Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/826

 774

COLOMBIA

platinum. (5) The eastern section embraces the territory between the Mag- dalena River and the Venezuelan border and north of the Bogota Plateau, it is mountainous, tropical, and heavily wooded. Its principal product is coffee. Colombia is rich in minerals, and gold is found in all the departments. The mines are in Antioquia, Cauca, Bolivar, Tolima, and Narino. The number of gold mines known in Colombia is as follows : Antioquia 12,181, Narino 2,452, Caldas 2,610, Tolima 502, Cauca 641. Other minerals, more or less worked, are copper, lead, mercury, cinnabar (14 mines), manganese (7 mines), emeralds (32 mines), and platinum (first discovered in Colombia in 1735), which is found in abundance in the alluvial deposits of the Choco River and in the basins of the San Juan and Condoto Rivers. The emerald mines of Muzo and Ooscuez belong to the Government. No statistics of their output are published, but they are said to yield 1,000,000 pesos worth of stones per annum. Nearly all the emeralds mined to-day come from Colombia. The Pradera iron works north-east of Bogota have a capacity of 30 tons of pig iron daily, and manufacture wrought iron, sugar mills, castings, &c. In the immediate neighbourhood of the works are coal, iron, limestone, sand, manganese, and fireclay deposits, which render the locality highly favourable for the development of metallurgical industries. The salt mines at Zipaquira, north of Bogota, are a government monopoly and a great source of revenue, supplying most of the interior departments. The maritime departments use sea salt evaporated at the numerous natural salt pans along the coast. In several of the departments there are extensive deposits of coal and petroleum. On the coasts there are valuable pearl fisheries which the Government desires to concede for a term of vears.

Imports and

Commerce.

exports for 6 years : —

Year

Imports Exports

Year

Imports

Exports

1914 1915 1916

£ £

4,195,846 6,526,517 8,568,070 6,315,825 5,784,505 6,330,855

1917 1918 1919

£ 4.922.3S0 4,406,800 9,697,668

£

4,S7S,5.84 7,545,712 16,805,861

Trade by principal countries for 2 j

ears in pesos

gold : —

Import*

1918

12,497,707 6,984,686

1,121. 490 01)7,472 482,181

1916

8,661,780 6,869,698

478,479 468,411

Exports

1918

81,184,<l

884,7

1,649,7

778,8

21,1

191(i

United State*

United Kingdom.

Spain

France

Italy ....

United Suites United Kingdom 1 'anama France. Italy

Ul

27

IS 18

87,998,997

650,877

405,914 174,144

The principal articles of export (1919) were, in gold pesos ; — Coffee, 54,291,638; hides, 8,594,561 ; bananas, 2,215,369 ; gold, 123,681 ; silver, 57,983 ; platinum, 3,505,990.

About 67 per cent, of the coffee exported from Colombia goes to the United States ; cotton to Liverpool or Havre. The chief imports are food-