Republic of Colombia
República de Colombia
CAPITAL : Bogotá
FLAG : The national flag consists of three horizontal stripes; the yellow upper stripe is twice as wide as each of the other two, which are blue and red.
ANTHEM : Himno Nacional, beginning "O gloria inmarcesible, júbilo inmortal" ("O unwithering glory, immortal joy").
MONETARY UNIT : The Colombian peso ( C $) of 100 centavos is a paper currency. There are coins of 10, 20, and 50 centavos and of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 pesos, and notes of 100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 pesos. Commemorative gold coins of various denominations also have been minted. C $1 = US $0.0003418 (or US $1 = C $2925) as of May 2003.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES : The metric system is the official standard, but Spanish units such as the botella, vara, fonegada, arroba, and quintal also are used.
HOLIDAYS : New Year's Day, 1 January; Epiphany, 6 January; St. Joseph's Day, 19 March; Labor Day, 1 May; Day of St. Peter and St. Paul, 29 June; Independence Day, 20 July; Battle of Boyacá, 7 August; Assumption, 15 August; Columbus Day, 12 October; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Independence of Cartagena, 11 November; Immaculate Conception, 8 December; Christmas, 25 December. Movable religious holidays include Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Ascension, Sacred Heart, and Corpus Christi. In addition there are six official commemorative days.
TIME : 7 AM = noon GMT.
The official language, Spanish, is spoken by all but a few Amerindian tribes. Spanish as spoken and written by educated Colombians is generally considered the closest to Castilian in Latin America.
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