Colombia–United Kingdom relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between Colombia and the United Kingdom. Colombian-Anglo relations begin in 1810, and stem from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the service of the British Legions who helped Colombia to win independence through Simón Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada in 1819–1820. However the first known English person to have traveled to modern day Colombia was Sir John Hawkins in 1565.
Background Major interest in Colombia for the UK has lain in environmental protection and for Colombia the direct financial investment from the UK, military assistance, and gas production. Bilateral trade currently stands at £1 Billion.
History
Independence war In July 1819 during the grueling crossing the Andes through the Paramo Pisba the entire army had lost around 300 men en route, of whom 60 were from the British Legion. At Battle of Vargas Swamp the captain Arthur Sandes was wounded twice and had his horse shot under him. Few days after at battle of Boyaca the colonel James Rooke fought with distinction, as he led his legion in a bayonet charge storming uphill against the Spanish defences. During this action both Rooke and Daniel Florence O'Leary were wounded, with Rooke's being of grave concern which led to the amputation of his left arm. In Angostura, Bolivar was proclaimed as President of the Republic of Colombia including present-day Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela, along with parts of northern Peru, northwestern Brazil and Guyana. The British Government on paper however were still in support of Spain in official channels, apart from a number of liberal politicians, but British public favour went with Colombian patriots and favored pressuring the government to open new trade markets with these newly formed Spanish American groups in 1817 and 1818.
Of Bolívar's force in the Battle of Carabobo between 340 or 350 were men of the British Rangers battalion, the great majority of them of Anglophone origin, commanded by Colonel Thomas Ilderton Ferrier including many former members of the King's German Legion. Though greatly outnumbered and low on supplies, the legion soldiers managed to maintain control of tactically critical hills. By the battle's end, the legionary force had suffered 119 deaths, of which 11 were officers. Col. Ferrier was among the dead. Bolívar later praised the Legion troops and called them the "Saviors of my Fatherland", noting that they had distinguished themselves among other armies.
By February 29, 1824, the royalist troops under General Monet had regained control of Lima and Bolívar fled to North. docked at Callao Harbour on June 8, 1824, and the British consul Thomas Edward Rowcroft and his daughter, Leonora Maria, disembarked there for his post at Lima. Having regrouped at North in Trujillo, Bolívar in June led his Army forces south to confront the Spanish under Field Marshal José de Canterac. Bolívar sent some 8,000 soldiers, in a hurry to try to cut the royalist retreat towards Cusco, also with a force 8,000 soldiers. Bolivar also sent out his 1,000-strong cavalry to delay the movement of Spanish troops out of the Plain of Huancayo a marshland at around above sea level. At Callao Roads, HMS Cambridge, under Captain Thomas Maling, was attacked by Spanish gunboat on July 3.Journal of Thomas Reed Stavers.
The Colombian state was recognized by the United Kingdom on January 1, 1825, and Manuel José Hurtado was the first South American envoy recognized by a European state
Assassination attempt
On the night of September 25, 1828 about twelve civilians and twenty-five soldiers led by Pedro Carujo broke into the Presidential Palace (Palacio de San Carlos) and killed the guards. Upon learning of the attack, Bolívar managed to jump out of the window while Manuela Saenz entertained and engaged the conspirators. The result of this conspiracy was the death of Colonel William Ferguson, an Irish aide-de-camp that Carujo mistook for General Bolívar and shot him in the back, mortally wounding him. Vargas's battalion led by Colonel Whittle contributed to the failure of the conspiracy. On September 28, a public funeral was held, and Ferguson was buried in a Catholic cathedral (unusual for a Protestant). Finally, it was up to Generals Rafael Urdaneta and José María Córdova to put an end to the plot, control the situation in the capital and imprison those involved in this sinister attack.
During the days that followed, the alleged culprits were arrested and a "trial" followed for many of them as Vice president Francisco de Paula Santander and Admiral Padilla.
Dissolution of Gran Colombia In 1829 when the Government in Bogotá learned of the antibolivarian insurrection of general Cordova, it dispatched a division of eight hundred veteran troops. commanded by Irish Colonel Daniel Florencio O'Leary, to put down the insurrection. The two forced clashed near the small town of Santuario. The bloody fight lasted two hours, with rebel forces defeated. Cordova who was wounded took refuge in a small house that had been converted into a hospital. He would be killed there by Colonel Rupert Hand, an Irish mercenary, who struck his head three times with his saber. In 1830 the Gran Colombia was dissolved due to the political differences that existed between supporters of federalism and centralism, as well as regional tensions among the peoples that made up the republic. It broke into the successor states of New Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Since New Granada State territory corresponded more or less to the original jurisdiction of the former Viceroyalty of New Granada, it also claimed the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, the Mosquito Coast.
Steamships and steam trains In the latter half of the 19th century, British merchants came to the area for the Coffee which in this century has become an important import once more. Steamships and steam trains began to be invested in the 1870s–1890s by English merchants and the Colombian government to transport goods such as Bananas, tobacco, coffee and European imports, which proved to create a flourishing community of British ex-pats in Colombia and spread out across the South Americas. Empresas de vapores en el Caribe Colombiano: la navegacion fluvial y los ferrocarriles en el Magdalena Grande y el Bajo Magdalena 1870–1930, Joaquin Valoria-de-la-Hoz, October 2016, No.40, Caudernos de historia Economica y Empresarial, , p.12 See The British expat community later controlled a portion of the railways in Colombia such as the Cartagena Railway line, the Colombian Northern Railway and the Southern Bogota Railway line by 1906, with all railways returning to Colombian ownership by the 1930s.Dawn of the Railway Era in Colombia, J. Fred Rippy, November 1943, The Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 23, pp. 650-663
Chronology of Colombian–British relations
Early 1565 - The slave trader John Hawkins attempts to trade in enslaved peoples from Sierra Leone with local peoples in RiohachaResearching the history of slavery in Colombia and Brazil through ecclesiastical and notarial archives, Jane Landers, Pablo Gómez, José Polo Acuña, Courtney J. Campbell p. 259-292, Notaria Primera de Quibdo, Libro de Venta de Esclavos 1810-188, Fol. 132r. Notaría Primera de Riohacha Archive, Protocolo 1, Riohacha, 23 March 1831. Notaría Primera de Riohacha Archive, Protocolo 1, Riohacha, 4 May 1831. Baptism of María Olalla, Book of Baptisms, San Gerónimo de Buenavista, Montería, Córdoba, 20 February 1809 1586 - Battle of Cartagena occurs, with Francis Drake capturing the strategic settlement of Cartagena 1595 - Raleigh's El Dorado Expedition for the city El Dorado takes place with the crew travelling the Orinoco River in modern-day Venezuela, with two Englishman left behind with local Indian chiefs, to whom he exhibited a portrait of Queen Elizabeth and promised to return and liberate them from Spanish dominion ... [whom were] promptly arrested by the Spanish colonial [authorities], who warned local chiefs to only trade with the SpanishCase of Venezuela, William Lindsay Scrugg, 1898, p.38 1596 - Francis Drake ransacks the city of Riohacha, sailing away with 100 slaves as part of his bootyResearching the history of slavery in Colombia and Brazil through ecclesiastical and notarial archives, 2015, Jane Landers, Pablo Gómez, José Polo Acuña, Courtney J. Campbell, pp. 259-292, Notaria Primera de Quibdo, Libro de Venta de Esclavos 1810-188, Fol. 132r. Notaría Primera de Riohacha Archive, Protocolo 1, Riohacha, 23 March 1831. Notaría Primera de Riohacha Archive, Protocolo 1, Riohacha, 4 May 1831. Baptism of María Olalla, Book of Baptisms, San Gerónimo de Buenavista, Montería, Córdoba, 20 February 1809 1617 - Watt Raleigh with an expedition traverses the Orinoco, until he was killed in a battle with the Spanish 1660-1668 - Henry Morgan operated a smuggling trade from Jamaica via Riohacha 1679 - Gorgona is visited by Bartholomew Sharp 1709 - Gorgorna Island is home to Woodes Rogers and William Dampier 1739-1748 - Battle of Cartagena de Indias occurs due to British mercantile expansionism in South Americas, with Britain withdrawing to North America not to return to the area until the 1790s 1758 - Battle of Cartagena whereby the British blockaded the French in the port of Cartagena occurs during the North American Seven Years' War 1808 - First Masonic Lodge is founded in Cartagena where José Maria Garcia-Toledo and members discussed European politics and history based on the broadsheets (Jamaica Courier and the Royal Gazette) and publications produced in Kingston, Jamaica 1810 - Bolivar travels to London along with Luis Lopez Mendez and Andres Bello 1815 - British Cartagena de Indias is declared and fails, but Annual trade with Spain is replaced by trade between Colombia and British Jamaica via the Treaty of Utrecht in the Atlantic slave trade Colombian Independence 1817 - Daniel Florence O'Leary, James Rooke, Arthur Sandes, Thomas Charles Wright and John Illingworth Hunt enlist under Bolivar army 1818 - "El Correo del Orinoco" (the "Orinoco Post") was a newspaper created by Simón Bolívar in Angostura by July 21, 1818. As such, it is the oldest sovereign newspaper on the Latin American. The British Captain Andrés Roderick assumed as Editor of El Correo del Orinoco assisted by typographers Thomas Tavernier and Juan José Pérez.«Una voz incómoda, por Gioconda San Blas». talcualdigital.com. Consultado el 17 de julio de 2018. 1819 - Battles of Vargas Swamp and Boyaca. In Angostura Bolivar proclamated the Republic of Colombia included present-day Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela, along with parts of northern Peru, northwestern Brazil and Guyana. 1821 - Francisco Antonio Zea was appointed by Bolivar as special diplomatic agent of Colombia to Europe and United States. In London he negotiated loans of financial creditors Herring & Richardson and gained recognition of his new country only from the United States. Andres Roderick was retired as editor of "El Correo del Orinoco". After that Thomas Bradshaw and William Burrell Stewart became the British owners of the printing press. John Bernard served as the administrator for the latter issues. 1822 - The ambassador Zea dies in Bath, and a large amount of British private investment is made in the new state 1822 - Jose Rafael Revenga as substitute of Zea as Minister Plenipotentiary of Colombia in London, negotiated Great Britain's recognition of Colombia as an independent country. 1823 - Mary English known as the Belle of Santa Fe resides in Bogotá from 1823 - 1827 being the representative of financial creditors Herring & RichardsonAdventuring Through Spanish Colonies: Simón Bolívar, Foreign Mercenaries and the Birth of New Nations, Matthew Brown, 2006, p.185, Liverpool University Press