Colombia.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

About 58 percent of Colombia's people are mestizo [of mixed European and Indian ancestry]. Colombia has a large middle class, but half of its people live in poverty.

Although it is a U.S. ally, many Americans are against a proposed free-trade agreement with Colombia. Opponents say that poorly paid Colombians work in unsafe conditions, and that cheap imports such as flowers undercut U.S. products.

The growing of coca, raw material for cocaine, is part of a huge illegal economy. About 60 percent of the world's cocaine comes from Colombia.

FAST FACTS

AREA: 439,734 sq mi.

POPULATION: 44,400,000; 72% urban.

GOVERNMENT: Presidential-legislative democracy, led by President Alvaro Uribe Velez.

ECONOMY: About 10 percent of the world's coffee and half of the fresh flowers sold in the U.S. come from Colombia. Colombia is also a major exporter of oil to the U.S.

PER CAPITA GDP *: $8,900.

RELIGIONS: Catholic, 90%; other, 10%.

LITERACY: Males, 93%; females, 93%.

LIFE EXPECTANCY: Males, 69 gears; females, 76 gears.

Questions

Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What mountain chain covers the western part of Colombia?

2. What mixed ethnic heritage do most Colombians claim?

3. Which countries border Colombia counterclockwise, from the southwest to the northwest?

4. Which river in Colombia borders Peru?

5. The Putumayo is a tributary of which major river?

6. What illegal activity is highlighted on this map?

7. Name three products that U.S. companies import from Colombia.

8. What is the straight-line distance in miles between Colombia's capital, Bogota, and its highest peak, Cristobal Colon?

9. If the capital is at 8,694 feet above sea level, how much higher is Cristobal Colon?

10. Which part of Colombia is in the Southern Hemisphere?

1. Andes

2. They are a mixture of Indian and European, called mestizo.

3. Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, and Panama

4. Putumayo

5. Amazon

6. areas for growing coca, raw material for cocaine

7. coffee, oil, flowers

8. a little more than 400 miles

9. 10,253 feet

10. the part below the equator

* GDP stands for gross domestic product; per capita means per person. The amount is the value of all items produced by a country in a year, divided by the population. It often is used as a measure of a nation's wealth.