Colombia

The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous people including the Muisca, Quimbaya, and Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada (comprising modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the northwest region of Brazil and Panama) with its capital in Bogotá. Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 Gran Colombia had collapsed with the secession of Venezuela and Ecuador. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then after a two-year civil war the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. The Thousand Days War (1899 to 1902) was another civil conflict within the nation, pitting the ruling Conservative Party against the Liberal Party and its radical factions. The Conservative party came out victorious, but they did not prevent the secession of Panama in 1903 under pressure to fulfill financial responsibilities towards the United States government to build the Panama Canal.

The period of the 1940s and 1950s was wracked by violence between the Liberal and Conservative parties again, with several guerilla groups emerging during this period - most notably the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) - all of whom were dominated by Marxist doctrines. Additionally, powerful drug cartels would emerge during the 1980s and 1990s, most supported by their own paramilitary organizations. The country has continued to struggle against he effects of the illegal drug trade and political insurgencies.

The Military Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Militares de Colombia) consist of three primary services: Ejército Nacional de Colombia (Army), Armada Nacional de Colombia (Navy - including Marines and Coast Guard), and the Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (Air Force). Together the three services comprise nearly 300,000 active duty personnel. The Policia Nacional (National Police) are a true gendarmerie, and have been heavily involved in both counter-insurgency and counter-narcotics operations.

Colombian Camouflage Patterns

Colombia has used a duck hunter pattern, US woodland and has now introduced a new digital pattern

• The Colombian duck hunter pattern

• The Colombian digital pattern (here in the desert version)