdalena, Caqueta and Putumayo--all
have their sources on the high plateaus of southern Colombia and
within a comparatively limited area. The Pacific coast rivers are
numerous, and discharge a very large volume of water into the ocean in
proportion to the area of their drainage basins, because of the heavy
rainfall on the western slopes of the Coast range. The proximity of
this range to the coast limits them to short, precipitous courses,
with comparatively short navigable channels. The principal rivers of
this group, starting from the southern frontier, are the Mira, Patia,
Iscuande, Micai, Buenaventura or Dagua, San Juan and Baudo. The Mira
has its principal sources in Ecuador, and for a short distance forms
the boundary line between the two republics, but its outlets and
navigable channel are within Colombia. It has a large delta in
proportion to the length of the river, which is visible evidence of
the very large quantity of material brought down from the neighbouring
mountain slopes. The Patia is the longest river of the Pacific group,
and is the only one having its sources on the eastern side of the
Western Cordillera. It is formed by the confluence of the Sotara and
Guaitara at the point where the united streams turn westward to cut
their way through the mountains to the sea. The Sotara or upper Patia
rises on the southern slope of a transverse ridge or dyke, between the
Central and Western Cordilleras, in the vicinity of Popayan, and flows
southward about 120 m. to the point of confluence with the Guaitara.
The latter has its sources on the elevated plateau of Tuquerres and
flows north-west to meet the Sotara. The canyon of the Patia through
the Western Cordillera is known as the "Minima gorge," and has been
cut to a depth of 1676 ft., above which the perpendicular mountain
sides rise like a wall some thousands of feet more. The upper course
of the Guaitara is known as the Carchi, which for a short distance
forms the boundary line between Colombia and Ecuador. At one point in
its course it is crossed by the Rumichaca arch, a natural arch of
stone, popularly known as the "Inca's bridge," which with the Minima
gorge should be classed among the natural wonders of the world. There
is a narrow belt of low, swampy country between the Cordillera and the
coast, traversed at intervals by mountain spurs, and across this the
river channels are usually navigable. The San Juan has built a large
delta at its mouth, and is navigable for a distance of 140 m. inland,
the river flowing parallel with the coast for a long distance instead
of crossing the coastal plain. It rises in the angle between the
Western Cordillera and a low transverse ridge connecting it with the
Baudo coast range, and flows westward down to the valley between the
two ranges, and then southward through this valley to about lat. 4 deg.
15' N., where it turns sharply westward and crosses a narrow belt of
lowland to the coast. It probably has the largest discharge of water
of the Pacific group, and has about 300 m. of navigable channels,
including its tributaries, although the river itself is only 190 m.
long and the sand-bars at its mouth have only 7 or 8 ft. of water on
them. The San Juan is distinguished for having been one of the
proposed routes for a ship canal between the Caribbean and Pacific.
At one point in its upper course it is so near the Atrato that,
according to a survey by Captain C. S. Cochrane, R.N., in 1824, a
canal 400 yds. long with a maximum cutting of 70 ft., together with
some improvements in the two streams, would give free communication.
His calculations were made, of course, for the smaller craft of that
time.

The rivers belonging to the Caribbean system, all of which flow in a
northerly direction, are the Atrato, Bacuba, Sinu, Magdalena and
Zulia. The Bacuba, Suriquilla or Leon, is a small stream rising on the
western slopes of the Cordillera and flowing into the upper end of the
Gulf of Uraba. Like the Atrato it brings down much silt, which is
rapidly filling that depression. There are many small streams and one
important river, the Sinu, flowing into the sea between this gulf and
the mouth of the Magdalena. The Sinu rises on the northern slopes of
the Alto del Viento near the 7th parallel, and flows almost due north
across the coastal plain for a distance of about 286 m. to the Gulf of
Morosquillo. It has a very sinuous channel which is navigable for
small steamers for some distance, but there is no good port at its
outlet, and a considerable part of the region through which it flows
is malarial and sparsely settled. The most important rivers of
Colombia, however, are the Magdalena and its principal tributary, the
Cauca. They both rise on the high table-land of southern Colombia
about 14,000 ft. above sea-level--the Magdalena in the Laguna del Buey
(Ox Lake) on the Las Papas plateau, and the Cauca a short distance
westward in the Laguna de Santiago on the Paramo de Guanacas--and flow
northward in parallel courses with the great Central Cordillera,
forming the water-parting between their drainage basins. The principal
tributaries of the Magdalena are the Suaza, Neiva, Cabrera, Prado,
Fusagasaga, Funza or Bogota, Carare, Opon, Sogamoso, Lebrija and
Cesar, and the western the La Plata, Paez, Saldana, Cuello, Guali,
Samana or Miel, Nare or Negro and Cauca. There are also many smaller
streams flowing into the Magdalena from both sides of the valley. Of
those named, the Funza drains the "sabana" of Bogota and is celebrated
for the great fall of Tequendama, about 480 ft. in height; the
Sogamoso passes through some of the richest districts of the republic;
and the Cesar rises on the elevated slopes of the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta and flows southward across a low plain, in which are many
lakes, to join the Magdalena where it bends westward to meet the
Cauca. The course of the Magdalena traverses nine degrees of latitude
and is nearly 1000 m. long. It is navigable for steamers up to La
Dorada, near Honda, 561 m. above its mouth, which is closed by
sand-bars to all but light-draught vessels, and for 93 m. above the
rapids at Honda, to Girardot. The river is also navigable at high
water for small steamers up to Neiva, 100 m. farther and 1535 ft.
above sea-level, beyond which point it descends precipitously from the
plateaus of southern Colombia. The Honda rapids have a fall of only 20
ft. in a distance of 2 m., but the current is swift and the channel
tortuous for a distance of 20 m., which make it impossible for the
light-draught, flat-bottomed steamers of the lower river to ascend
them. The Cauca differs much from the Magdalena, although its
principal features are the same. The latter descends 12,500 ft. before
it becomes navigable, but at 10,000 ft. below its source the Cauca
enters a long narrow valley with an average elevation of 3500 ft.,
where it is navigable for over 200 m., and then descends 2500 ft.
through a series of impetuous rapids for a distance of about 250 m.,
between Cartago and Caceres, with a break of 60 m. above Antioquia,
where smooth water permits isolated navigation. While, therefore, the
Magdalena is navigable throughout the greater part of its course, or
from Girardot to the coast, with an abrupt break of only 20 ft. at
Honda which could easily be overcome, the Cauca has only 200 m. of
navigable water in the upper valley and another 200 m. on its lower
course before it joins the Magdalena in lat. 9 deg. 30', the two being
separated by 250 m. of canyon and rapids. So difficult is the country
through which the Cauca has cut its tortuous course that the fertile
upper valley is completely isolated from the Caribbean, and has no
other practicable outlet than the overland route from Cali to
Buenaventura, on the Pacific. The upper sources of the Cauca flow
through a highly volcanic region, and are so impregnated with
sulphuric and other acids that fish cannot live in them. This is
especially true of the Rio Vinagre, which rises on the Purace volcano.
The principal tributaries are the Piendamo, Ovejas, Palo, Amaime and
Nechi, from the central Cordillera, of which the last named is the
most important, and the Jamundi and a large number of small streams
from the Western. The largest branch of the Cauca on its western side,
however, is the San Jorge, which, though rising in the Western
Cordillera on the northern slopes of the Alto del Viento, in about
lat. 7 deg. N., and not far from the sources of the Sinu and Bacuba, is
essentially a river of the plain, flowing north-east across a level
country filled with small lakes and subject to inundations to a
junction with the Cauca just before it joins the Magdalena. Both the
San Jorge and Nechi are navigable for considerable distances. The
valley of the Cauca is much narrower than that of the Magdalena, and
between Cartago and Caceres the mountain ranges on both sides press
down upon the river and confine it to a narrow canyon. The Cauca
unites with the Magdalena about 200 m. from the sea through several
widely separated channels, which are continually changing through the
wearing away of the alluvial banks. These changes in the channel are
also at work in the Lower Magdalena. The remaining rivers of the
Caribbean system, exclusive of the smaller ones rising in the Sierra
Nevada de Santa Marta, are the Zulia and Catatumbo, which rise in the
mountains of northern Santander and flow across the low plains of the
Venezuelan state of Zulia into Lake Maracaibo.

Of the rivers of the great eastern plains, whose waters pass through
the Orinoco and Amazon to the Atlantic, little can be said beyond the
barest geographical description. The size and courses of many of their
affluents are still unknown, as this great region has been only
partially explored. The largest of these rivers flow across the plains
in an easterly direction, those of the Orinoco system inclining
northward, and those of the Amazon system southward. The first include
the Guaviare or Guayabero, the Vichada, the Meta, and the upper course
of the Arauca. The Guaviare was explored by Crevaux in 1881. It rises
on the eastern slopes of the Eastern Cordillera between the 3rd and
4th parallels, about 75 m. south of Bogota, and flows with a slight
southward curve across the llanos to the Orinoco, into which it
discharges at San Fernando de Atabapo in lat. 4 deg. N. Its largest
tributary is the Inirida, which enters from the south. The Guaviare
has about 600 m. of navigable channel. The Meta rises on the opposite
side of the Cordillera from Bogota, and flows with a sluggish current
east-north-east across the llanos to the Orinoco, into which it
discharges below the Atures rapids, in lat. 6 deg. 22' N. It is navigable
throughout almost its whole length, small steamers ascending it to a
point within 100 m. of Bogota. Its principal tributaries, so far as
known, are the Tuca, Chire and Casanare. The principal rivers of the
Amazon system are the Napo, the upper part of which forms the
provisional boundary line with Ecuador, the Putumayo or Ica, and the
Caqueta or Japura (Yapura), which flow from the Andes entirely across
the eastern plains, and the Guainia, which rises on the northern
slopes of the Serra Tunaji near the provisional Brazilian frontier,
and flows with a great northward curve to the Venezuelan and Brazilian
frontiers, and is thereafter known as the Rio Negro, one of the
largest tributaries of the Amazon. There are many large tributaries of
these rivers in the unexplored regions of south-eastern Colombia, but
their names as well as their courses are still unsettled.

Coasts.

The coast of Colombia faces on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean
Sea, and is divided by the Isthmus of Panama into two completely
separated parts. The Pacific coast-line, omitting minor convolutions,
has a length of about 500 m., while that of the Caribbean is about 700
m. The former has been of slight service in the development of the
country because of the unsettled and unhealthy character of the coast
region, and the high mountain barriers between its natural ports and
the settled parts of the republic. There are only two commercial ports
on the coast, Tumaco and Buenaventura, though there are several
natural harbours which would be of great service were there any demand
for them. The rivers Mira, Patia and San Juan permit the entrance of
small steamers, as also some of the smaller rivers. The larger bays on
this coast are Tumaco, Choco, Magdalena, Cabita, Coqui, Puerto Utria,
Solano, Cupica and Octavia--some of them affording exceptionally safe
and well-sheltered harbours. The Caribbean coast of Colombia has only
four ports engaged in international trade--Barranquilla, Cartagena,
Santa Marta and Rio Hacha. There are some smaller ports on the coast,
but they are open only to vessels of light draft and have no trade
worth mention. Barranquilla, the principal port of the republic, is
situated on the Magdalena, and its seaport, or landing-place, is
Puerto Colombia at the inner end of Savanilla Bay, where a steel pier
4000 ft. long has been built out to deep water, alongside which
ocean-going vessels can receive and discharge cargo. The bay is slowly
filling up, however, and two other landing-places--Salgar and
Savanilla--had to be abandoned before Puerto Colombia was selected.
The pier-head had 24 ft. of water alongside in 1907, but the silt
brought down by the Magdalena is turned westward by the current along
this coast, and may at any time fill the bay with dangerous shoals.
The oldest and best port on the coast is Cartagena, 65 m. south-west
of Barranquilla, which has a well-sheltered harbour protected by
islands, and is connected with the Magdalena at Calamar by railway.
The next best port is that of Santa Marta, about 46 m. east-north-east
of Barranquilla (in a straight line), with which it is connected by 23
m. of railway and 50 m. of inland navigation on the Cienaga de Santa
Marta and eastern outlets of the Magdalena. Santa Marta is situated on
a small, almost landlocked bay, well protected from prevailing winds
by high land on the north and north-east, affording excellent
anchorage in waters free from shoaling through the deposit of silt.
The depth of the bay ranges from 4-1/2 to 19 fathoms. The town stands at
the foot of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which restricts the area
of cultivatable land in its immediate vicinity, and the enclosing high
lands make the climate hot and somewhat dangerous for foreigners.
Since the development of the fruit trade on the shores of the
Caribbean sea and Gulf of Mexico by an important American company,
which owns a large tract of land near Santa Marta devoted to banana
cultivation, and has built a railway 50 m. inland principally for the
transportation of fruit, the trade of the port has greatly increased.
The population of this region, however, is sparse, and its growth is
slow. The fourth port on this coast is Rio Hacha, an open roadstead,
about 93 m. east of Santa Marta, at the mouth of the small river
Rancheira descending from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de
Santa Marta. It has little trade, and the undeveloped, unpopulated
state of the country behind it affords no promise of immediate growth.
There are other small towns on the coast which are ports for the small
vessels engaged in the coasting and river trade, but they have no
international importance because of their inaccessibility to
ocean-going steamers, or the extremely small volume of their trade.
The Gulf of Uraba is a large bight or southerly extension of the Gulf
of Darien. It receives the waters of the Atrato, Bacuba, and a number
of small rivers, and penetrates the land about 50 m., but has very
little commercial importance because of the unhealthy and unsettled
character of the neighbouring country, and because of the bar across
its entrance formed by silt from the Atrato. The Gulf of Morosquillo,
a broad shallow indentation of the coast south of Cartagena, receives
the waters of the Rio Sinu, at the mouth of which is the small port of
Cispata. Between the mouth of the Magdalena and Santa Marta is the
Cienaga de Santa Marta, a large marshy lagoon separated from the sea
by a narrow sand spit, having its "boca" or outlet at its eastern
side. There is some traffic in small steamers on its shallow waters,
which is increasing with the development of fruit cultivation on its
eastern and southern sides. It extends inland about 31 m., and marks a
deep indentation of the coast like the Gulf of Uraba.