This paper examines the non-reversal of fortune thesis proposed by Acemoglu et al. ( 2002 ) in the light of the Colombian experience over the last 500 years. Using a total of fourteen national population censuses and the record of tributary Indians in 1559, it is found that the population densiTY of Colombian regions presented a high degree of persistence through time. Thus, the evidence indicates that those places that were prosperous circa 1500 remain so today, and vice versa . These results indicate that the long-run influences of geography on regional economic disparities within a country are not negligible.
