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Growth was further hampered by heavy taxes, merciless restrictions on trade, and other regulations by the home governments, almost until the countries achieved their independence. During the century of their freedom most of the Republics have suffered from revolutions and other troubles, but in recent years several have enjoyed a rapid development with considerable immigration. All now present opportunities of various kinds for investment by capitalists, for general trade, and for other forms of business. Such opportunities, as well as the conditions of living, vary greatly in different countries and in localities of the same country.

It has long been a source of criticism on the part of the diplomats and residents of the various Republics that in our minds they have been lumped together; that we often refer to those portions of the New World which were settled by the Spanish and Portuguese as Latin America or to all save Brazil as Spanish America. Now that we are entering upon a period of closer relationship with our southern neighbors, it is obviously desirable that we should differentiate among them, learn of the diversity in productions and resources which characterize the various countries, and something of their social and political conditions, all of which have a bearing upon present and prospective possibilities for commercial relations. Therefore the countries must be studied carefully and individually.

So far as transportation and travel are concerned South America is often divided broadly into three sections: the East, the West, and the North Coasts, to which a fourth is sometimes added, the Amazon Basin. We may begin with the nearest, the countries on the North Coast, follow with those on the West, and coming up from the south conclude with Brazil. With the Republics of the North Coast we have the greatest percentage of trade, with those on the East the largest amount.

THE NORTH COAST

COLOMBIA: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC.

Colombia, nearest to the United States of the republics of South America, is recognized as one of the richest and most beautiful of the countries of that continent, containing magnificent scenery, with extraordinary variety and wealth of natural resources. Colombia is noted as the first producer in the world of platinum, emeralds, and mild coffee; the first in South America of gold.

AREA, POPULATION, BOUNDARY

HISTORY

In 1502 Columbus sailed along the northern coast, a fact which may have prompted the inhabitants to give the country his name. As early as 1508 Alonzo de Ojeda, who in 1499 had first touched Colombian soil, made settlements on the coast; and in 1536 Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada explored the interior as far as the site of Bogot?, where he founded a city after establishing friendly relations with the aborigines.

In 1831 the Republic of New Granada was established, but disorders followed. Many changes occurred in the form of government, which was at one time a confederation, then the United States and now the Republic of Colombia. There have been strife and insurrections: in 1903 that of Panam? made the United States and its people extremely unpopular in Colombia and for some time unfavorably affected our commercial dealings. The adoption by the Senate of the Treaty of Bogot? will doubtless increase the already more friendly feeling on the part of Colombians, which can but be of value for our investments and trade.

GOVERNMENT

Since 1886 Colombia has been a unitary or centralized republic, the sovereignty of the States being abolished. The Departments, as they are called, have Governors appointed by the President, although each has an Assembly for the regulation of internal affairs. Besides the Departments, there are Territories of two varieties: Intendencias, directly connected with the Central Government and Comisar?as, sparsely settled districts depending upon the nearest Department.

The President is elected for four years by direct vote of the people. He has a Cabinet of eight members, the heads of the various departments: the Ministers of the Interior , Foreign Affairs , Finance , War , Public Instruction , Agriculture and Commerce , Public Works , Treasury .

The National Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The 35 Senators are elected for four years by persons chosen for that purpose; the 92 Representatives, one for each 50,000 inhabitants, are elected for two years by direct vote. Two substitutes are chosen for each Member of Congress to replace them in case of inability to serve. Congress meets annually at the Capital, Bogot?, July 20, for 90 to 120 days. The President may call an extra session.

The Judicial Branch includes a Supreme Court of nine judges, a Superior Tribunal for each Department and a number of minor judges.

Colombia has 14 Departments: four bordering on the Caribbean, Magdalena, Atl?ntico, Bol?var, Antioquia; three on the Pacific, El Valle, Cauca, Nari?o; seven in the interior, Huila, Tolima, Cundinamarca, Boyac?, Santander, Santander del Norte, Caldas; Intendencias: Meta at the east; Choc? bordering on the Caribbean and the Pacific; the Islands, San Andr?s and Providencia; six Comisar?as: La Goajira, Arauca, Vichada, Vaup?s, Caquet?, Putumayo.

The names of the Departments, their area, population, capitals and population follow:

No figures available.

At or near sea level.

NOTE.--The figures for Meta doubtless include the area of the new Comisar?a, Vichada, and those for Caquet? the areas of Vaup?s and Putumayo.

POPULATION

Colombia, ranking third of the South American Republics in population, has about 6,000,000 inhabitants, very unevenly distributed, as is obvious from the figures of the Departments, already given. The average is 12 to a square mile, but in the Departments 26 to a square mile. The smallest Department, Atl?ntico, is the most densely populated, 114 to the square mile. The largest Department, Antioquia, more than three times the size of Massachusetts, has also the largest population, which is reputed to be the most enterprising.

The character of the population is varied. According to the Colombian statesman, Uribe, 66 per cent is composed of pure whites and of mestizos of white and Indian and white and negro origin, who through successive crossings during four centuries have acquired the traits of the Caucasian race, in some cases showing no traces of the extreme elements; the pure Indians are 14 per cent, pure black 4 per cent, and colored mixtures 16 per cent. The tendency is towards a closer fusion making a unique type which will give the desired national unification. There are about 600,000 Indians, the greater number more or less civilized; perhaps 150,000 wild Indians, some friendly, others hostile. How many there are in the forested Amazon region is uncertain; the recent census places the figure at a little over 100,000. Among all the Indians one hundred or more different languages are spoken.

EDUCATION

There are universities also at Cartagena, Popay?n, Pasto, and Medell?n; in the last named city, a School of Mines, which is a part of the National University. Elementary instruction is the most zealously promoted in Antioquia, Caldas, Boyac?, and Cauca; in the other Departments the school attendance is poor. In Colombia, Spanish is spoken with greater purity than in most of the other Republics.

Institutions giving instruction in agriculture, in arts and trades, and in general science are greatly needed, as also the teaching of sanitation and hygiene.

PRESS, RELIGION, ETC.

For postal regulations to all the countries see Appendix.

COLOMBIA: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Colombia is called a very mountainous country, and the most casual visitor would not dispute the statement. Mountains are in evidence along both shores and on the way to interior cities; but the unseen part, the hinterland, is of a different character. Only two fifths of the country is mountainous, but this part extremely so. In this section, very sensibly, most of the people live, as in the neighboring countries; for as the mountains are near the sea the majority of the early settlers soon found their way up into the more healthful and agreeable highlands. The chief drawback to these is the difficulty of access; and we can not but admire the courage and endurance of those stout-hearted people who settled in remote places among the mountains of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, and amid untold hardships there preserved for centuries civilization and a high degree of culture.

MOUNTAINS

The great mountain chains of Colombia constitute the northern terminal of the great Andean system. In northern Ecuador the Andes has become a single massive chain; but beginning in Colombia with an irregular mass of peaks, the mountains soon divide into three distinct ranges, the East, West, and Central Cordilleras.

Curiously, along the coast of the Caribbean, northeast of the mouth of the Magdalena, is another seemingly independent range of mountains, detached from the East Cordillera and quite in line with the Central: the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which has snow crowned summits rising 16,000-17,000 feet above the sea. The entire mountainous region of Colombia is subject to earthquakes, which, however, are less severe than those in Ecuador and Venezuela; in some sections there are volcanic disturbances.

PLAINS

Between the mountain chains, besides the narrow valleys are limited plateau regions, the latter occupying about 900 square miles; while more than half of the country, an immense tract east of the Andes, broadening towards the southern boundary, is a great plain slightly inclining towards the east and south: the northern part belonging to the Orinoco Basin, the larger section at the south to that of the Amazon. This Amazon region has an area equal to that of the entire State of California. Its higher portion, as well as most of the Orinoco Basin in Colombia, where there are wet and dry seasons, is composed chiefly of grassy plains called llanos. Nearer the Amazon, where it rains a good part of the year, the country is heavily forested.

RIVERS

CLIMATE

It has already been noted that the altitude of a district as well as its latitude affects the climate, which may be modified further by the direction of prevailing winds and by ocean currents. The extensive and lofty mountain ranges of Colombia therefore give the country a greater variety of climate than it would otherwise enjoy, with temperatures agreeable to every taste and suited to products of almost every character. The configuration of the mountain ranges and valleys causes a further difference in temperature and in rainfall among points at the same altitude; the elevations being responsible not only for their own lower temperatures, but for the greater heat of secluded valleys, and for other variations.

In the forest region of the Amazon there is much precipitation. The open plains of the Orinoco section have less rain, with a dry season when the rivers, which overflow in the wet season, return to their channels and the vegetation withers. Farther north, the Sierra de Perija of the East Cordillera condenses the moisture of the northeast trade winds, causing heavy rainfall on the eastern slope, but having a dry section on the west. The Caribbean coast near Panam? has plenty of rain, which diminishes towards the north, Goajira being quite arid. Excessive precipitation occurs on the West Cordillera, on the Baud? Range, and on the southern part of the Pacific Coast, where the plains are heavily forested and unhealthful like the valleys of the San Juan and Atrato farther north. The lower valleys of the Magdalena and Cauca, shut off from the prevailing winds, are decidedly hot. These and other lowland plains have the tropical climate, in general great humidity, and many dense forests, except for the open drier llanos.

The Santa Marta Plateau, the upper section of the Cauca Valley, the greater part of the country traversed by the East Cordillera, and the northern end of the Central enjoy the subtropical or the temperate climate. Here is a large proportion of the white population, and here the chief industries are located. In the tropical forests and in the lower plains and valleys the annual mean temperature is from 82? to over 90?; at Medell?n with an altitude of 5000 feet it is 70?, and at Bogot?, altitude 8600 feet, it is 57?.

COLOMBIA: THE CAPITAL, THE STATES AND TERRITORIES, CHIEF CITIES

THE CAPITAL

A more precise idea of the geography of Colombia and of the commercial possibilities of the different sections will be gained by reviewing them in order, beginning with the north coast, going around the outside, and concluding with the interior.

STATES AND TERRITORIES

Santa Marta, the capital, an ancient city and port, founded 1525, has recently entered upon an era of prosperity, largely due to the enterprise of the United Fruit Company. Finely located on a good harbor west of the Nevada of Santa Marta, some distance east of the mouth of the Magdalena, the city is an important centre of the banana industry, to which it owes its present development; other agricultural products are for local consumption. The climate is hot but healthful, though the banana zone is malarial. An excellent hospital is maintained by the United Fruit Company. Within a few miles are regions with a delightful temperature. A Marconi wireless, one of the most powerful in South America, is of general service, though the property of the Fruit Company. Their enormous banana trade is served by a 100 mile network of railways into sections favorable to this fruit.

Barranquilla, the capital, is a busy place with many resident foreigners. It has quays, a large new warehouse, hotels, one of which is said to have all conveniences, theatres, two clubs, electric lights, trams, and telephones. In spite of the heat, which averages 82? for the year, the deaths are less than 25 per 1000, a percentage better than in some other tropical cities.

Cartagena, the capital, is considered the most interesting city on the Caribbean coast and one of the most picturesque in South America. Its massive walls and fortifications were erected at great expense nearly four centuries ago--1535. It has fine buildings both ancient and modern, and comfortable hotels. Monter?a and Lorica are busy commercial cities on the Sin? River, each with a population of 20,000 or more.

Medell?n, the capital, the second largest city of the Republic, is said to be the wealthiest for its size of any city in South America. It has wide streets, well built houses, many factories, and many educational institutions. The climate is excellent, the altitude being 4600 feet. Here is the National Mint.

Manizales, the capital, is an important, comparatively new city, founded in 1846. Although distant from any river or railway at an altitude above 7000 feet, it is growing rapidly as a distributing centre. Sulphur and salt mines are near and thermal and saline springs; large herds of cattle graze on the plains.

Quibd?, the capital, is a busy trading centre, which within the last ten years has increased in population fourfold in spite of the disagreeable climate.

Cali, the capital, is an old, but progressive and important commercial city, with a fine climate, altitude 4000 feet, mean temperature 77?. It has fine old buildings and new ones, poor hotels, banks, automobiles, etc. Other busy cities farther north, are Palmira, 27,000 population, and Cartago, 21,000.

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