The Most Complete Electronic Guide to Colombia

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The history of Colombia refers especially to the development of the Colombian nations after the Spaniard conquered the territory. Notes about the Colombian Prehistory are rather obscure as in any place of the American continent and archaeological researches are so dynamic in Colombia as in other American countries.

It is said that the territory was populated from tribes from the Caribbean basin, according with the theory of the north to south  migrations of the natives. According with this theory, the first American people came from the Siberian terrains across the Bering Stretch to Alaska and from there they started to migrated to the south following wild prays more than 40,000 years ago; from this theory it goes that North America and Central America were the first territories to be populated and South America the last part. However the discovering of a very ancient human site in Pedra Furada, Brazil, of more than 48,000 years old, put in doubt the theory of the north to south migration .

There are enough archaeological evidences of an ancient population settling on the nowadays Colombian territories through its both cost (Atlantic and Pacific), suggesting that the first settlers came either from the Caribbean tribes or from the Mezzo American groups. Chibchas, for example, came from Central America and today many human groups in countries like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama keep near relations with Colombian aborigines.

The Pre-Colombian period coincides with the birth of agriculture in the Americas, contemporary to  other continents thanks to the beginning of the Holocene period (a global warming that ended the Glacial Era). Agriculture became popular in the Colombian territory, especially in the coasts and the Andine region, creating the first sedentary settlements that would give form to different cultures like San Agustín (Huila State), Kalima (Valle del Cauca), Quimbaya (Eje Cafetero) and many others. When the Spaniards arrived to the Colombian territory at the beginning of the 16th century, they found the Muisca and Tairona cultures, both in an advanced, let's say post-classical period.