History of the Cofán People

To the best of our present knowledge, the Cofán culture probably has its roots in proto-Chibchan hunters who wandered down from the Colombian highlands near the present border of Colombia and Ecuador some time in the distant past. The culture established itself in the headwaters of several rivers in the area, eventually organizing itself along the lines of "city and states", with each village/town independent except when an outside threat united coalitions to face the common enemy. Little is known about these early days except for tantalizing scraps from various legends.

The Cofán were warriors, and wielded a variety of weapons including spears, hardwood swords, bows and arrows, and slings in their battles with their enemies. They were traders, embarking on long and dangerous voyages down their rivers to the main Amazon and back up its tributaries in search of cloth, salt, and sea shell beads. Their main items of trade appear to have been superior stone axes, adzes, and knives- part of a sophisticated craftsmanship that extended to beautiful canoes and many other items.

That they had a social structure with some specialization is implied by the intricate knowledge of medicinal and poisonous plants that is maintained even today. They followed the stars, and predicted the arrival of the yearly floods with uncanny accuracy. But the absence of written histories prior to the arrival of the Spanish, along with the frustrating lack of well-preserved archeological sites, makes any real knowledge of what the culture was like difficult to come by.