United States of Colombia () was the name adopted in 1863 by the for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nations of Colombia and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

and parts of northwestern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. After several more years of intermittent civil wars, it was replaced by the more centralist

Republic of Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Cari ...

in 1886, predecessor to modern Colombia.

History

The civil war of 1860-1862 resulted in the dissolution of the Granadine Confederation which had been subjected increasingly to efforts by conservatives to centralize rule over the

federal states A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

. The liberal General

Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera Tomás Cipriano Ignacio María de Mosquera-Figueroa y Arboleda-Salazar (September 26, 1798 – October 7, 1878) was a Colombian general, political figure. He was president of Colombia four times. The first time was as president of Republic of N ...

defeated the conservative government of President Bartolomé Calvo during 1862 and was installed as new president. Much power was distributed back to the states from the government in Bogotá.

Colombian Constitution of 1863

On 3 February 1863, Congress approved the name United States of Colombia for the country, and on 8 May, the was promulgated. It established a federal system with a central presidency with a term of two years and without the possibility of immediate re-election. The president was elected by the states. On 12 May, Mosquera was chosen to be the first president. The liberals attempted to establish the United States of Colombia with a decentralized, free market system. As with previous liberal presidencies, such as Mosquera's first two terms as president, a tough policy towards the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

was taken, much to the dismay of conservatives. Land possessed by the Church was seized and transferred to industrialists and the influence and rights of the Church was limited severely. During 1871, attempts at modernization and economic reform resulted in the Colombian peso being associated with the

French franc The franc (, ; sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It w ...

as part of the international

gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the l ...

Abolition

After several years of intermittent civil wars, during 1886 the

Colombian Conservative Party The Colombian Conservative Party ( es, Partido Conservador Colombiano) is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro. The Conservative party along ...

directed by President Rafael Núñez proclaimed a new constitution of centralist character that abolished the United States of Colombia and created the

. The conservatives immediately withdrew Colombia from the gold standard and the subsequent increase of printed currency resulted in troubling inflation. Meanwhile, the new state would continue to be plagued by conflict between liberal and conservative factions, which eventually would result in the secession of Panama during 1903.

States

The nine original states that formed the confederation were: * Antioquia State, * Bolívar State, * Boyacá State, *

Cauca State Cauca State was one of the states of Colombia. Today the area of the former state makes up most of modern-day west and southern Colombia, with some portion of its vast territories acquired by present-day Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela. Na ...

, * Cundinamarca State, *

Magdalena State The Magdalena State ( es, Estado del Magdalena) was one of the states of Colombia. Today the area of the former state makes up most of modern-day areas of the departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira, northern Colombia. Provinces * El ...

, * Panamá State, *

Santander State Santander State was one of the states of Colombia. Today the area of the former state makes up most of modern-day areas of the Santander Department and Norte de Santander Department in northeastern Colombia. Limits In 1863 it bordered: * An ...

and *

Tolima State Tolima State was one of the states of Colombia.Caquetá Territory The Caquetá Territory ( es, Territorio del Caquetá) was a national territory of the Republic of New Granada and the subsequent states of the Granadine Confederation and the United States of Colombia from 1845 to 1886. Its capital was Mocoa. Hi ...

, * San Martin Territory and * Nevada and Motilones Territory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States of Colombia History of Colombia 19th century in Colombia 1863 establishments in South America 1886 disestablishments in South America