The Kogi are an indigenous people living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains of northern Colombia, in South America. They are the only civilization to have survived the Spanish conquests and to have kept their individuality.
They are perhaps the only indigenous people in the world who, because of the particular nature of their surroundings, have been able to keep themselves apart and sustain their culture inviolate. And not only that. The one anthropologist who managed to study them in the 1940's and 50's concluded that though they are similar in some ways to the other Indian peoples around the Caribbean, northern Central America and south to the Andes, there are such profound differences that "in the end the Kogi stand alone".
They have survived to this day, keeping their traditions and relying upon, and looking after, the mountain environment. They believe it is their duty to look after the mountain which they call "The Heart of the World". They call themselves the Elder Brother and refer to the new-comers as the Younger Brother, who they believe is destroying the balance of the world.
In 1990, the Kogi decided they must speak out to the rest of the world. They had survived by keeping themselves isolated but they decided that it was time to send a message to the Younger Brother. They could see that something was wrong with their mountain, with the heart of the world. The snows had stopped falling and the rivers were not so full. If their mountain was ill then the whole world was in trouble.
The Kogi are unique among the world’s indigenous cultures because the Spaniards never conquered them. They are said to have memory of the beginning of time and remember the rampage the conquistadors brought to their region in 1498.
The Kogi represent the most complete surviving civilization of pre-Colombian America. They are not hunter-gatherers or a wondering tribe; they are a nation whose fields have been continuously cultivated for more than a thousand years.
The Kogi believe they are the "Elder Brothers," the guardians of life on Earth. Through their mind power and meditation they keep the world in balance. They live in "Aluna," an inner world of thought and potential. They are now concerned because their Mountain is dying.
Resources:
Watch this groundbreaking video about the Kogi and their message to the world here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1017803527565999153&ei=wmsLSp3XCZW6qAPa9-j5BQ&q=kogi&emb=1
Website: The Kogi Lost Tribe of Pre-Colombian America
Website: The Kogi - The Elder Brother (contains recent information about the Kogi)
