| Year |
Date |
Event |
Image |
| 1803 |
|
San Andres y Providencia islands are annexed to the Viceroyalty of New Granada |
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| 1810 |
20 July |
Cry of Independence, also known as the Florero de Llorente (Llorente Flower Vase) incident (Colombian Independence Day) |
|
| 1811 |
November 11 |
Cartagena de Indias declared its complete independence from Spain |
 |
| 1816 |
|
Execution of Francisco José de Caldas |
|
| 1817 |
November 14 |
Execution of Policarpa Salavarrieta |
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| 1818 |
September 25 |
Doña Manuela Sáenz de Thorne saves Simon Bolivar from an intempt of assassination |
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| 1819 |
February 5 |
The Congress of Angostura |
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| 1819 |
July 25 |
Vargas Swamp Battle |
 |
| 1819 |
August 7 |
Battle of Boyacá. |
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| 1819 |
October 11 |
For order of Francisco de Paula Santander, Spanish colonel Jose Maria Barreiro and 38 Spanish officers were executed in Bogotá. |
 |
| 1828 |
August 27 |
After the failure of the constitutional convention of Ocaña Simón Bolívar proclaimed himself dictator, through the "Organic Decree of Dictatorship". |
 |
| 1830 |
December 17 |
Simon Bolívar dies in Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino near Santa Marta |
 |
| 1830 |
|
The Federation of Gran Colombia is dissolved |
 |
| 1835 |
|
Start the Colombian coffee industry with the first commercial crops in Norte de Santander |
 |
| 1839 |
|
The War of the Supremes (Spanish: Guerra de los Supremos, also called the Guerra de los Conventos) extended from 1839 to 1841, caused by the ambitions of various regional leaders (gamonales) to seize power and depose President José Ignacio de Márquez |
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| 1840 |
|
Foundation of Villavicencio by Esteban Aguirre |
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| 1849 |
|
Foundation of Manizales by Antioquian colonists |
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| 1856 |
June 11 |
Creation of the Sovereign State of Antioquía |
|
| 1857 |
June 15 |
The Law of June 15, 1857, created the other states that would go on to form the Granadine Confederation: The Sovereign State of Bolívar, The Sovereign State of Santander, The Sovereign State of Cauca, and The Sovereign State of Magdalena |
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| 1858 |
|
The Granadine Confederation is created. |
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| 1861 |
|
Mariano Ospina Rodríguez is president of the Granadine Confederation |
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| 1863 |
|
Foundation of Pereira, Colombia by Remigio Antonio Cañarte |
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| 1863 |
|
The name of the Republic is changed officially to "United States of Colombia" through the Rionegro Constitution |
|
| 1867 |
|
Foundation of Leticia, Colombia by Benigno Bustamante |
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| 1868 |
|
The country adopts its present name: "Republic of Colombia". |
|
| 1886 |
|
President Rafael Núñez (politician) create the Colombian Constitution of 1886, which has been one of the longest lasting constitutions in the western hemisphere, and with the Reforms of 1910, 1936, 1958, 1968, 1973 and 1986 was the constitution of Colombia until 1991 |
|
| 1886 |
April 1 |
on March 30, 1886, president Núñez presented his resignation to Congress due to his poor health condition caused by dysentery. José María Campo Serrano is sworn in as Acting President of Colombia |
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| 1889 |
October 14 |
Foundation of Villa Holguin (Later Armenia, Colombia ) by Jesus Maria Ocampo |
|
| 1889 |
October 17 |
The Thousand Days War (1899-1902) (Spanish: Guerra de los Mil Días) |
 |
| Year |
Date |
Event |
Image |
| 1902 |
October 24 |
The peace treaty that ends the thousand days war is signed on the Neerlandia plantation |
| 1903 |
|
Panama remained as a province of Colombia until this year, when – with backing from the United States in exchange for allowing the US to build the Panama Canal – it became independent (Separation of Panama from Colombia) |
 |
| 1904 |
August 7 |
Rafael Reyes is president of Colombia |
|
| 1904 |
August 7 |
Carlos Eugenio Restrepo is president of Colombia |
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| 1910 |
|
Colombian astronomer Julio Garavito Armero discovers the crater on the Moon's far side which is named after him (Garavito crater). |
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| 1914 |
August 7 |
José Vicente Concha is president of Colombia |
|
| 1918 |
|
Marco Fidel Suarez is president of Colombia |
|
| 1926 |
|
Miguel Abadia Mendez is president of Colombia |
|
| 1927 |
|
The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia is created |
|
| 1928 |
December 6 |
The Banana massacre, in Spanish, Matanza de las bananeras or Masacre de las bananeras: A massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta |
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| 1930 |
|
Enrique Olaya Herrera is president of Colombia |
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| 1932 |
September 1 |
The Colombia-Peru War |
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| 1934 |
|
Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo is president of Colombia |
|
| 1938 |
|
Eduardo Santos Montejo is president of Colombia |
|
| 1942 |
|
Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo is president of Colombia for a second time |
| 1945 |
|
Alberto Lleras Camargo is president of Colombia |
 |
| 1946 |
|
Mariano Ospina Perez is president of Colombia |
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| 1948 |
April 9 |
Murder of politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán. Bogotazo riots. Starts the bipartisan violence ("La Violencia") |
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| 1950 |
|
Laureano Gomez Castro is president of Colombia |
|
| 1953 |
June 13 |
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla seized power by means of a coup d'état |
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| 1954 |
|
Rojas Pinilla introduced the Television in Colombia |
 |
| 1955 |
|
Rojas Pinilla ordered a military offensive against rearmed peasants triggering a confrontation known as the "Guerra de Villarrica" (War of Villarrica) which took place in the central town of Villarrica in Tolima Department. |
|
| 1956 |
June 24 |
the Liberal Party headed by Alberto Lleras Camargo and the Conservative Party headed by Laureano Gómez signed an accord on June 24, 1956 to begin the National Front (Colombia). |
|
| 1960 |
|
Creation of the first Natural protected area in Colombia, the Cueva de los Guacharos National park |
 |
| 1962 |
|
Guillermo Leon Valencia is president of Colombia |
|
| 1962 |
July 25 |
Luz Marina Zuluaga wins Miss Universe beauty contest |
|
| 1964 |
May |
Marquetalia Republic is overrun by the Colombian army (during what was termed "Operation Marquetalia") |
|
| 1965 |
January 7 |
The National Liberation Army (Colombia) (ELN) guerrilla is created |
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| 1966 |
|
Carlos Lleras Restrepo is president of Colombia |
|
| 1970 |
|
Misael Pastrana Borrero is president of Colombia |
 |
| 1974 |
|
Alfonso Lopez Michelsen is president of Colombia |
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| 1978 |
|
Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala is president of Colombia |
|
| 1980 |
February 27 |
Dominican embassy siege |
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| 1980 |
June |
Serial killer Pedro López a.k.a Monster of the Andes confessed to over 300 murders |
 |
| 1981 |
|
Homosexuality in Colombia is declared legal by the national government |
|
| 1982 |
|
Belisario Betancur is elected president of Colombia |
|
| 1982 |
|
Paramilitary group “Muerte a Secuestradores” (MAS) is formed |
 |
| 1982 |
|
Antioquian entrepreneur Felix Correa and his bank FURATENA get convicted for financial fraud causing a collapse in the national financial system |
|
| 1982 |
October |
Gabriel Garcia Marquez win the Nobel Prize in literature |
 |
| 1982 |
|
Colombia resigns as host for 1986 Soccer World Cup due to scarcity of public resources |
|
| 1983 |
March 31 |
Popayan is partially destroyed by an earthquake during the traditional celebrations of Holy week |
 |
| 1983 |
|
Pablo Escobar attends colombian congress sessions as backup of congressman Jairo Ortega |
|
| 1983 |
|
President Betancur announces Colombia has signed in the Non-Aligned Movement |
 |
| 1983 |
|
Businessman Roberto Soto steals 13.5 million dollars from the national budget with the help of a teleprinter machine |
 |
| 1983 |
|
General Prosecutor Carlos Jimenez declares that MAS group have underground relations of support with the National Army |
|
| 1983 |
|
Guerrilla leader Manuel Marulanda announces to the press that the FARC guerrilla has grown to 28 main divisions, causing international concern |
|
| 1983 |
|
1983 Guerrilla leader Jaime Bateman Cayon a.k.a. “El Flaco” dies in a plane crash near the Gulf of Urabá while traveling from Santa Marta to Panama |
 |
| 1983 |
|
Jumbo 747 airplane of Avianca airllines, in flight from Bogotá, crashes in Mejorana del campo, near Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain. 189 passengers die, including Art critic Marta Traba |
 |
| 1984 |
|
Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla is shot to death by teenager hitmen hired by the Medellín Cartel. One of the hitmen, Byron de Jesus Velasquez, is captured |
|
| 1984 |
|
President Betancur achieves a ceasefire with 80% of guerrilla forces in the country. In the case of FARC, this would be linked to the creation of the political movement Patriotic Union (Colombia) UP during the next year. |
|
| 1984 |
|
Dissident guerrilla 19th of April Movement (M-19) attacks Florencia, Caquetá. Over 100 civilians dead |
 |
| 1985 |
|
The Gorgona Island prison is dissolved and the island is declared National park |
The image above is proposed for deletion. See images and media for deletion to help reach a consensus on what to do.
|
| 1985 |
May 23 |
Guerrilla leader Antonio Navarro is victim of a bomb that nearly killed him, and loses one leg |
|
| 1985 |
July |
Colombian cyclist Luis Herrera win Tour de France |
| 1985 |
September 16 |
Ceroxylon quindiuense is declared as the National tree by the national government |
Image:Ceroxylon quindiuense.jpg |
| 1985 |
November 6 |
M19 guerrilla attacks the supreme court in the Palace of Justice siege. The president of the Supreme Court of Colombia and many magistrates, employees and bystanders get killed. Over 100 fatal victims and undetermined number of missing persons. The army is accused of forced disappearance of civilians |
 |
| 1985 |
November 13 |
In the worst natural disaster in the history of Colombia, Armero city in tolima department is destroyed due to a flood created by the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz volcano (Armero tragedy). Over 20.000 dead. Countless homes destroyed. |
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| 1986 |
|
Virgilio Barco is elected president of Colombia |
|
| 1986 |
|
El Espectador newspaper director, Guillermo Cano is shot to death by hitmen |
 |
| 1986 |
|
Guerrilla leader Javier Delgado kills 150 fellow guerrilleros of the Ricardo Franco Group, in the Tacueyó massacre, because he suspected them to be infiltrated |
|
| 1986 |
December 4 |
Campo Elías Delgado Morales, a Vietnam War veteran kills 28 persons (including his mother) and leaves 15 injured, in the Pozzetto restaurant massacre, presumably due to mental illness. The events are depicted in the 2006 movie Satanás (film) |
 |
| 1986 |
July 3 |
Pope John Paul II visits Bogotá and the remains of Armero tragedy |
 |
| 1986 |
August 9 |
Miguel "Happy" Lora wins the world boxing championship in the bantamweight division |
 |
| 1987 |
February 4 |
Drug dealer Carlos Lehder is captured in a farm near Medellín at 6:20a.m. The same day at 5:20 p.m he is extradited and sent in a DEA turbocommander airplane to USA |
 |
| 1987 |
October 11 |
UP leaders Jaime Pardo Leal and Hector Abad are killed in La Mesa, Cundinamarca. Eventually this movement would be lose more than 3000 of their members due to violence |
 |
| 1987 |
|
Guerrilla groups attack a military convoy in Caqueta breaking the 1984 truce. 42 soldiers dead and 27 injured |
|
| 1987 |
|
Colombian Navy ship ARC Caldas sails in waters of Atlantic ocean in dispute with Venezuela creating a serious diplomatic incident |
|
| 1987 |
|
Matador Pepe Cáceres gets killed by a bull in a bullfighting event in Sogamoso |
 |
| 1987 |
|
Luis Herrera wins Vuelta a España bycicle race |
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| 1988 |
|
Paramillitary groups commit massacres in Saiza, Mejor Esquina and Segovia, Antioquia |
 |
| 1988 |
March 21 |
Colombian Painter Dario Morales dies in Paris |
|
| 1988 |
|
General Prosecutor Carlos Mauro Hoyos is killed by hitmen |
|
| 1988 |
|
The first election of city majors for popular vote |
|
| 1988 |
June |
Serial killer Daniel Barbosa a.k.a the Beast Of The Andes confessed 72 murders |
 |
| 1988 |
|
Politicians Álvaro Gómez Hurtado and Andres Pastrana are kidnapped by narcotrafficking related groups |
|
| 1988 |
|
collapse of Stock market due to incarceration of financial managers Juan Ricardo Escobar and Guillermo Uribe Holguin |
|
| 1988 |
|
Massacre of Trujillo, 107 victims. On December 19, 2006 Henry Loaiza-Ceballos was accused by Colombian authorities of being responsible for the massacre |
 |
| 1988 |
|
First Iberoamerican Theater Festival in Bogotá. 100.000 people attend to the closing act in Plaza de Bolívar |
 |
| 1988 |
August 18 |
Luis Carlos Galán, Politician and candidate to presidency is killed by hitmen in Soacha during a public speech |
 |
| 1989 |
November 27 |
Avianca Flight 203 airplane HK1803 explodes in the air with 107 people on board, few minutes after leaving El Dorado International Airport as a result of a bomb planted by the Medellín Cartel. No survivors |
|
| 1989 |
December 6 |
7:30 a.m. The Security Administration Department building (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad DAS) and an important part of the commercial area of Paloquemao district in Bogotá are destroyed by a bomb, in what is considered the worst terrorist attack in Colombian history |
|
| 1989 |
|
Drug dealer Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha is killed in a military operation |
 |
| 1989 |
|
First reports of the presence of Coffee borer beetle in Colombian coffee crops |
 |
| 1990 |
|
M19 Guerrilla leader Carlos Pizarro Leongomez is killed by hitmen when he was a presidential candidate |
|
| 1990 |
March 22 |
UP leader politician Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa is killed by hitmen |
|
| 1990 |
|
Cesar Gaviria is elected President of Colombia |
 |
| 1990 |
|
El Tiempo newspaper director Francisco Santos is kidnapped |
 |
| 1990 |
|
20 embera indigenous people are killed in the Caloto, Cauca massacre due to land ownership disagreements with local landlords |
 |
| 1991 |
January |
Journalist Diana Turbay is killed while kept kidnapped in a farm near Sabaneta |
|
| 1991 |
January |
Drug dealers Fabio, Juan David and Jorge Luis Ochoa Vázquez (The Ochoa brothers) and Pablo Escobar surrender themselves to the authorities |
 |
| 1991 |
February 17 |
Opening of the national assembly for reform to the 1886 national constitution (Constituent Assembly of Colombia) |
|
| 1991 |
|
Rafael Pardo is the first civilian to be designated as minister of defense |
| 1991 |
|
Minister of economy Rudolph Hommes announced the new aperture politic for international trade inspirited in the Russian perestroika and the creation of the National bank for international trade Bancomex |
| 1991 |
|
Starts the first concessions for mobile telephony |
 |
| 1992 |
|
The Attorney General of Colombia office is created, with Gustavo de Greiff designated as the first general attorney |
 |
| 1992 |
|
Noemi Sanin is the new minister of foreign affairs. She is the first women to be designed as a minister in Colombia |
|
| 1992 |
|
The collapse of the national electricity generation system causes massive power blackouts all over the country with an average of 18 hours/day without electricity from March 1992 to April 1993 |
|
| 1992 |
July 20 |
Pablo Escobar escapes from the Cathedral Prison |
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| 1992 |
|
Fernando Botero presents a collection of 31 sculptures in an outdoors exhibition in the Champs-Élysées in Paris |
 |
| 1992 |
November 15 |
Villatina Massacre |
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| 1993 |
|
Massive celebration of the winning of Colombian soccer team in a play against argentinian team in Buenos Aires with final score 5-0. Riots all over the country. |
 |
| 1993 |
|
The national government achieves commercial treaties with Venezuela, Mexico and Ecuador |
 |
| 1993 |
|
Maria Checa is the first Colombian woman to be pictured in the Playboy magazine |
 |
| 1993 |
November |
Bomb explodes on 15th Avenue of Bogotá, near the intersection with 93rd Street (in front of Centro 93 mall). 10 people die, over 100 injured |
 |
| 1993 |
December 2 |
Pablo Escobar dies in combats with the police |
 |
| 1994 |
February 11 |
CONVIVIR (Spanish for to coexist) program of cooperative neighbourhood watch groups is created by a decree of Colombia's Ministry of Defense |
|
| 1994 |
|
Ernesto Samper is elected president of Colombia |
|
| 1994 |
|
8000 Process scandal of Cali cartel narcotrafficking money investment in the Samper electoral campaign starts with the public broadcasting of tapes from telephonic conversations among Minister Alberto Giraldo and drug dealers Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela |
 |
| 1994 |
|
Former president Cesar Gaviria is designated as OEA general secretary |
| 1994 |
|
A team of 10 people steals 24.075.000.000 pesos from the Republic Bank in Valledupar in the biggest bank robbery in the Colombian history |
 |
| 1994 |
July 2 |
Due to the poor performance of the national soccer team in the USA soccer worldcup, an angry soccer afficionated shoot to death soccer player Andres Escobar |
|
| 1994 |
|
Paez river flood in Cauca department kills hundreds of people and destroys villages in a length of 40 km |
 |
| 1995 |
January |
Plane crash in Marialabaja, Bolívar Department. 52 dead, only survivor 9years old girl Erika Delgado |
 |
| 1995 |
February |
Luciano Pavarotti gives a concert in Bogotá |
 |
| 1995 |
June 9 |
Drug dealers Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela (The Rodriguez Brothers) are captured in a police operation |
| 1995 |
|
76 years old conservative politician Álvaro Gómez Hurtado is murdered by hitmen |
 |
| 1995 |
|
Start operations of Metro de Medellín |
 |
| 1995 |
December |
Plane crash near Cali airport. American Airlines plane with 152 occupants. 9 survivors |
 |
| 1996 |
|
Antioquia governor Alvaro Uribe orders the capture of the German citizens Werner and Michela Mauss, suspected of being FARC collaborators |
| 1996 |
|
March of protest of 90.000 cocaleros (coca leaf illegal farmers) from Guaviare Department and Putumayo Department ended with 12 cocaleros dead. Army soldiers accused of brutality |
 |
| 1996 |
June 26 |
La Gabarra Massacre |
 |
| 1996 |
|
Guerrilla attack to the military base “Las Delicias” in Putumayo. 29 soldiers dead, 20 injured, 60 kidnapped |
 |
| 1996 |
November |
Aterciopelados band ranks number 1 in the MTV network, becoming the most successful Colombian rock band |
|
| 1997 |
April 15 |
Drug dealer Phanor Arizabaleta-Arzayus, member of the Cali Cartel is captured at a road checkpoint |
 |
| 1997 |
April |
Salvatore Mancuso and Carlos Castaño conformed what they called the "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" (AUC) United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia |
 |
| 1997 |
|
“Miti-Miti” corruption scandal, involving Ministrer of communications Saulo Arboleda and minister of mining and energy Rodrigo Villamizar accused of obtaining illegal profit of 100 fm radio concessions |
|
| 1997 |
July 15 |
Mapiripán Massacre |
 |
| 1997 |
September |
Carlos Castaño in a press interview admits responsibility for the Mapiripán Massacre. AUC is listed by the US Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. |
 |
| 1998 |
|
Andres Pastrana is elected as president of Colombia |
 |
| 1998 |
|
Gloria Zea, director of the national Modern Art Musseum organizes one of the largest art exhibits in Colombia “Arte y Violencia en Colombia” as a commemoration of 50th anniversary of the start of the bipartisan violence La Violencia |
 |
| 1998 |
|
Fernando Botero donates 100 of his works and 60 pieces of his private art collection (XIX and XX centuries) to the Antioquia Museum |
 |
| 1999 |
January 19 |
The 1999 Armenia earthquake devastates Armenia, Colombia. Over 2000 dead, 3000 missing persons and a quarter million people homeless |
The image above is proposed for deletion. See images and media for deletion to help reach a consensus on what to do.
|
| 1999 |
April 14 |
ELN guerrilla kidnap Fokker airplane with 41 occupants in Bolívar department |
 |
| 1999 |
April 22 |
Serial killer Luis Garavito is found guilty of the murder of 138 boys. (The total number of victims according with garavito confessions off-record is estimated up to 300 boys and an undetermined number of adults) |
|
| 1999 |
May 30 |
Mass kidnapping of 70 people in La Maria church in Cali |
|
| 1999 |
August 13 |
Humorist Jaime Garzon murdered by hitmen |
 |
| 1999 |
|
Betty la fea soap opera a.k.a Ugly Betty reach the highest levels of rating and the script is sold to different producers in several countries |
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