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Colombia
Index
Figure 2. Topography and Drainage
Located in the northwest corner of the South American
continent, Colombia encompasses an area of more than 1.1
million
square kilometers. It is the only country in South America
with
both Caribbean (1,760 kilometers) and Pacific coastlines
(1,448
kilometers). Colombia also has international borders with
five
Latin American nations: Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru,
and
Ecuador
(see
fig. 2). There were no major outstanding
international
boundary problems between Colombia and its neighbors in
the late
1980s. All of the borders had long been delineated, and
most had
been demarcated by surveys and the placement of markers,
although
tropical jungle terrain and hostile Indians had impeded
survey
operations in some areas along the borders with Venezuela
and
Brazil. Colombia and Venezuela did, however, dispute
sovereignty
over the seabed in the Golfo de Venezuela, an area of
potential
petroleum wealth
(see Relations with Latin America
, ch.
4).
In addition to its mainland territory, Colombia
possesses a
number of small islands in both the Caribbean Sea and the
Pacific
Ocean. The combined areas of all these islands do not
exceed sixtyfive square kilometers.
In the Caribbean, off the coast of Nicaragua and 640
kilometers
from the Colombian coast, Colombian territory includes an
archipelago of thirteen small cays grouped around the Isla
de San
Andrés and the Isla de Providencia. Other small islands,
cays, and
banks in the same area--which belong to Colombia but also
are
claimed by Nicaragua--are Isla de Santa Catalina, Cayos de
Roncador, Banco de Quita Sueño, Banco de Serrana, and
Banco de
Serranilla. Several small islands also lie off Colombia's
Caribbean
coast south of Cartagena. These include the Isla del
Rosario, Islas
de San Bernardo, and Isla Fuerte.
In the Pacific, Colombian territory encompasses Isla de
Malpelo, which lies about 430 kilometers west of
Buenaventura.
Nearer the coast, a prison colony is located on Isla
Gorgona. Isla
Gorgonilla lies off the southern shore of Isla Gorgona.
Data as of December 1988
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