Culture

Main article: Culture of Colombia See also: Festivals in Colombia and Colombian folklore

Colombia lies at the crossroads of Latin America and the broader American continent, and as such has been hit by a wide range of cultural influences. Native American, Spanish and other European, African, American, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern influences, as well as other Latin American cultural influences, are all present in Colombia's modern culture. Urban migration, industrialization, globalization, and other political, social and economic changes have also left an impression.

Many national symbols, both objects and themes, have arisen from Colombia's diverse cultural traditions and aim to represent what Colombia, and the Colombian people, have in common. Cultural expressions in Colombia are promoted by the government through the Ministry of Culture.

Literature Main article: Colombian literature The Nobel literature, Gabriel García Márquez. Jorge Isaacs was one of the greatest exponents of Colombian literature in nineteenth century.

Colombian literature dating back to Spanish colonial times, during highlighting Hernando Domínguez Camargo, with the epic poem to San Ignacio de Loyola, Juan Rodríguez Freyle (The Billygoat) and nun Francisca Josefa de Castillo representative of mysticism. In the post-independence literature linked to Romanticism highlighted Antonio Nariño, José Fernández Madrid, Camilo Torres Tenorio and Francisco Antonio Zea. In the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century became popular the literary genre known as costumbrismo, great writers of this period were Tomás Carrasquilla, Jorge Isaacs and Rafael Pombo (highlighted in the genre of children's literature). Within that period, authors like José Asunción Silva, José Eustasio Rivera, León de Greiff, Porfirio Barba-Jacob and José María Vargas Vila developed the modernist movement. In 1871, Colombia established the first Academy of the Spanish language in the Americas.

Between 1939 and 1940 in the city of Bogotá were published seven books of poetry that significantly impacted the country, under the name "Stone and Sky", which were edited by the poet Jorge Rojas . In the following decade, Gonzalo Arango founded the movement of "nothingness" in response to the violence of the time, influenced by nihilism, existentialism, and the thought of another great Colombian writer: Fernando González Ochoa. During the call boom in Latin American literature emerged successful writers led by Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez and his magnum opus One Hundred Years of Solitude , Eduardo Caballero Calderón, Manuel Mejía Vallejo and Álvaro Mutis, writer who was awarded the Cervantes Prize and the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters. Other leading contemporary authors are Fernando Vallejo (Rómulo Gallegos Prize) and Germán Castro Caycedo, writer who sells more books in Colombia after García Márquez.

Visual arts Main article: Colombian art Works of the painter, and sculptor Fernando Botero Vargas Swamp Lancers. Artwork Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt.

Colombian painting and sculpture are divided into periods beginning with indigenous cultures, and they approach the ways of thinking of the native peoples of America and its way of conceiving the world, the sacred, nature and society.

The colonial period shows Colombian indigenous cultural fusion, the African contribution religious and European art of the time.

The Colombian art of nineteenth century no independence from colonial aesthetic conceptions completely, but at the end of that century the first attempts are academic. In 1886 opened the 'National School of Fine Arts', an organization that formed most of the artists of the early twentieth century.

The twentieth century belatedly received the painting and contemporary sculpture in Colombia.

The most important event in Colombia on Colombian art is the National Salon of Colombian Artists .

Among the major Colombian painters excel Impressionist Andrés de Santa Maria portraitists Ricardo Acevedo Bernal and Ricardo Gómez Campuzano, the figurativistas Dario Morales, David Manzur and Diego Mazuera, the landscaper Gonzalo Ariza, the expressionist Débora Arango and muralist Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo. In sculpture stand Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt and Nadín Ospina. However there are many Colombian artists who have developed his work in painting and sculpture. Such is the case of Fernando Botero, famous for its monumental character, Enrique Grau, Francisco Antonio Cano, Luis Alberto Acuña Tapias, Santiago Martínez Delgado, Juan Antonio Roda, Beatriz Gonzalez, Omar Rayo, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, and the Colombian-Spanish Alejandro Obregón and others who have achieved international recognition. Multifaceted artists also like Pedro Nel Gómez have extended their work to the field of architecture.

In photography stands Leo Matiz Espinoza, who in 1949 was voted one of the ten best photographers in the world. Have also been highlighted Luis Garcia Hevia, Meliton Rodriguez, Hernan Diaz, Abdu Eljaiek, Manuel H Rodríguez, Nereo López, Carlos Caicedo, Ignacio Gaitán, Sady Gonzalez, Luis Benito Ramos and José Crisanto Lopez.

Popular culture Main articles: Music of Colombia and Theater of Colombia Caja, guacharaca, and accordion, the basic instruments in vallenato.

Colombian music is promoted mainly by the support of major record companies, independent companies and to a lesser extent by the government of Colombia, through the Ministry of Culture. In a decentralized the National Culture through the National Music Council advises the government on behalf of musical and each of the six regions of the country. The Society of Authors and Composers of Colombia (Sayco) and the Colombian Association of Performers and producers of phonograms (Acinpro) are the organizations responsible for collecting and distributing property rights generated by the use of the works to their authors and foreign affiliates that make affiliates of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) .

The film Love in the Time of Cholera was recorded in the city of Cartagena, and also inspired by the book of Garcia Marquez.

Theatre was introduced during the time of Spanish colonization in 1560 with zarzuela companies. The theater in Colombia is mainly supported by the Ministry of Culture and various entities affiliated state or private character. The Iberoamerican Theater Festival is a cultural event originated in Bogota, it is the cultural event of the highest importance in Colombia and one of the performing arts festivals in the world. Other important theater events are: the International Puppet Festival Fanfare (Medellín), the Latin American Festival of Theater of Manizales, the International Theater Festival Caribbean (Santa Marta) and the national and international art festival of popular culture "Cultural Invasion" (Bogotá).

Colombian cinema has failed to be profitable as an industry throughout its history. In 1980 the newly created Film Development Company (FOCINE) at the state, allowed to undertake some productions. However, the company had to be liquidated in the early 1990. More recently the film industry was growing with support from the Film Act passed in 2003.

The newspaper of national circulation is El Tiempo of Casa Editorial El Tiempo (CEET) belonging in part to the Family Santos which is a member of the President of the Republic. The second most important is El Espectador, until recently a weekly. Television in Colombia has two national public channels: the Canal Uno, state-owned but privately run programs, and Señal Colombia, channel of culture . Private channels, RCN and Caracol are the highest-rated and is in discussion to launch a third, but still has not opened the bidding. The regional channels and regional newspapers cover a department or more and its content is made in these particular areas.

Cuisine Main article: Colombian cuisine

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The diversity of fauna and flora in Colombia is part of Colombia's varied cuisine, also influence the cultural traditions of immigrants. Colombian dishes and ingredients vary widely by region. Some of the most common ingredients in the preparations are cereals such as rice and maize, tubers such as potato and cassava, varieties of legumes (beans), meat as vaccine, chicken, pork, goat, guinea pigs and other wildlife, fish and seafood. It is important also the variety of tropical fruits such as mango, banana, papaya, guava, pineapple, lulo, and passionfruit. Among the most representative regional dishes are ajiaco santafereño, bandeja paisa, mote de queso, lechona tolimense, mamona, mute santandereano, tamales and fish dishes, especially in coastal regions.

In the Caribbean Coast the most popular dish is the sancocho, which varies in preparation and ingredients. Ingredients include tripe, rib, soup guandú with salted meat, cottontail, fish, shellfish, turtle, chicken and goat.

The arepa with chorizo is a fast food in Colombia.

In the Andean region, typical regional Tolimense dishes of the Tolima Department and Huila Department include lechona, tamales, and rice with chicken, pork and soft grains wrapped in banana leaves. The kitchen offers cundiboyacense preparations as Masato, the chicha, the fried food and wines, among which stand out the changua or potato soup, stew santafereño, the ajiaco and other specialties like cuchuco of pork spine, preparations of river fish like fish widower. The bandeja paisa is the typical dish of this region and has sometimes been considered to be representative of Colombia dish.

Representative of Valle del Cauca are chicken stew, the champús, the cholado, the lulada, rice atollao, the tamale valluno, the marranitas, puff pastries, the chancacas of Buenaventura, gelatins, the cream, tortilla soup, cake or cuaresmero hateño, the pandebono, cassava bread, oats Cali, the aborrajados, the empanadas, the bactris gasipaes, seafood in different preparations on the shores of the Pacific.

Sport Main article: Sport in Colombia Radamel Falcao, Colombian football player.

Of all sports in Colombia, football (soccer) is the most popular. A golden era existed for the national team from the mid-1980s towards the late 1990s when it became one of the most powerful teams in football. Colombia was the champion of the 2001 Copa América, which they hosted and set a new record of being undefeated, conceding no goals and winning each match. Prior to that success they were runners-up to Peru in the 1975 Copa América. Interestingly, Colombia was the first team to win FIFA best mover in 1993 where the achievement was first introduced and the second team after Croatia to win it twice with the second being in 2013. Colombia also hosted the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and is to host the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. In club football, Atlético Nacional became the first Colombian club team to win the Copa Libertadores in 1989. Once Caldas were the surprise winners of the 2004 Copa Libertadores and the second Colombian team to do so.

Mariana Pajón, Olympic champion in Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Baseball, another sport rooted in the Caribbean Coast, Colombia was world amateur champion in 1947 and 1965. Baseball is popular in the Caribbean. Mainly in the cities, Cartagena, Barranquilla and Santa Marta. Of those cities have come good players like: Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Rentería who was champion of the World Series in 1997 and 2010, and others who have played in Major League Baseball.

Colombia has earned third place in World's Taekwondo Championship, just after Korea and United States of America. One Gold, one Silver and two Bronzes were won in this event, that has place in the country

Mariana Pajón won a gold medal in the BMX Competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was selected as the Best Latin American and the Caribbean Sportwoman, according to the poll carried out by the Cuban agency Prensa Latina in December 2012.

Colombia has a long tradition in weightlifting. Most recently, Oscar Figueroa won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Jonathan Romero, "Momo", is a Colombian boxer best known to qualify for the Olympics 2008 at bantamweight. He won the IBF Super Bantamweight on February 16, 2013 against Alejandro Lopez (24–3, 7 KOs) to claim the vacant title.

Juan Pablo Montoya is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating in and winning Formula One and CART race competitions. Currently, he competes in NASCAR.