Native American civilizations developed long before the coming of Europeans. It is estimated that about 30 million Native Americans lived in South America at the time the Europeans arrived. Today, the Native Americans of South America remain a major determinant in the social, political, economic, and cultural life of the various nations.

Deep in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, surrounded by jungle, lives 20,000 indigenous Kogi people. A culturally intact pre-Colombian society, they've lived in seclusion since the Spanish conquest 500 years ago. Highly attuned to nature, the Kogi believe they exist to care for the world.

The Kogi base their lifestyles on their belief in "Aluna" or "The Great Mother," their creator figure, who they believe is the force behind nature. The Kogi understand the Earth to be a living being, and see humanity as its "children." 

They say that our actions of exploitation, devastation, and plundering for resources is weakening "The Great Mother" and leading to our destruction.

The Cumanagoto people lived in eastern Venezuela, and their descendants now live in northeastern Venezuela. 

They were agricultural, growing maize, sweet potatoes, and other native crops, as well as coca trees. They also gathered wild foods, and hunting was important. Domesticated animals were uncommon, except for turkeys. 

Religion centered on worship of the sun and moon. The Cumanagotos also valued frogs, as they saw the animal to be the god of waters.

The Terena tribe from Brazil are determined to gain legal right to their ancestral lands – ones that were taken from them in 1928 and given to cattle farmers.  The Terena tribe lays claim to about 17,000 hectares of land, but were forced to live on a reservation of only 2,000 hectares.

In 1988, the Brazilian constitution was amended to include a provision that called for the return of ancestral lands to indigenous peoples in an effort to compensate for a long history of discrimination, violence and slavery.  But, now, it is 20 years past the deadline to return these lands and traditional populations are still displaced.

The Aymara are indigenous people that lived in the high plains of the Andes Mountains of Bolivia. 

Potatoes dried in the frozen night, is one of the most important foods in the diet of the Aymara people, who have adapted to the challenging conditions that result from the plateau's climate. They make cotton from the furs of llamas, alpacas and sheep, and use this cotton to make threads and clothes for themselves.