Kogi people

The people of Kogi, also called Kággaba lives on the northern and eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. In the Resguardo Arhuaca of Guatapurí they share their land with the Sanhá, Kankuama and Ika. Their language belongs to the Chibcha. According to the Summer Institute of Linguistics, SIL, their number is estimated at 4000-6000 people.

History

The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the adjacent lowlands are inhabited for millennia. With the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century the region was to Santa Marta (founded in 1526) and around the colonized northern foothills and slopes of the massif of Tairona Indians.

In 1600, the Tairona by the Spanish troops were finally defeated. The survivors, along with the survivors of other tribes fled to the fortress-like mountains, while other regions were of greater interest for the Spanish colonists.

This population has been known since the 17th century under the general designation Arhuacos. In the modern ethnographic literature, there are three peoples: the Kogi, on the northern slopes of the valleys of the Rio Palomino, Rio San Miguel and Rio San Francisco, the Ika on the southern slopes and the Sanha on the eastern slopes. The Kogi claim descent directly from the Tairona, a faith that speaks for the many indication. Today, they are the least acculturated people.