History

History

By Lorraine Caputo

The history of PNN El Cocuy begins in the Cretaceous period, when this was a vast inland sea. Then, some 15 to 20 million years ago, the land began to rend, mountains uplifted, slowly growing into the Pliocene and Quaternary epochs. An ice field formed that throughout this new Eastern Cordillera extended from Laguna de Tota, across the Santander páramo to Norte de Santander Department. In recent centuries, those glaciers have been receding, more rapidly now with global warming. Scientists estimate in another 15 to 20 years it will be gone.

Parque Nacional Natural El Cocuy, Colombia's fifth largest national park, was established in 1977. During the mid-1980s, the entire region(including the park and villages) was occupied by FARC and ELN guerrillas. In 2003 the Colombian military closed in and began clearing out the insurgents from the area. By 2005 all on the western side of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy was secure.