Colombia versus Columbia
Which sentences are correct?
- Bogotá is the capital of Colombia.
- Bogotá is the capital of Columbia.
- Colombia University is an Ivy League school.
- Columbia University is an Ivy League school.
- Victoria, not Vancouver, is the capital of British Colombia.
- Victoria, not Vancouver, is the capital of British Columbia.
- The D.C. in “Washington, D.C.” stands for District of Colombia.
- The D.C. in “Washington, D.C.” stands for District of Columbia.
The correct sentences are A, D, F, and H.
Why?
Both spellings are Latinized versions of the surname of Christopher Columbus and mean “Land of Columbus.” In the Spanish version, the second vowel is an “o,” while in the English version, it’s a “u.” And not only the spellings differ. The two terms have distinctly different pronunciations. The second vowel in the Spanish version is a long “o” sound, as in “oh.” In contrast, the second vowel in the English version is a short “u” sound, as in “uh.”
The term Columbia is a symbolic name for the United States, popularized in the 1700s and personified as a female avatar, similar to “Britannia” for Great Britain.
That said, British Columbia does not mean “British America.” Rather, it refers to the British-controlled portion of the region surrounding the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. The river, too, was named after Christopher Columbus.
The term Colombia was first adopted as the name of the short-lived republic established by Simón Bolívar during the Latin American wars of independence from Spain in the early 1800s. Uniting much of northern South America, the country included modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama, as well as parts of Guyana, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua (i.e., the Mosquito Coast).
Misspelling the name of their country is highly offensive to Colombian people. Understandably so—especially when you consider that Colombians don’t commit the same error in reverse. In Spanish, District of Columbia is “Distrito de Columbia,” not “Distrito de Colombia.” So the “it’s what we’re used to” argument that English speakers often use as an excuse for getting it wrong doesn’t really hold water for Colombians.
But you don’t need an excuse—because you won’t be getting it wrong.
