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{{Short description|Republic in South and Central America from 1819 to 1831}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Colombia
| common_languages = [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Languages of Colombia#Classification|Indigenous languages]]
| religion = [[Roman Catholicism]] (official)
| event_start = [[Congress of Angostura|Established]]
| year_start = 1819
| year_end = 1831
| date_start = December 17,<ref name="Bethell1985">{{cite book|last=Bethell|first=Leslie|title=The Cambridge History of Latin America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QghsDsSCB4C&pg=PA141|access-date=September 6, 2011|year=1985|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-23224-1|page=141}}</ref>
| date_end = November 19,
| event_end = [[Dissolution of Gran Colombia|Dissolution]]
| s1 = Republic of New Granada
| s2 = State of Venezuela
| s3 = History of Ecuador (1830–1860){{!}}Ecuador
| s4 = British Guiana
| p1 = Viceroyalty of New Granada
| p2 = Captaincy General of Venezuela
| p3 = American Confederation of Venezuela
| flag_s1 = Flag of New Granada.svg
| flag_s2 = Flag of Venezuela (1830-1836).svg
| flag_s3 = Flag of Ecuador (1830-1835).svg
| flag_s4 = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
| flag_p1 = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
| flag_p2 = Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg
| flag_p3 = Flag of Venezuela (1811).svg
| flag = Flag of Gran Colombia
| flag_type = Flag (1821–1831)
| native_name = {{native name|es|República de Colombia}}
| image_flag = Flag of the Gran Colombia.svg
| symbol =
| symbol_type = [[Coat of arms of Gran Colombia|Emblem]]<br>(1821–1831)
| image_coat = Coat of arms of Gran Colombia (1821).svg
| national_motto = {{lang|es|Unión}} (Spanish)
| national_anthem = ''{{lang|es|[[Marcha Libertadora]]}}'' (Spanish)<br>[[File:National anthem of Gran Colombia.oga]]
| image_map = Great Colombia (orthographic projection).svg
| image_map_caption = Territory claimed by Gran Colombia (does not include [[Mosquito Coast]])
| capital = [[Bogotá]]
| demonym = Gran Colombian<br/>Colombian
| government_type = Federal [[Presidential system|presidential republic]]
| leader1 = [[Simón Bolívar]]<br />[[Estanislao Vergara y Sanz de Santamaría]]
| leader2 = [[Domingo Caycedo]]
| leader3 = [[Joaquín Mosquera]]
| leader4 = [[Rafael Urdaneta]]
| year_leader1 = 1819–1830
| year_leader2 = 1830, 1831
| year_leader3 = 1830, 1831
| year_leader4 = 1830–1831
| title_leader = [[List of Presidents of Colombia|Presidents]]
| deputy1 = [[Francisco Antonio Zea]]
| deputy2 = [[Juan Germán Roscio]]
| deputy3 = [[Antonio Nariño y Álvarez]]
| deputy4 = [[José María del Castillo y Rada|José María del Castillo]]
| deputy5 = [[Francisco de Paula Santander]]
| deputy6 = [[Domingo Caycedo]]
| year_deputy1 = 1819–1820
| year_deputy2 = 1820–1821
| year_deputy3 = 1821
| year_deputy4 = 1821
| year_deputy5 = 1821–1827
| year_deputy6 = 1830–1831
| title_deputy = [[List of Vice Presidents of Colombia|Vice Presidents]]
| legislature = [[Congress of Colombia|Congress]]
| area_km2 = 3,064,800<ref name="Danegov">https://biblioteca.dane.gov.co/media/libros/LD_70104_1957_EJ_2.PDF | Author: José Lanz | Page 36</ref>
| stat_year1 = 1825
| stat_pop1 = 2,583,799<ref name=“AtlasGC”> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Geográfico_e_Histórico_de_la_República_de_Colombia_(1890) | Author: Imprenta A. Lahure</ref>
| population_density_km2 = 0.84
| house1 = [[Senate of Colombia|Senate]]
| house2 = [[Chamber of Representatives of Colombia|Chamber of Representatives]]
| type_house1 = Upper Chamber
| type_house2 = Lower Chamber
| event1 = [[Constitution of Cúcuta]]
| date_event1 = August 30, 1821
| event2 = [[Gran Colombia – Peru War|Colombia – Peru War]]
| date_event2 = 1828–1829
| currency = Piastra, [[Colombian real|real]]
}}
{{History of Colombia}}
'''Gran Colombia''' ({{IPA|es|ˈɡɾaŋ koˈlombja|-|ES-pe - Gran Colombia.ogg}}, "Great [[Colombia]]"), also known as '''Greater Colombia''' and officially the '''Republic of Colombia''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern [[South America]] and parts of [[Central America]] from 1819 to 1831. It included present-day [[Colombia]], mainland [[Ecuador]] (i.e. excluding the [[Galápagos Islands]]), [[Panama]], and [[Venezuela]], parts of northern [[Peru]], northwestern [[Brazil]], and [[Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute|claimed]] the Essequibo region. The terms Gran Colombia and Greater Colombia are used [[historiography|historiographically]] to distinguish it from the current [[Colombia|Republic of Colombia]],<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bicentenarioindependencia.gov.co/Es/Contexto/Especiales/Paginas/NombredeColombia.aspx|title= Los nombres de Colombia|access-date= August 12, 2016|website= Alta Consejería Presidencial para el Bicentenario de la Independencia de Colombia|archive-date= September 18, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160918125618/http://www.bicentenarioindependencia.gov.co/Es/Contexto/Especiales/Paginas/NombredeColombia.aspx|url-status= dead}}</ref> which is also the official name of the former state.
However, [[Diplomatic recognition|international recognition]] of the legitimacy of the Gran Colombian state ran afoul of European opposition to the independence of states in the Americas. [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]], and [[Russian Empire|Russia]] only recognized independence in the Americas if the new states accepted monarchs from European dynasties. In addition, Colombia and the international powers disagreed over the extension of the Colombian territory and its boundaries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bibliotecanacional.gov.co/content/la-b%C3%BAsqueda-del-reconocimiento-internacional-de-la-gran-colombia|title=La búsqueda del reconocimiento internacional de la Gran Colombia|access-date=August 12, 2016|website=[[Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011095118/http://www.bibliotecanacional.gov.co/content/la-b%C3%BAsqueda-del-reconocimiento-internacional-de-la-gran-colombia|archive-date=October 11, 2016|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
Gran Colombia was proclaimed through the Fundamental Law of the Republic of Colombia, issued during the [[Congress of Angostura]] (1819), but did not come into being until the [[Congress of Cúcuta]] (1821) promulgated the [[Constitution of Cúcuta]]. It was constituted as a unitary centralist state.<ref name="Integración">{{cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0186-03482015000300004&script=sci_arttext |title=El intento de integración de Santo Domingo a la Gran Colombia (1821-1822)|access-date=March 1, 2016|publisher= Revista Secuencia |author= Germán A. de la Reza|journal=Secuencia|year= 2014|issue=93|pages=65–82}}</ref> Its existence was marked by a struggle between those who supported a [[centralized government]] with a strong presidency and those who supported a decentralized, [[Federalism|federal form of government]]. At the same time, another political division emerged between those who supported the [[Colombian Constitution of 1821|Constitution of Cúcuta]] and two groups who sought to do away with the Constitution, either in favor of breaking up the country into smaller republics or maintaining the union but creating an even stronger presidency. The faction that favored constitutional rule coalesced around Vice-President [[Francisco de Paula Santander]], while those who supported the creation of a stronger presidency were led by President [[Simón Bolívar]]. The two of them had been allies in the war against Spanish rule, but by 1825, their differences had become public and were an important part of the political instability from that year onward.
Gran Colombia was dissolved in 1831 due to the political differences that existed between supporters of federalism and centralism, as well as regional tensions among the peoples that made up the republic. It broke into the [[Succession of states|successor states]] of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela; Panama [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|was separated from Colombia]] in 1903. Since Gran Colombia's territory corresponded more or less to the original jurisdiction of the former [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]], it also claimed the south-eastern part of the [[Mosquito Coast|Mosquito Shore]], as well as most of [[Esequiba]].
==Etymology==
Its proclaimed name was the Republic of Colombia.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Gran Colombia | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica |date=June 6, 2007 |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037644}}</ref> Historians have adopted the term "Gran Colombia" to distinguish this republic from the present-day Republic of Colombia, which began using the name in 1863, although many use ''Colombia'' where the confusion would not arise.<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', 12. Bushnell uses both "Colombia" and "Gran Colombia."</ref>
The word "[[Colombia]]" is the [[Castilian language|Castilian]] version of the eighteenth-century [[Neo-Latin]] word "[[Columbia (name)|Columbia]]" which derives from the [[family name]] of the [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] explorer [[Christopher Columbus]]. It was the term proposed by the [[Venezuela]]n revolutionary [[Francisco de Miranda]] to denote the [[New World]] region of the [[Western Hemisphere]], especially to all [[Americas|American]] territories and colonies under [[Spanish Empire|Spanish colonial rule]]. He used an improvised, quasi-Greek adjectival version of the name, "Colombia", to mean papers and things "relating to Colombia", as the title of the archive of his revolutionary activities.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Miranda | first = Francisco de |author2=Josefina Rodríguez de Alonso |author3=José Luis Salcedo-Bastardo | title = Colombeia: Primera parte: Miranda, súbdito español, 1750–1780 | place = Caracas | publisher = Ediciones de la Presidencia de la República | year = 1978 | volume = 1 | pages = 8–9 | isbn = 978-84-499-5163-3 }}</ref>
Simón Bolívar and other [[Spanish American wars of independence|Spanish American revolutionaries]] also used the word "Colombia" in the continental sense. The 1819 proclamation of a country with the name "Colombia" by the [[Congress of Angostura]] gave the term a specific geographic and political reference.
== Demographics ==
{{further|Subdivisions of Gran Colombia}}
[[File:Gran Colombia ___location map.svg|thumb|center|500px|Map of all territory controlled and claimed by Gran Colombia, showing rivers.]]
The total population of Gran Colombia after [[Colombian War of Independence|independence]] was 2,583,799, lower than the 2,900,000 population of the territory before independence with Indians numbering 1,200,000 people or 50% of the population.<ref name=“AtlasGC”/> However in the modern-day territory of Colombia, the population was 1,327,000. Including 700,000 Indians which made up 53% of the population of the territory of Colombia.<ref>Rosenblat, 1954: 36-56</ref>
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
!
!District
!Total population
|-
| [[File:Norte in Gran Colombia (1824).svg|100px]]
| [[Subdivisions of Gran Colombia#Distrito del Norte|Norte (Venezuela)]]
| '''
|-
| [[File:Centro in Gran Colombia (1824).svg|100px]]
| [[Subdivisions of Gran Colombia#Distrito del Centro|Centro (New Granada)]]
| '''1,373,110'''
|-
| [[File:Sur in Gran Colombia (1824).svg|100px]]
| [[Subdivisions of Gran Colombia#Distrito del Sur|Sur (Ecuador)]]
| '''544,477'''
|-
| '''Total'''
| '''Gran Colombia'''
| '''2,533,799'''
|-
|}
==History==
{{more citations needed|section|date=December 2016}}
[[File:Santiago Martinez Delgado in the colombian congress.jpg|thumb|A mural by [[Santiago Martinez Delgado]] at the Colombian Congress representing the [[Congress of Cúcuta]]]]{{See also|Colombian War of Independence}}
It was proclaimed by the [[Congress of Cúcuta]] in 1821 in the [[Constitution of Cúcuta]] and had been promulgated through the Fundamental Law of the Republic of Colombia during the [[Congress of Angostura]] (1819). The territory it claimed loosely corresponded to the former territories of the [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]] (1739–1777), which it claimed under the legal principle of ''[[Uti possidetis juris|uti possidetis]]''. It united the territories of the former [[Third Republic of Venezuela]], the [[United Provinces of New Granada]], the former [[Royal Audiencia of Panama]], and the [[Royal Audiencia of Quito|Presidency of Quito]] (which was still under Spanish rule in 1821).
Since the new country was proclaimed soon after Bolívar's unexpected [[Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada|victory in New Granada]], its government was temporarily set up as a [[Federation|federal]] republic, made up of three departments headed by a vice-president and with capitals in the cities of [[Bogotá]] ([[Cundinamarca Department (1820)|Cundinamarca Department]]), [[Caracas]] ([[Venezuela Department (1820)|Venezuela Department]]), and [[Quito]] ([[Quito Department]]).<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', 10–13.</ref> In that year, none of the provinces of Quito, nor many in Venezuela and New Granada, were free yet.
The [[Constitution of Cúcuta]] was drafted in 1821 at the [[Congress of Cúcuta]], establishing the republic's capital in Bogotá. Bolívar and Santander were appointed by the Congress as the country's president and vice-president. A great degree of centralization was established by the assembly at Cúcuta since several New Granadan and Venezuelan deputies of the Congress who formerly had been ardent federalists now came to believe that centralism was necessary to successfully manage the war against the [[Royalist (Spanish American Revolution)|royalists]]. To break up regionalist tendencies and to set up efficient central control of local administration, a new territorial division was implemented in 1824. The departments of Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito were split into smaller departments, each governed by an [[intendant]] appointed by the central government, with the same powers that [[Bourbon Reforms|Bourbon]] intendants had.<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', 14–21.</ref> Realizing that not all of the provinces were represented at Cúcuta because many areas of the country remained in royalist hands, the congress called for a new constitutional convention to meet in ten years.
In its first years, it helped other provinces still at war with Spain to become independent: all of Venezuela except [[Puerto Cabello]] was liberated at the [[Battle of Carabobo]], Panama joined the federation in November 1821, and the provinces of [[Pasto]], [[Guayaquil]] and [[Quito]] in 1822. That year Colombia became the first Spanish American republic recognized by the United States, due to the efforts of diplomat [[Manuel Torres (diplomat)|Manuel Torres]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bowman|first=Charles H. Jr. |date=March 1969|title=Manuel Torres in Philadelphia and the Recognition of Colombian Independence, 1821–1822|journal=Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia|volume=80|issue=1|pages=17–38|jstor=44210719}}</ref> Its army later consolidated the independence of Peru in 1824.
Bolívar and Santander were re-appointed by the national congress in 1826.
===Federalists and separatists===
[[File:Gran Colombia map.jpg|thumb|300x300px|A map of Gran Colombia showing the [[departments of Gran Colombia|12 departments]] created in 1824 and eastern [[Territorial dispute|territories disputed]] with neighboring countries ([[Mosquito Coast]] not indicated as disputed or part of Colombia). Map from 1840.]]
[[File:AGHRC (1890) - Carta XI - División política de Colombia, 1824.jpg|thumb|300px|The departments of Gran Colombia in 1824 as shown on an 1890 map (not including some disputed territory)]]
Gran Colombia was constituted as a unitary centralist state.<ref name="Integración">{{cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0186-03482015000300004&script=sci_arttext |title=El intento de integración de Santo Domingo a la Gran Colombia (1821-1822)|access-date=March 1, 2016|publisher= Revista Secuencia |author= Germán A. de la Reza|journal=Secuencia|year= 2014|issue=93|pages=65–82}}</ref> Its history was marked by a struggle between those who supported a [[centralized government]] with a strong presidency and those who supported a decentralized, [[Federalism|federal form of government]]. At the same time, another political division emerged between those who supported the [[Colombian Constitution of 1821|Constitution of Cúcuta]] and two groups who sought to do away with the constitution, either in favor of breaking up the country into smaller republics or maintaining the union but creating an even stronger presidency. The faction that favored constitutional rule and a federal state coalesced around vice-president [[Francisco de Paula Santander]], while those who supported the creation of a stronger presidency and national unity were led by President [[Simón Bolívar]]. The two of them had been allies in the war against Spanish rule, but by 1825, their differences had become public and were an important part of the political instability from that year onward.
As the war against Spain came to an end in the mid-1820s, [[federalist]] and [[Regionalism (politics)|regionalist]] sentiments that had been suppressed for the sake of the war arose once again. There were calls for a modification of the political division, and related economic and commercial disputes between regions reappeared. Ecuador had important economic and political grievances. Since the end of the eighteenth century, its textile industry had suffered because cheaper textiles were being imported. After independence, it adopted a low-tariff policy, which benefited agricultural regions such as Venezuela. Moreover, from 1820 to 1825, the area was ruled directly by Bolívar because of the extraordinary powers granted to him. His top priority was the war in Peru against the royalists, not solving Ecuador's economic problems.
Having been incorporated later, Ecuador was also underrepresented in all branches of the central government, and Ecuadorians had little opportunity to rise to command positions in its army. Even local political offices were often staffed by Venezuelans and New Granadans. No outright separatist movement emerged in Ecuador, but these problems were never resolved in the ten-year existence of the country.<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', 310–317</ref> The strongest calls for a federal arrangement instead came from Venezuela, where there was strong federalist sentiment among the region's [[Liberalism|liberals]], many of whom had not fought in the war of independence but had supported [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Spanish liberalism]] in the previous decade and who now allied themselves with the conservative Commandant General of the Department of Venezuela, [[José Antonio Páez]], against the central government.<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', 287–305.</ref>
In 1826, Venezuela came close to [[Secession|seceding]]. That year, Congress began impeachment proceedings against Páez, who resigned his post on April 28 but reassumed it two days later in defiance of the central government. Support for Páez and his revolt—which came to be known as the ''Cosiata'' (a Venezuelan [[colloquialism]] of the time meaning "the insignificant thing") in Venezuelan history—spread throughout Venezuela, aided by the fact that it did not explicitly stand for anything, except defiance to the central government. Nevertheless, the support Páez received from across the Venezuelan political spectrum posed a serious threat to the unity of the country. In July and August, the municipal government of Guayaquil and a [[junta (Peninsular War)|junta]] in Quito issued declarations of support for Páez's actions. Bolívar, for his part, used the developments to promote the conservative constitution he had just written for [[Bolivia]], which found support among conservative Ecuadorians and the Venezuelan military officialdom, but was generally met with indifference or outright hostility among other sectors of society and, most importantly for future political developments, by vice-president Santander himself.
In November two assemblies met in Venezuela to discuss the future of the region, but no formal independence was declared at either. That same month, skirmishes broke out between the supporters of Páez and Bolívar in the east and south of Venezuela. By the end of the year, Bolívar was in [[Maracaibo]] preparing to march into Venezuela with an army, if necessary. Ultimately, political compromises prevented this. In January, Bolívar offered the rebellious Venezuelans a general amnesty and the promise to convene a new constituent assembly before the ten-year period established by the Constitution of Cúcuta, and Páez backed down and recognized Bolívar's authority. The reforms, however, never fully satisfied its different political factions, and no permanent consolidation was achieved. The instability of the state's structure was now apparent to all.<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime,'' 325–335, 343–345.</ref>
In 1828, the new constituent assembly, the Convention of Ocaña, began its sessions. At its opening, Bolívar again proposed a new constitution based on the Bolivian one, but this suggestion continued to be unpopular. The convention fell apart when pro-Bolívar delegates walked out rather than sign a federalist constitution. After this failure, Bolívar believed that by centralizing his constitutional powers he could prevent the separatists (the New Granadians represented mainly by [[Francisco de Paula Santander]] and [[José María Obando]], and the Venezuelans by [[José Antonio Páez]]) from bringing down the union. He ultimately failed to do so. As the collapse of the country became evident in 1830, Bolívar resigned from the presidency. Internal political strife between the different regions intensified even as General [[Rafael Urdaneta]] temporarily took power in Bogotá, attempting to use his authority to ostensibly restore order, but actually hoping to convince Bolívar to return to the presidency and the country to accept him. The federation finally dissolved in the closing months of 1830 and was formally abolished in 1831. Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada came to exist as independent states.
===War with Peru===
{{Main|Gran Colombia–Peru War}}On 3 June 1828 Bolívar declared war on Peru over Gran Colombian claims on the Peruvian territories of [[Jaén Province, Peru|Jaén]] and [[Maynas Province, Peru|Maynas]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Seckinger |first=Ron |date=1976 |title=South American Power Politics During the 1820s |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/56/2/241/150736/South-American-Power-Politics-During-the-1820s |journal=Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=56|issue=2 |pages=241–267 |doi=10.1215/00182168-56.2.241 }}</ref> The war ended in the Treaty of Guayaquil, which was signed on 22 September 1829 and went into effect on 27 October 1829.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maier |first=Georg |date=1969 |title=The Boundary Dispute between Ecuador and Peru |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002930000121517/type/journal_article |journal=American Journal of International Law |language=en |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=37 |doi=10.2307/2197190 |jstor=2197190 |issn=0002-9300|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
===Aftermath===
The [[dissolution of Gran Colombia]] represented the failure of Bolívar's vision. The former republic was replaced by the republics of Venezuela, Ecuador, and New Granada. The former Department of Cundinamarca (as established in 1819 at the [[Congress of Angostura]]) became a new country, the [[Republic of New Granada]]. In 1858, New Granada was replaced by the [[Granadine Confederation]]. Later in 1863, the Granadine Confederation changed its name officially to the [[United States of Colombia]], and in 1886, adopted its present-day name: the Republic of Colombia. Panama, which voluntarily became part of it in 1821, remained a department of the Republic of Colombia until 1903 when, in great part as a consequence of the [[Thousand Days War]] of 1899–1902,<ref>{{cite book | last = Arauz| first = Celestino A |author2=Carlos Manuel Gasteazoro |author3=Armando Muñoz Pinzón| title = La Historia de Panamá en sus textos |series= Textos universitarios: Historia (Panamá) | publisher = Editorial Universitaria| year = 1980| ___location = Panama| volume = 1 }}</ref> [[Separation of Panama from Colombia|it became independent]] under intense American pressure. The United States wanted territorial rights in the future [[Panama Canal Zone]], which Colombia had refused.
With the exception of Panama (which, as mentioned, achieved independence seven decades later), the countries that were created have similar flags, reminiscent of the flag of Gran Colombia:
<gallery mode="nolines" perrow="3" style="margin:auto;" caption="Current flags of Gran Colombia successor states">
File:Flag of Colombia.svg|[[Flag of Colombia|Colombia]]
File:Flag of Ecuador.svg|[[Flag of Ecuador|Ecuador]]
File:Flag of Venezuela.svg|[[Flag of Venezuela|Venezuela]]
</gallery>
==Government==
Before a new constitution could be written by the 1821 [[Congress of Cúcuta]], the 1819 [[Congress of Angostura]] appointed Bolívar and Santander president and vice president, respectively. Under the [[Constitution of Cúcuta]], the country was divided into twelve [[Subdivisions of Gran Colombia|department]]s each governed by an [[intendant]]. Departments were further divided into thirty-six provinces, each headed by a governor, who had overlapping powers with the intendant. Military affairs at the department level were overseen by a [[Commandant|commandant general]], who could also be the intendant. All three offices were appointed by the central government. The central government, which temporarily was to reside in [[Bogotá]], consisted of a presidency, a [[Bicameralism|bicameral]] congress, and a [[Supreme court|high court]] (the ''Alta Corte'').
The president was the head of the executive branch of both the central and local governments. The president could be granted extraordinary powers in [[Front (military)|military fronts]], such as the area that became Ecuador. The vice-president assumed the presidency in case of the absence, death, demotion, or illness of the president. Since President Bolívar was absent from Gran Colombia for the early years of its existence, executive power was wielded by the vice president, Santander. The [[Suffrage|vote]] was given to persons who owned 100 [[Spanish dollar|pesos]] in landed property or had an equivalent income from a profession. Elections were [[Indirect election|indirect]].<ref>Bushnell, ''The Santander Regime'', ii, 18–21.</ref><ref>Gibson, ''The Constitutions of Colombia'', 37–40.</ref>
==Confederation status==
In Peru, the dissolution of Gran Colombia is seen as a country ceasing to exist, giving way to the formation of new nation-states. The significance of this view is that the treaties Peru had signed with Gran Colombia became void when the countersignatory ceased to exist. The three new states, the Republic of New Granada (which later changed its name to [[Republic of Colombia]]), the [[Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela|Republic of Venezuela]], and the [[Republic of Ecuador]], in the Peruvian view, started with a clean diplomatic slate.<ref name=congreso>{{cite web|url= http://www.congreso.gob.pe/comisiones/1999/exteriores/Libroweb/cap2.htm|title= EL PERÍODO DE LA DETERMINACIÓN DE LA NACIONALIDAD: 1820 A 1842|publisher= Peru National Library|access-date=12 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=cervantes>{{cite web|url= http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12726101947818273098435/p0000001.htm|archive-url= https://archive.today/20130118223632/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12726101947818273098435/p0000001.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= 18 January 2013|title= Reformas de la Constitución de 1886|work= Miguel De Cervantes Biblioteca Virtual|access-date= 12 July 2014}}</ref>
An alternative view is that Ecuador and Venezuela separated from the Gran Colombian Federation and inherited all of the treaty obligations that Gran Colombia had assumed, at least to the extent that they apply to their respective territories. There are indications that Colombia itself maintained this position; Gran Colombia and its successor state, the Republic of Colombia, shared a capital city, a subset of the same territory, and much the same citizenry. It would be unnatural to disavow their common histories.<ref name=congreso/><ref name=cervantes/>
The question of the status of treaties and accords dating to the revolutionary period (1809–1819) and Gran Colombia period (1819–1830) has a profound effect on international relations to the present day.<ref name=congreso/><ref name=cervantes/>{{Example needed |date=April 2020}}
===Reunification attempts===
{{Main article|Reunification of Gran Colombia}}
There have been attempts at the [[reunification of Gran Colombia]] since the [[separation of Panama from Colombia]] in 1903. People in favor of reunification are called ''"unionistas"'' or unionists. In 2008, the Bolivarian News Agency reported that the then-President of Venezuela [[Hugo Chávez]] announced a proposal for a political restoration of Gran Colombia, under the [[Bolivarian Revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.consulvenemontreal.org/rep/boletin/Boletin_Consulado_13_01.pdf |title=Boletin Informativo No.13 |publisher=Consulvenemontreal.org |access-date=2015-11-12 |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923210324/http://www.consulvenemontreal.org/rep/boletin/Boletin_Consulado_13_01.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also==
*[[Federal Republic of Central America]] – another post-independence state on the American continent that underwent a similar fate, made up of modern [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], [[El Salvador]] and [[Costa Rica]].
*[[Flag of Gran Colombia]]
*[[Peru–Bolivian Confederation]]
*[[Reunification of Gran Colombia]]
*[[Campaigns of the South]]
*[[History of South America]]
==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==Bibliography==
*{{Cite book |last=Bushnell |first=David |url=https://archive.org/details/santanderregimei0000bush |title=The Santander regime in Gran Colombia |publisher=[[Greenwood Press]] |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8371-2981-5 |___location=Westport, Conn |oclc=258393 |url-access=registration}}
*{{Cite book |last=Gibson |first=William Marion |url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionsofc01colo |title=The Constitutions of Colombia |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |year=1948 |___location=Durham, NC |oclc=3118881 |ol=6035626M}}
*{{Cite book |last=Lynch |first=John |author-link=John Lynch (historian) |title=Simón Bolívar: a life |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-300-11062-3 |___location=New Haven (Conn.)}}
==External links==
*[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/co-gran.html "Gran Colombia,"] Flags of The World
{{Gran Colombia independence}}
{{Colombia topics}}
{{Ecuador topics}}
{{South America topic|History of}}
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Gran Colombia| ]]
[[Category:Pan-Americanism]]
[[Category:Former countries in South America]]
[[Category:Former countries in Central America]]
[[Category:Spanish American wars of independence]]
[[Category:Irredentism|Colombia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1821]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1831]]
[[Category:1819 establishments in South America]]
[[Category:1821 establishments in South America]]
[[Category:1831 disestablishments in South America]]
[[Category:19th century in Colombia]]
[[Category:19th century in Venezuela]]
[[Category:19th century in Ecuador]]
[[Category:19th century in Panama]]
[[Category:Congress of Angostura]]
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