Colombia Colombia was one of the first parts of the New World to be explored by the Spanish. Christopher Columbus for whom the country is named, never visited the area. In 1510 Spaniards founded Santa Maria la Antigua del Darien, the first permanent European settlement on the American mainland. In 1536 Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada explored the valley of the Magdalena and conquered the powerful Chibcha Indians and in 1538 founded New Granada and Bogota. In 1717 Bogota became the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Granada which consisted of present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. An important revolt occurred in 1810 when a junta at Bogota declared itself the government of New Granada.