Colombian-Anglo relations begin in 1810, and stem from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the service of the British Legions who helped Colombia to win independence through Simón Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada in 1819–1820.

[1] Early contact with the area known today as Colombia began in the 16th century with the limited expeditionary forces of Elizabeth I's privateers, most famously in the search for the mythical city of El Dorado.

Bolivar instead returned to Venezuela and his entourage stayed behind in Somers Town, London, and in the following years did not gain further in their activities due to the fluctuation and instability of the parties and states they represented.

However around this time Lopez Mendez had begun recruiting what became the British Legions, over 7,000 ex-military Irish and Englishmen who had been dismissed after the Napoleonic wars ended; who went on to fight for Colombian Independence.

With the independence of several Spanish colonies such as Mexico and Peru between 1817 - 1821, and the success of Bolivars armies in the North South-Americas and in 1824 with the signing of the United States-Colombia Trade agreement, the UK under George Canning eventually recognised the Colombian state in 1825.

Steamships and steam trains began to be invested in the 1870s–1890s by English merchants and the Colombian government to transport goods such as Bananas, tobacco, coffee and European imports, which proved to create a flourishing community of British expats in Colombia and spread out across the South Americas.