Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

The Courier-Mail 11th July, 1978 FUNElt4L mask of hammered gold, one of 238 gold treasures ot the El Dorado Colombian Gold Exhibition which opens on 'Thurs– doy ot the Queensland Art Gallery. THE Chibcha Indians In– habited Colombia before the coming of the white man. Oold "'"" plentltul, and the In– dians made many beautiful oma• menta!romlt. But It was In part 1oid that lured the .white man to the oeuntl')', and led to the deleat ol the Indiana and conquest by the Spaniards. The Spa.nlsh explorer Alonso de Ojeda reached Colombia In 1499. In 1536, In quest ol the lepndary Eldorado, three men, Oonzalo Jimi– nez de Queaada, Nlcolu de Feder– mann and Sebaatlan de Benalcazar, each with a company ol lollowera, dl;ll::,l;a;,or Bogota, capital or the After more than a vear ol hard– ship Jiminez reached the town, lol– Iowed a lew days later by the other two expeditions. Jiminez claimed the country !or Spain. The Spaniards called It New Oranada.' alter the home 1irovlnce ol Jiminez. An Indlnn uprlsln~ In 17Rl be– cause ol new taxation wa, the llrst move to break free ol Spain. Uprisings contJnued. and the Ve– nru:uelan patriot Simon Bolivar led U1e forces 111111 llnally overthrew the ~ p a n Is h Oo1•ernment In sout.h America In 1819. That same year ~~l~v:~ 1 ~t up the Republic of orcat But political re1•olts broke out In &he new republlo and Venezuela and Ecuador established separate gov– ernments In 1830. Tfic Republic ol Oreat Colombia then reorganised as the Republic ol New Oranada, but cMI Wdr contln• ued. 'l'he 1886 constitution gave most of the power to a central govern– ment. The Oonstltutlon ol I 863 had restored the name ol Colombia to t.he country. In 1903 Panama broke away from the Republic, · A group of mllltary olflcers 11.,– sumed control or Colombia Jn 1057 but a Conservative-Liberal Prc•l– dent wa,; elected In 1958, ending mll– ltar)' control. The western half or the country t• ,. land or tremendous geoi:raphicAI contrasts: mount.a.Ins, many over 4500 m, alternate with low-lyin1 swamp and Jungle. The eastern half, which Is very sparsely Inhabited, I• composed ol 1•ast plains wl)ere rolling northern gra..sslands, suitable for cattle rals– hli, give way to de1111e Jun11le In the south towards the Ama.zon. The capital of the country, Bo– gota, Is situated at an altitude of nearly 2700 m. . Colombia's estimated populalJon In 1977 was 26.326,000. Bo~ota 11 a centre of art a.nd From the land of gold Ow Thun4ey the II Der•"• Colo– ~lan Go... Eahl~ltlon .,.., ot tho Q111en1l••" Art Gollory, It contlnu" uotil A119ull U, Entry l1 odulta $ 1.50 childran, achool 1tud1nt1 ••" pon'. 1lone11 75c, pra,IMloktd •••nin1 1 $5 • poraon. Thla article looka briefly at Colombia, lta hlttory ••" the people, \ ~~., .__, ..... ·.~·. / I,~ \ •, .. r• . . _ . ..._, L,_,,., ,,.,.. BRAZIL 0 km 600 he- eee4 learnln1 and also' hu many facto– ries. Agriculture Is the country's chief Industry, but only about 4 per cent or the land Is cultivated. 0nl)' Brazil grows more colfee than Colombia. Colomlla Is one of the leading South American oil producln11 coun– tries, and Colombia mines and · dredges more gold than any other South American country. Sliver usu– ally occura with the 110111. Pools of petroleum Ue under• ground In northern Colombia.. near Barranc1W>ermeJa. The only platinum mined tn South America comes mainly from Ohoco. Mine& near the c:.ltlea of Muzo and Chlvor yield emeralda. Coal, iron ore, and llmestone occur throughout several areaa. Most Colombians Jive In the 11Teen valleys and basins ol western Co– lombia, an area comprlsln11 about two mtha of the land. '