Conservative Victory at Palonegro: Thousand Days' War Turns
Conservative forces under General Prospero Pinzon defeated the Liberal army at the Battle of Palonegro in May 1900, after fifteen days of continuous fighting that was the longest sustained battle in South American history. The engagement, fought near Bucaramanga in northeastern Colombia, cost an estimated 4,500 casualties on both sides. The Conservative victory effectively decided the Thousand Days' War, though guerrilla resistance continued until 1902. The war killed approximately 100,000 Colombians in a country of four million and devastated the national economy. The resulting weakness enabled the United States to support Panamanian secession in 1903, carving off Colombia's most strategically valuable province to build the Panama Canal.
May 26, 1900
126 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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