Colombia Short and Sweet: Bogotá & Cartagena

Santa Fe de Bogota is the complete name of the capital of Columbia, where modern skyscrapers tower over ancient and well preserved churches and Spanish colonial houses. The city was founded in 1538. It has many art museums from different periods, but the most interesting is the Gold Museum with a collection of over 23,000 pre-Columbian items and the surprising opening presentation. There are many good restaurants and night clubs. Shopping for leather goods and emeralds at very good prices is a temptation hard to resist. Buy emeralds only from a reputable dealer, never from vendors on the street.

Cartagena, (kär´te-jê´ne) city (1985 pop. 563,949), capital of Bolívar dept., NW Colombia, a port on the Bay of Cartagena, in the Caribbean Sea. Oil-refining and the manufacture of leather, textile, and tobacco goods are major industries, and there is an expanding petrochemical complex. Founded in 1533, Cartagena became the treasure city of the Spanish Main, where precious New World minerals awaited transshipment to Spain. It was often sacked despite its massive fortifications, some of which still stand. It declared its independence from Spain in 1811 and was incorporated into Colombia in 1821. Its rapid development in the 20th cent. was due largely to the discovery of oil in the Magdalena basin. One of the most picturesque of Latin American cities, with shady plazas and cobblestone streets, Cartagena attracts many tourists.