- The official language is Spanish.
- Independence day is July 20 (independence declared in 1810)
- Colombia is a democracy, a multi-party republic with a President, Vice President, Congress & Senate and an independent Supreme Court.
- The outgoing President is Ivan Duque (Conservative). Gustavo Petro (Socialist) will be President as of Aug 7, 2022. A President has a 4 year term and cannot run for reelection.
- You do not need a special visa to visit Colombia. You can stay for to 90 days per visit. Extensions are possible.
- The official currency is the Colombian Peso (COP) [exchange rates here]
- All of Colombia is in the UTC -5 time zone (5 hours behind London, UK). There’s no daylight savings.
- The estimated population of Colombia is 52 million
- About 2 million Venezuelan exiles live in our country
- Bogotá is the biggest city and also the capital
- Colombia’s provinces are known as departamentos. There are 32 of them.
- Medellín, Cartagena, Cali and Barranquilla are the only other cities with a metropolitan population surpassing a million.
- In Colombia, we drive on the right (same as USA)
- Most vehicles, including taxis, are subcompact and with standard transmissions
- Vehicles operate mostly on gasoline, diesel, or natural gas.
- Vehicles are a mix of European, American and Asian models
- Electricity is 110 V
- Only Medellín currently has a subway system, though it is mostly above ground
- The islands of San Andres & Providencia are the northernmost territories
- The entire country is at tropical latitudes, but weather varies according to elevation (more here)
Quick Facts: The Colombia Basics
