Colombia is the country in the north of South America. It has two sea coasts, which is unusual: one on the Pacific Ocean and one on the Caribbean Sea. The capital is Bogotá. English speakers often meet the name first on a coffee bag — coffee from Colombia is famous — and also in news about oil and coal. Older English news also talked about Colombia as a huge producer of cocaine; government pressure later cut that from its old peak. That is part of how the country has appeared in English, but it is not a fair picture of daily life there. Spanish speakers named it after Christopher Columbus — in Italian his family name is Colombo — plus a place ending, so the name is a way of saying “Columbus’s land.” English kept the Spanish spelling with two o’s: Colombia. Though actually, English also has Columbia with a u, and that is another spelling of the same man’s name, used for other places: the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.), British Columbia in Canada, Columbia University. Those use u. The country uses o. People mix them up all the time, including people who grew up with English, so checking the vowels is not a small-student mistake — it is the whole trick. It is a proper name. You do not say “a colombia.” For people and things from the country, you want Colombian.