The Kogi consider themselves to be the guardians of the Earth and actively seek to maintain worldly balance and harmony through a complex philosophy that requires deep and careful thought before any action. They have long voiced concerns about the lack of care shown to the environment and have repeatedly warned of the danger of industrial practices. They refer to non-Kogi as their younger brother and have asked younger brother to stop damaging the Great Mother (or the Earth). Their communities are governed by spiritual leaders called Mamos, who are always male and their female equivalents, Sagas, who are able to sense the needs of the ancestors who 'inhabit' the landscape. Kogi culture centres on a belief that the material world is the physical trace of a thought-world sustained in "Aluna". Aluna is not just a spirit world but the thinking and acting life force that is responsible for creating form. The role of the Mamos is to mediate between the physical world and "Aluna" to ensure that dangerous and destructive forces are held in check. Maintaining their culture and way of life is essential if life on Earth is to continue for all of us. The Kogi are trying to preserve the original world of ideas that was once shared by all humanity but which is now all but lost.

The Kogi are one of four groups of indigenous people in the Sierra. The others are the Arhuaco, the Wiwa and the Kangwama. The Kogi were first researched by anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff during the years between the 1940s and the 1970s. The harshness of the terrain made it difficult to reach the Kogi, which functioned to keep the Kogi in relative isolation.

Kogi Society is strictly hierarchical. At the top are Mamos (derived from the Kaggaba word for sun), the spiritual leaders or priests whose education is one of the most remarkable aspects of their society. Future priests are chosen by divination and undergo their training from birth. Full education takes place over 18 years in special caves, during which time the ‘moros’ or trainee priests are deprived of daylight as far possible. Mamos return to society aged about 20. They have acquired leadership skills but have no practical knowledge. This austere education prepares them for the delicate task of preserving the universe. They do not undertake physical work. This is left to the Comisarios or village headmen and Cabos who are assistants to both Mamos and Comisarios. Mayores are reputable older men with some authority over their kinsmen.

Below these levels are the ordinary people who engage in activities according to their sex. Both sexes share in agricultural production. Whilst weaving, woodworking, clothing manufacture and toolmaking are male activities, women are responsible for cooking, planting, collecting wild foods and manufacturing nets and bags. The nuclear family is the basic social and economic unit. Husbands and wives live separately most of the time. The women and children share a dwelling while the men live nearby but spend most time in the ‘nuhue', the communal men’s house, which is designed to represent the cosmos and focus the inhabitants' mind on the universe and the elder brothers' role in maintaining harmony. Each family plants crops in several different environmental zones. Major food crops include potatoes, beans, maize, plantains, sugar cane, onions. sweet potatoes, avocados and pineapples. Domestic animals are also kept including oxen, pigs, sheep, chickens and turkeys and some fishing is practiced. The Kogi have no written language but speak Kaggaba and communicate with other groups through Spanish translation. Some of the younger generation are now Spanish speakers.

Films were made about the Arhuaco by Robert Gardner, David Attenborough and Brian Moser but the Kogi, who lived on the highest part of the mountain, were so isolated that they were virtually unknown to the outside world until Alan Ereira was unexpectedly invited in to film with them after he visited the area researching another documentary. The Kogi were cautious but offered him a deal whereby they would allow the viewers a glimpse into their day to day lives in return for the opportunity to explain their fears for the future of their mountain environment.

The territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Muisca, Quimbaya and the Tairona.

The Spanish set foot on Colombian soil for the first time in 1499. The name "Colombia" is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus.

The Spanish founded Santa Marta in 1525 in the traditional homelands of the Tairona people. The native peoples of the province of Santa Marta had a great deal of gold so after the Spanish landed the region attracted an uninterrupted series of Spanish plunderers who did nothing but sail there, attack, murder and rob the native people, stealing their gold and sailing back again. Each expedition overran the area, causing untold harm and a monstrous death toll, perpetrating countless atrocities. Each succeeding plunderer tried to outshine his predecessor, in the arts of terror and murder, and they extended their terror far inland. According to a report from the Bishop of Santa Marta to His Majesty the King in 1541 ‘the remedy for the ills that beset this territory is for Your Majesty to remove from positions of authority the cruel usurpers presently in control and entrust it to someone who will love and care for it as he would his own offspring and will treat it properly as it deserves and that your Majesty attend to this matter as the highest priority. If nothing is done, I am certain the whole territory will very soon simply disappear from the face of the earth'.

The Spanish conquest drove the Indigenous people away from the coast to take refuge on the mountain. They survived by relying on their own traditional way of life under the guidance of their leaders and shunned the outside world.

The Spanish were eventually driven from the country with a successful rebellion led by Simón Bolívar and independence was declared in 1819.

After a period of relative stability in the early twentieth century violence broke out in the 1960s, when the country suffered from armed conflict between government forces, leftist guerrilla groups and right wing paramilitaries. The conflict escalated in the 1990s, mainly in remote rural areas where the drugs trade flourished. This again increased pressure on the isolated Kogi communities and led to the destruction and contamination of their lands. A final peace agreement was finally signed in 2016 and in 2017 the Kogi Mamas attended a ceremony to honour Colombian President Santos for his leadership in environmental conservation and his commitment to the preservation of biodiversity. It remains to be seen whether this is sufficient to hold back rapid development in an area of significant natural resources.

The Kogi continue to claim back and cleanse their lands and warn Younger Brother about the damage that continues to be inflicted on the planet.