Colombia is a country in the continent of South America, it borders with Central and North America. Columbia’s landscape is incredibly varied. Through its centre run snow-covered volcanoes and the mountains of the Andes. Tropical beaches line the west of the country. There are deserts in the north, vast grasslands in the east, and dense forest in the south.

Archaeologists think the first people to arrive in Colombia came about 20,000 years ago. 8,000 years after that, settlers in the western part of the country grew into a civilization called the Muisca. Spanish explorers arrived in Colombia in 1500. Unfortunately these settlers were obsessed with finding gold and other valuables, and by 1538 they had conquered the Muisca and stolen all their gold and jewels. Colombia remained under Spanish rule for nearly 250 years. That’s why Columbia is home to the world’s second largest population of Spanish-speaking people. Listen to this Mission Together hymn, sung by some Colombian children. Here is a translation of some of the words. See if you can hear them:

We are missionaries (misioneros) going a mission, we are baptized (bautizado) and sent from the Lord,

And in our hearts (corazones), there are seeds, there is love, we are the ones sent by the Lord (El Señor).