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Colombia Andean Highlands
Near the Ecuadoran frontier, the Andes Mountains divide
into
three distinct, roughly parallel chains, called
cordilleras, that
extend northeastward almost to the Caribbean Sea.
Altitudes reach
more than 5,700 meters, and mountain peaks are permanently
covered
with snow. The elevated basins and plateaus of these
ranges have a
moderate climate that provides pleasant living conditions
and in
many places enables farmers to harvest twice a year.
Torrential
rivers on the slopes of the mountains produce a large
hydroelectric
power potential and add their volume to the navigable
rivers in the
valleys. In the late 1980s, approximately 78 percent of
the
country's population lived in the Andean highlands.
The Cordillera Occidental in the west, the Cordillera
Central
in the center, and the Cordillera Oriental in the east
have
different characteristics. Geologically, the Cordillera
Occidental
and the Cordillera Central form the western and eastern
sides of a
massive crystalline arch that extends from the Caribbean
lowlands
to the southern border of Ecuador. The Cordillera
Oriental,
however, is composed of folded stratified rocks overlying
a
crystalline core.
The Cordillera Occidental is relatively low and is the
least
populated of the three cordilleras. Summits are only about
3,000
meters above sea level and do not have permanent snows.
Few passes
exist, although one that is about 1,520 meters above sea
level
provides the major city of Cali with an outlet to the
Pacific
Ocean. The relatively low elevation of the cordillera
permits dense
vegetation, which on the western slopes is truly tropical.
The Cordillera Occidental is separated from the
Cordillera
Central by the deep rift of the Cauca Valley. The Río
Cauca rises
within 200 kilometers of the border with Ecuador and flows
through
some of the best farmland in the country. After the two
cordilleras
converge, the Cauca Valley becomes a deep gorge all the
way to the
Caribbean lowlands.
The Cordillera Central is the loftiest of the mountain
systems.
Its crystalline rocks form an 800-kilometer-long towering
wall
dotted with snow-covered volcanoes. There are no plateaus
in this
range and no passes under 3,300 meters. The highest peak
in this
range, the Nevado del Huila, reaches 5,439 meters above
sea level.
The second highest peak is a volcano, Nevado del Ruiz,
which
erupted violently on November 13, 1985. Toward its
northern end,
this cordillera separates into several branches that
descend toward
the Caribbean coast.
Between the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera
Oriental
flows the Río Magdalena. This 1,600-kilometer-long river
rises near
a point some 180 kilometers north of the border with
Ecuador, where
the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Central
diverge. Its
spacious drainage area is fed by numerous mountain
torrents
originating high in the snowfields. The Río Magdalena is
generally
navigable from the Caribbean Sea as far as the town of
Neiva, deep
in the interior, but is interrupted midway by rapids. The
valley
floor is very deep; nearly 800 kilometers from the river's
mouth
the elevation is no more than about 300 meters.
In the Cordillera Oriental at elevations between 2,500
and
2,700 meters, three large fertile basins and a number of
small ones
provide suitable areas for settlement and intensive
economic
production. In the basin of Cundinamarca, where the
Spanish found
the Chibcha Indians, the European invaders established the
town of
Santa Fe de Bogotá (present-day Bogotá) at an elevation of
2,650
meters above sea level.
To the north of Bogotá, in the densely populated basins
of
Chiquinquira and Boyacá, are fertile fields, rich mines,
and large
industrial establishments that produce much of the
national wealth.
Still farther north, where the Cordillera Oriental makes
an abrupt
turn to the northwest near the border with Venezuela, the
highest
point of this range, the Sierra Nevada de Cocuy, rises to
5,493
meters above sea level. In the department of Santander,
the valleys
on the western slopes are more spacious, and agriculture
is
intensive in the area around Bucaramanga. The northernmost
region
of the range around Cúcuta is so rugged that historically
it has
been easier to maintain communications and transportation
with
Venezuela than with the adjacent parts of Colombia.
Data as of December 1988
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