history of colombia
Image source: Royal Coffee
Colombian coffee is regarded as some of the best in the world, and the nation is currently the world’s third largest coffee producer, with over 500,000 farms, most of which are small plots of land. Elements of Colombia’s geography contribute to its world-famous coffee, including the altitude, the volcanic soil, and the rubber and banana trees that shade the coffee plants.
It is hypothesized that coffee came to Colombia with the Jesuit priests in the 17th century, following the introduction of slavery by the Spanish in the 16th century. Much of the success of coffee plantations in Colombia can be attributed to enslaved labor.
The first shipment of 2,500 pounds of Colombian coffee arrived in US in 1835. Slavery was not abolished in Colombia until 1851, meaning the free and violently exploited labor allowed the coffee industry to boom in Colombia with minimal expenses. By 1860, the coffee had become Colombia’s main export crop.
While the government benefited from heavily-taxed coffee exports, the industry remained highly inequitable for the people of Colombia. Because most of the arable land was owned by essentially the 1%, it was nearly impossible to buy land if you were not already in the selective upper class, preventing social mobility for the majority.
In the 1930s, the Colombian government implemented land reforms that relieved some inequality in land ownership and provided some support to smaller producers. Most of Colombia’s current success in the coffee industry is due to the marketing executed by the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers (FNC), founded in 1927. The FNC’s primary aim is to protect the livelihoods and autonomy of small farmers through unionized, democratic organization.
Despite government reforms and the efforts of the FNC, small coffee farms continue to face immense challenges due to social and economic inequality, political unrest, and climate change.
