Tours of archaeological attractions

The Spanish arrived with the Conquest and colonization and brought slaves with them from Africa. For this reason Colombia is a multi-ethnic and pluri-cultural nation, where each region has its own characteristics that distinguish it from the others.

Thus you can talk of an Andean culture that strongly feels its European ancestry; of a Caribbean culture that is an amalgam of Indian and African inheritance; a Pacific culture with African roots, and of the culture of the Orinoquia and the Amazon that is basically Indian.

This complex process of mestizaje is not only expressed in the country’s traditions, handicrafts and cuisine, but also in its arts, from architecture, painting and sculpture to literature, film and photography, and including music, dance and theater.

Such is Colombia’s ethnic, linguistic and cultural wealth that it has over 87 Indian ethnic groups that represent 1.5% of the country’s total population and speak 64 native tongues that belong to 22 linguistic families; several million Afro-Colombians who represent nearly 16% of the population; over 30 million mestizo inhabitants with an immense variety of cultural expressions; nearly 12.000 gypsies who descend from Colonial times, and several immigrant groups in different regions of the country. In the archipelago of San Andrés and Providence, the population is principally of African origin and whose language is English.