he Brazilian frontier, Venezuela claims as
far west as the meridian of 69 deg. 10'. Negotiations for the settlement
of the boundary with Brazil (q.v.) were resumed in 1906, and were
advanced in the following year to an agreement providing for the
settlement of conflicting claims by a mixed commission. With Ecuador and
Peru the boundary disputes are extremely complicated, certain parts of
the disputed territory being claimed by all three republics. Colombia
holds possession as far south as the Napo in lat. 2 deg. 47' S., and
claims territory occupied by Peru as far south as the Amazon. On the
other hand Peru claims as far north as La Chorrera in 0 deg. 49' S.
lat., including territory occupied by Colombia, and the eastern half of
the Ecuadorean department of Oriente, and Ecuador would extend her
southern boundary line to the Putumayo, in long. 71 deg. 1' S., and make
that river her northern boundary as far north as the Peruvian claim
extends. The provisional line starts from the Japura river (known as the
Caqueta in Colombia) in lat. 1 deg. 30' S., long. 69 deg. 24' W., and
runs south-west to the 70th meridian, thence slightly north of west to
the Igaraparana river, thence up that stream to the Peruvian military
post of La Chorrera, in 0 deg. 49' S. lat., thence west of south to
Huiririmachico, on the Napo. Thence the line runs north-west along the
Napo, Coca and San Francisco rivers to the Andean watershed, which
becomes the dividing line northward for a distance of nearly 80 m.,
where the line turns westward and reaches the Pacific at the head of
Panguapi Bay, into which the southern outlet of the Mira river
discharges (about 1 deg. 34' N. lat.).

_Physical Geography._--Colombia is usually described as an extremely
mountainous country, which is true of much less than half its total
area. Nearly one half its area lies south-east of the Andes and
consists of extensive _llanos_ and forested plains, traversed by
several of the western tributaries of the Amazon and Orinoco. These
plains slope gently toward the east, those of the Amazon basin
apparently lying in great terraces whose escarpments have the
character of low, detached ranges of hills forming successive rims to
the great basin which they partly enclose. The elevation and slope of
this immense region, which has an approximate length of 640 m. and
average width of 320 m., may be inferred from the elevations of the
Caqueta, or Japura river, wh