An eight-state confederation forms in 1858 from…

An eight-state confederation forms in 1858 from the wreckage of the Republic of the New Granada, which has suffered near-constant civil war between unionists and federalists, liberals and clericals.

The centralist structure that had come to be in the Republic of the New Granada after the disestablishment of the Greater Colombia, ratified by the constitution of 1843, had soon been challenged by the independentist feelings of the different regions; particularly the provinces of Azuero, Chiriquí, Panamá, and Veraguas, which were demanding an autonomous status.

The Constitution of 1853 had opened the way so that in February 27, 1855 the Sovereign State of Panamá could be created within the Republic of New Granada.

Soon others followed suit, regionalism being too strong an attraction, and in order to prevent a breakup like the one Greater Colombia had, with Venezuela and Ecuador leaving the union, the congress allowed the creation of other Sovereign States.

The Province of Antioquía became the Sovereign State of Antioquía on June 11, 1856.

The Sovereign State of Santander, which included the provinces of Socorro and Pamplona, was created May 13, 1857.

The Law of June 15, 1857, created the other states that would go on to form the Granadine Confederation: The Sovereign State of Bolívar, which included the Province of Cartagena; The Sovereign State of Boyacá, which included the provinces of Tunja, Tundama, Casanare, and the cantons of Chiquinquirá and Vélez; the Sovereign State of Cauca, which included the provinces of Buenaventura, Chocó, Pasto and Popayán and the region of Caquetá; the Sovereign State of Cundinamarca, which included the province of Mariquita, Bogotá, Neiva, and Tolima; and the Sovereign State of Magdalena, which included the provinces of El Banco, Padilla, Santa Marta, Tenerife and Valledupar.

The union of these Sovereign States was to be confederated in perpetuity to form a Sovereign Nation, free and independent under the name of the “Granadine Confederation”.

In 1858, the new constituency, made up in its majority of conservatives, convened and signed the Constitution for the Granadine Confederation of 1858, confirming Bogotá as its Federal Capital.