Current characteristics of Colombian paramos are closely related with the human presence; the history of this relation, based on evidence from climatological, palinological and cartographical studies, suggest interesting conclusions for ecosystem conservation and the surrounding Andean forests. The first paramo interventions were sporadic; later, the human imprint tended towards ritualistic livelihoods, and it is in the colonial times when dynamic transformation occurred, extending paramos both altitudinally and latitudinally. Today, in order to inform conservation policy it is important to keep in mind how the human presence influences the ecosystem transformation, to manifest Andean mountains’ management strategies and policies with a string of facts of the human livelihood and the natural history of the mountains in tropical America.