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Brazil, Andaman Islands and Peru: These peoples live isolated from the outside world

2022-08-29T12:39:49.296Z


His tribe was murdered decades ago, since then an indigenous man has been living isolated and alone in the Amazon rainforest. Now he died too. How many such “uncontacted” people are still there – and where?


A Kawahiva 2011 in the Brazilian jungle: hiding in the jungle

Photo: AP/dpa

The "most isolated man on the planet" is dead. For decades, an indigenous man has lived alone and completely isolated in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest on the border with Bolivia.

According to experts, he was the last survivor of an indigenous tribe that was almost wiped out in attacks by outsiders in the 1980s.

more on the subject

Brazilian Amazon Rainforest: 'The Most Isolated Man On The Planet' Is Dead

According to the human rights organization Survival International, there are still more than 100 so-called uncontacted tribes worldwide - and many, like the tribe of the deceased, are threatened in their existence.

The “uncontacted” avoid communicating with the outside world, and little information is available about many of them.

A look at five of these fascinating groups whose habitat is increasingly threatened.

1. Sentinelese (Andaman Island)

According to Survival International, the Sentinelese are "the most isolated people in the world".

An estimated 50 to 150 Sentinelese live as hunters and gatherers on the 75 square kilometer North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean, west of Thailand.

The island is a restricted military area, monitored by the police and army, and entry is not permitted.

In the past there have been isolated successful attempts to contact the Sentinelese, who have probably been isolated for centuries.

In the mid-1990s, however, the visits were discontinued and the group's wish to live in isolation was respected.

When a US missionary went to the island anyway in 2018, the natives killed him with a bow and arrow and buried his body, which still lies on the island.

In 2004, a photo of a Sentinelese went around the world.

Days after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake that triggered devastating tsunamis, a helicopter flew over North Sentinel Island - and was fired at with arrows.

Apparently, the islanders correctly interpreted the retreat of the sea and were able to get to safety in time before the tidal wave.

2. Kawahiva (Brazil)

Dozens of isolated peoples are said to live in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil alone.

One of these are the Kawahiva, referred to as "redheads" and "little people" by neighboring peoples.

According to Survival International, the Kawahiva are nomads who subsist as hunters and gatherers.

But that was probably not always the case.

Rainforest clearings suggested that generations ago the Kawahiva lived a sedentary life, growing corn among other things.

In the past 30 years, however, they have been forced to flee by threats such as loggers, ranchers and land speculators.

“It is likely that many were murdered by outsiders who targeted their lands and resources, or died from diseases to which they have no defenses, such as influenza and measles,” says Survival International.

They became nomads to survive.

The agency responsible for indigenous life in Brazil, Funai, has been monitoring one of the Kawahiva groups for several years.

In 2011, she filmed members of the tribe who, realizing this, hid in the bushes.

3. Yanomami and Moxihatetea (Brazil and Venezuela)

According to Survival International, the largest relatively isolated people in South America are the Yanomami.

Its approximately 38,000 members live in the rainforest and in the mountains of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela.

Decades ago, prospectors invaded their areas, killing several people and destroying villages - since then the habitat of the Yanomami has been endangered.

The Yanomami report that people live in their area who have never had any contact with the outside world.

They call her Moxihatetea.

According to Survival International, there are fears that the Moxihatetea live in an area of ​​large-scale illegal gold mining.

"Contact with the gold prospectors could be very dangerous for the Moxihatetea and result in violent conflicts," reports the organization: "The gold prospectors also pose a major health risk, since imported diseases such as malaria can be life-threatening, especially for uncontacted indigenous people."

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, leader of the Yanomami indigenous peoples in Brazil, campaigns for the Moxihatetea.

“There are many uncontacted tribal people.

I don't know them, but I know that they are suffering as much as we are," he said. "It is very important for all tribal people - even the uncontacted ones - to be able to live on the land where they were born."

4. Mashco-Piro (Peru)

The Mashco-Piro live in Peru's Manú National Park.

In 1998, the International Working Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) estimated the tribe size at around 100 to 250 people.

The members live as nomadic hunter-gatherers and have made it clear that they do not wish to be contacted by the outside world.

But in recent years, Mashco Piros have repeatedly been photographed or filmed because they were out and about in areas where contact could hardly be missed.

Survival International reports that illegal logging in the reserve, as well as low-flying helicopters targeting nearby oil and gas exploration projects, may have pushed tribal peoples off their lands.

In 2013, the BBC even reported that local activists said members of the tribe had briefly emerged from the Peruvian jungle to ask for food.

5. Ayoreo and Totobiegosode (Bolivia and Paraguay)

Thousands of Ayoreo live in several sub-groups in Paraguay and Bolivia.

According to Survival International, the Totobiegosode, whose name means “people from the place of the wild boar”, live most remotely.

Some died when the Totobiegosode resisted proselytizing in the 1940s and 1950s.

In 1979 and 1986, the New Tribes Mission also forcibly expelled many Totobiegosode.

Nevertheless, Totobiegosode still lived as nomads in the forest today.

In 2007, the human rights organization reported a sighting of this group.

The last uncontacted Indians south of the Amazon basin had been sighted by other members of their tribe in Paraguay, it was said at the time.

They discovered footprints and a still-lit campfire from members of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode tribe.

Recently, several indigenous organizations called for preventing a genocide against the Totobiegosode.

Their habitat is threatened by massive deforestation.

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-08-29

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