The+Spanish+of+Youth+Culture

=Culture of Colombia=

Compared to all the other Latin American countries, Colombia, is the most regionalist nation of them all (Williams, 2000). This can be attributed to the broad geographical differences across the country. In the ninteenth century, there were four semi-autonomous regions that made up Colombia. These regions were the Interior Highland, Greater Antioquia, the Caribbean Coast, and the Greater Cauca. Each region has a different mix of cultures that make them unique from one another: In the Interior Highland, the culture there is predominately Western but has Spanish influence as well; the Greater Antioquia is home to many Basque and Jewish immigrants and has indigenous influences; a mix of strong African culture with some indigenous and Spanish influences makes up the Caribbean Coast; the Greater Cauca has primarily indigenous and Spanish cultural influences.

Geographical Information
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Colombia is located in the Northwestern region of South America and is bordered by the countries of Ecuador,Perú, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panamá. It is also the only country in South America that shares borders with both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. Colombia's terrain has three Andean mountain ranges called the Cordillera Occidental, Cordillera Central, and Cordillera Oriental which run roughly parallel to each other from the north to the south. The Valle del Cauca and Valle del Magdalena are located in between the three mountain ranges. Another mountain range, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is located by the coast and is given the honorable title of the world's highest coastal mountain range (Dydynski, 2003). Its twin peaks Simón Bolívar and Cristóbal Colón, which are also the country's highest peaks, reach an altitude of 5,775 meters. In contrast, the territory east of the Andes is more than half-covered with immense lowland. This area of lowland is divided into two different regions. Los Llanos is to the north and it lies in the basin of the Rio Orinoco. Los Llanos can be described as a vast savannah. The other region, the Amazon, which is to the south, takes up the space of the southeastern area of Colombia and is covered by thick rainforest.

Early Colombia
Before the Spanish Conquest, there were about a dozen Colombian indigenous groups that had occupied small areas that were located in the Andean region as well as the Pacific and Caribbean Coasts. The names of these groups included the Tayrona, Muisca, Calima, Quimbaya, San Agustín, and Sinú. By the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Muisca were the largest indigenous group in Colombia consisting of about 500,000 people (Dydynski, 2003).

Spanish Conquest
Colombia is named after the great explorer Christopher Columbus. The ironic thing about this is that Columbus never set foot in Colombia. However, Columbus landed on an island not too far from Colombia, called the Dominican Republic. Columbus' companion, Alonso de Ojeda, was actually the one who landed on Cabo de la Vela, located on the Guajira Peninsula, in 1499. While they were exploring Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, they were amazed by the wealth of the indigenous people. These indigenous people that they saw were the Muiscas. The gold and the stories told by the indigenous people helped start the myth of El Dorado that was created by the Spaniards. Because of their obsession with this mythical place, they explored deep into the heart of Colombia but with no success. El Dorado was never found, however, colonization took place very quickly as a result (Dydynski, 2003).

Recent Events
Colombia is the only Latin American nation in which the traditional ninteenth century political parties, liberal and conservative, have survived (Williams, 2000). A rivalry in between these two parties helped spark an undeclared civil war, called La Violencia, in 1948. It began with the assassination of a Liberal Party candidate, Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, in the capital city Bogotá. From 1958 to 1974, these two political parties worked out an arrangement called the National Front, in which they rotated the presidency and divided the national offices (Davis, 1990).

Spanish of Colombia
Like its neighboring countries of Ecuador and Venezuela, Colombia has many different dialectal differences within the country because of the different geographical terrain throughout. Towards the Colombian coast, their dialect of Spanish is very similar to that of Caribbean Spanish. The articulation of "j", "ge" and "gi" are pronounced as [h], a weak "j", as opposed to [x] like in areas such as Southern Spain. At the coast, they also aspirate the syllable-final [s]. Other phonetic features of the Spanish spoken at the coast include, seseo-where there is no distinction between "c and z" and "s" and yeísmo-the pronunciation of "ll" and "y" as [j]. In the highlands of Colombia, they have some different phonetic features. The articulation of "j", "ge", and "gi" are pronounced as [x] and they do not aspirate. The use of "vos", as opposed to "tú", is also commonly used. A contact language is also spoken in some parts of Colombia that is called Palenquero. Palenquero was formed through the contact of the Spanish language with the African languages brought over by the slaves. Some other contact languages present in South America are Yopará in Paraguay, Cocoliche in Argentina, and Portuñol in Uruguay.

The Arts
Colombia takes much pride in its world-class writers, artists, and musicians. One writer of much importance is Gabriel García Márquez. In 1982, Gabriel was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Literature for his works including "Cien Años de Soledad". Putting together fictitious events with easily recognizable historical events, Gabriel captures what might be called the essence of Colombian reality in fantasy (Davis, 1990). Some famous artists from Colombia are Alejandro Obregón and Fernando Botero. Both of these artists have characteristics in their works that make them unique from the crowd. Alejandro is a modernistic painter. His works portray Colombian geography and nature as well as political issues that took place during his time. The use of many colors and geometric shapes to express themes and ideas are common characteristics of his work. Also, Davis (1990) observes that "...surrealistic condors, angels, and landscapes have become an unmistakable hallmark of his work" (Davis, 1990). Fernando Botero is an abstract painter and sculptor. A trademark of his is the potrayal of his subjects in a blown-up scale, known as 'gorditos'. Like Alejandro, Fernando also incorporates Colombian-related aspects into his work. Another country that his home to many world-class artists is Cuba. Because of the mix of many cultures, music in Colombia takes many different forms. European, African, and Indigenous influences help contribute to the many kinds of music. One particular kind of music that originated in Colombia is Cumbia. Cumbia originated off of the Caribbean coast of Colombia and was originally a courtship dance during colonial times to celebrate the Zambos, which was a name forged by the Africans and indigenous people living in that area to represent a new race (Mauleon). Another type of music that originated in Colombia is Vallenato. Vallenato was used during the 1920's and 1930's as a way of communicating news and gossip from one rural town to another (Williams, 2000). At first, Vallenato was looked down upon and it was not until the mid-twentieth century that it began to become accepted by the people. Colombia has also added rock, pop, and hip-hop to it's list of music genres. Popular artists that represent these genres are Juanes, Shakira, and Gotas de Rap.

Holidays
Due to the large amount of Catholics in Colombia, there are a lot of religion-based holidays to go along with other commonly celebrated holidays shared with other countries. In Colombia, some of the big holidays are New Years, Christmas, Independence Day, and All Saints' Day. Colombia's Independence day is celebrated on July 20 and All Saints' Day is celebrated on November 1. All Saints' Day is also celebrated in other Latin American countries with heavy Catholic influence because it is a Catholic holiday. Holidays for the different saints are also celebrated throughout the country. As stated by Dydynski (2003), "...every village and town has its own patron saint. You can take it for granted that the locals will be holding a celebratory feast on that day" (Dydynski, 2003). Throughout the country, many festivals are also held during the year. One of much importance is Semana Santa (Saint Week). This is celebrated the week after Easter Sunday and celebrates the suffering and death of Jesus through different services of worship (Bratcher, 2008).

A Brief Interview
This is an interview with a native Colombian regarding some of the different aspects of Colombian culture.

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