Colombia is a state in the north of South America .
The total area is 1,141,748 km².
Colombia is washed in the west by the Pacific Ocean , in the northwest by the Caribbean Sea . In the west of the country, the Andes stretched from river valleys from north to south. In the east is a plateau crossed by tributaries of the Amazon . Lowlands stretch along the coasts.
The Andes in Colombia are divided into three main ranges: Western Cordillera , Central Cordillera and Eastern Cordillera . In the north of the country is a separate mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with the snowy peak Cristobal Colon (5775 m), which is the highest mountain in Colombia.
Colombia's westernmost point is Malpelo Island , its northernmost is the San Andres and Providencia Islands.
On the territory of Colombia, the equatorial and subequatorial types of climate dominate.
Inland waters
The river network in Colombia is very dense, rivers feed mostly rain. Many rivers have large fluctuations in water flow, which, along with the rapidity, makes navigation difficult. The most important is the Magdalena River system; other Colombian rivers are less important.
The major rivers of Colombia include: the Amazon River , along which the section of the border with Peru in the extreme southeast passes, Orinoco , along which the section of the border with Venezuela passes in the country's east, Magdalena and its tributary Cauca , the Atrato River , the rivers of the eastern plains of Guaviar , Meta and Wichada (tributaries of Orinoco), Putumayo and Kaketa (tributaries of the Amazon). More than 240 Colombian rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean, they are very deep , but short, the largest among them are the Patia and San Juan rivers.
Mountain rivers form waterfalls , the most famous of which are Bordones , Tekendama and Tekendamita .
In the Andes, mostly in the Eastern Cordillera, there are residual glacial lakes , but especially many lakes and marshes on the Caribbean lowland and in the Atrato river valley.
See also
- Natural regions of Colombia
Links
- Geography - general information, geographic maps
- Hydrography
- Latin America, Volume 2, Soviet Encyclopedia Publishing House, Moscow, 1982, pp. 11-13