50 free Colombia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
44 free Colombia trivia questions with answers. Colombia is the only South American country with both a Caribbean and a Pacific coast, and this quiz covers the whole of it. Forty-four questions run through the geography (the third-highest capital in the world, the River of Five Colours, the tallest palms on Earth), the history (Bolívar and the Battle of Boyacá, the loss of Panama, the Armero tragedy, the 2016 peace deal that won a Nobel Prize) and the things Colombia exports to the world: coffee, emeralds, cumbia and vallenato, Gabriel García Márquez, Shakira and Fernando Botero. There are questions on food and drink (bandeja paisa, ajiaco, aguardiente), on the national sport that involves gunpowder, on Cartagena's walls and Medellín's cable cars, on cyclists Egan Bernal and Nairo Quintana, on James Rodríguez's Golden Boot and on Disney's Encanto. Easy ones ask about the flag and the currency; the hard ones want the year Cartagena was founded and the plant that turns Caño Cristales red. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference sources, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Colombia's name comes from the surname of which explorer?
Christopher Columbus
Ironically he never set foot on the Colombian mainland.
Q 02On what date in 1810 was Colombia's Declaration of Independence issued, now its national day?
20 July
Independence was only secured in 1819 after the Battle of Boyacá on 7 August.
Q 03Which department of Colombia seceded in 1903 to become an independent country?
Panama
The United States backed the split, and canal construction began the following year.
Q 04Colombia's currency shares its name with several other Latin American countries. What is it?
The peso
Its ISO code is COP; a coffee in Bogotá runs to a few thousand of them.
Q 05Colombia's population is roughly how large?
About 52 million
That makes it the second most populous Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.
Q 06Besides Spanish, how many other languages does Colombia officially recognise regionally?
About 65
They include Creole English on the islands of San Andrés and Providencia.
Q 07Where does Bogotá, at about 2,640 metres, rank among the world's capitals by elevation?
Third
Only La Paz and Quito are higher; visitors are often advised to take the first day slowly.
Q 08Which Spanish conquistador founded Bogotá in 1538 after conquering the Muisca?
Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada
Belalcázar founded Cali two years earlier, and Federmann arrived hunting for El Dorado.
Q 09The golden Muisca raft in Bogotá's Gold Museum was found in 1969 in what kind of place?
A cave
It was cast in a gold-silver-copper alloy by the lost-wax method sometime between 1295 and 1410.
Q 10In which Colombian city did Simón Bolívar die of tuberculosis in 1830?
Santa Marta
He had been the first president of Gran Colombia and gave Bolivia its name.
Q 11In which year was Cartagena founded by Pedro de Heredia?
1533
Its walled city and fortress became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.
Q 12Which one-eyed, one-legged Spanish commander led the defence of Cartagena against Admiral Vernon's 25,000 men in 1741?
Blas de Lezo
Sir Francis Drake had successfully sacked the city back in 1586, which is why the walls were built.
Q 13Medellín, Colombia's second city, is nicknamed the City of what?
Eternal Spring
Temperatures hover around 22 °C all year in the Aburrá Valley.
Q 21Which 2006 single became Shakira's first number one on the Billboard Hot 100?
Hips Don't Lie
Her Laundry Service album had already sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.
Q 22Fernando Botero, born in Medellín, is famous for a style of art called Boterismo. What is its trademark?
Figures of exaggerated volume
Twenty-three of his bronze sculptures fill the Plaza Botero in his home city.
Q 23Colombia ranks third in world coffee production behind which two countries?
Brazil and Vietnam
Its Coffee Cultural Landscape in Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda became a World Heritage Site in 2011.
Q 14Medellín is home to which transport first for Colombia?
The country's only metro
Its Metrocable gondolas link hillside barrios to the metro, and the Wall Street Journal named it Innovative City of the Year in 2013.
Q 15Who parades through Medellín carrying huge floral displays on their backs during the Feria de las Flores?
Silleteros
The name comes from the wooden 'silleta' frame once used to carry people and goods over the mountains.
Q 16In 2003 UNESCO named which Colombian festival a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage?
The Barranquilla Carnival
Its opening Battle of Flowers parade dates from 1903, and its motto is 'Quien lo vive es quien lo goza'.
Q 17The hooded Marimonda costume of Colombia's biggest carnival resembles a cross between which two animals?
A monkey and an elephant
Its floppy ears and long nose were meant to mock the city's elite.
Q 18In which town was Gabriel García Márquez born in 1927?
Aracataca
It is widely taken as the model for Macondo in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Q 19In which year did García Márquez win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
1982
One Hundred Years of Solitude has sold more than fifty million copies; he died in Mexico City in 2014.
Q 20Shakira was born in which Colombian city?
Barranquilla
Her father is of Lebanese descent, and her name means 'grateful' in Arabic.
Q 24Colombia's three great emerald-mining districts are Muzo, Coscuez and which other?
Chivor
Colombia is historically the world's largest emerald producer and the only source of rare 'trapiche' stones with spoke-like inclusions.
Q 25Caño Cristales, the 'River of Five Colours' in Meta department, turns red because of what?
A riverbed plant
Rhyncholacis clavigera clings to the riverbed and shows its colour best from late July to November.
Q 26Colombia's national sport, tejo, involves throwing a metal disc at a clay board fitted with what?
Packets of gunpowder
The 'mechas' explode on impact; the game descends from a Muisca pastime played with a golden disc.
Q 27On the Colombian flag, which colour occupies the entire top half?
Yellow
It stands for the country's gold and riches; the design came from Venezuelan patriot Francisco de Miranda.
Q 28Colombia's flag closely resembles those of which two neighbours, all once part of Gran Colombia?
Ecuador and Venezuela
Colombia's version was officially adopted by law on 26 November 1861.
Q 29Colombia's national tree, found in the Cocora Valley, holds what world record?
Tallest palm
It can reach 45 metres and occasionally 60, and has been legally protected since 1985.
Q 30Colombia's national flower, an orchid, was chosen partly because its lip shows what?
The colours of the flag
Cattleya trianae was nominated in November 1936 for an exhibition organised in Argentina.