Columbia



Columbia is a floating city in the sky and is the setting of BioShock Infinite. It is composed of neoclassical buildings constructed on giant reactors and self-sustaining balloons to make the city literally fly over the clouds.

History
Constructed by the American government and originally conceived as a floating symbol of American ideals at a time when the United States was emerging as a world power, Columbia was dispatched to distant shores with great fanfare by a captivated public. However, what began as a brand new endeavor of hope turned drastically wrong: in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, Columbia fired upon a group of Chinese civilians. This event revealed to the citizens of Columbia and the world the true nature of their floating city: that it was essentially a heavily armed aerial battleship. The event in question created problems between leadership in Columbia and the United States, causing the city to disappear into the clouds.

Some time after the city's disappearance, its inhabitants began a bloody civil war over drastically opposed ideologies. One faction, The Founders, supported ideals of American exceptionalism and Aryan values. The other, the Vox Populi, was passionately in favor of equal treatment for all races and religions. Both of these factions wished to use Elizabeth, a young woman with extraordinary abilities who had been captive within the city for 15 years, for their own ends.

In 1912, a former Pinkerton agent named Booker DeWitt was sent to the city to bring Elizabeth to New York.

Behind the Scenes

 * The name Columbia refers to the female personification of the United States used in various forms of patriotic symbolism in the 19th century.