Geography, climate, and immigration

Most Colombians live in the Andes, high above sea level where climates range from temperate to cool (the highest parts get snow). Another important population center is the Caribbean Coast, with the cities of Santa Marta, Cartagena, and Barranquilla. The treacherousness of the terrain and sheer variety of climates made communication and travel very difficult, and helped foster intense regionalism.
Between the three mountain ranges or cordilleras are two large valleys whose rivers (Magdalena River, Cauca River) link the interior to the coastal ports. These lowlands are thick with rainforests and interspersed rushing tributaries, waterfalls, and steep inclines. The Andes themselves are in parts volcanic, jagged and covered in glaciers. Other parts are more hospitable, such as the tableland of much of Cundinamarca (including Bogotá) and Boyacá (called in Spanish the Altiplano Cundiboyacense), which has a climate similar to the Argentine pampas. Medellín is in the Aburra valley, on the central mountain range, at a lower altitude than chilly Bogotá, which gives it an “eternal spring”-like climate. The Caribbean coast, Colombia’s gateway to the outside world before jet travel, is separated from the Andes by mosquito-filled, marshy wetlands, while the Pacific coast is pock-marked with its own marshes and is one of the wettest places on earth.