Ancient tribes their life. Where do the world's last uncontacted tribes live? Uncontacted tribes of Peru
Amazingly, in this age of atomic energy, laser guns and Pluto exploration, there still exist primitive people, almost unfamiliar with the outside world. Scattered all over the world except Europe great amount such tribes. Some live in complete isolation, perhaps without even knowing about the existence of other “bipeds”. Others know and see more, but are in no hurry to make contact. And still others are ready to kill any stranger.
What should we, civilized people, do? Try to “make friends” with them? Keep an eye on them? Completely ignore?
Just these days, the disputes resumed when the Peruvian authorities decided to make contact with one of the lost tribes. Defenders of Aboriginal people are strongly against it, because after contact they may die from diseases to which they have no immunity: it is not known whether they will agree to medical help.
Let's see who we are talking about, and what other tribes infinitely far from civilization are found in modern world.
1. Brazil
It is in this country that the largest number of uncontacted tribes live. In just 2 years, from 2005 to 2007, their confirmed number immediately increased by 70% (from 40 to 67), and today there are already more than 80 on the lists of the National Foundation of Indians (FUNAI).
There are extremely small tribes, only 20-30 people, others can number 1.5 thousand. Moreover, together they make up less than 1% of the population of Brazil, but the “ancestral lands” that are allotted to them are 13% of the country’s territory (green spots on the map). 
To find and count isolated tribes, authorities periodically fly over the dense Amazon forests. So in 2008, hitherto unknown savages were spotted near the border with Peru. First, anthropologists noticed from an airplane their huts, which looked like elongated tents, as well as half-naked women and children. 
But during a repeat flight a few hours later, men with spears and bows, painted red from head to toe, and the same warlike woman, all black, appeared in the same place. They probably mistook the plane for an evil bird spirit. 
Since then, the tribe has remained unstudied. Scientists can only guess that it is very numerous and prosperous. The photo shows that people are generally healthy and well-fed, their baskets are full of roots and fruits, and even something like orchards were spotted from the plane. It is possible that this people have existed for 10,000 years and have preserved their primitiveness since then. 
2. Peru
But the very tribe with which the Peruvian authorities want to come into contact are the Mashco-Piro Indians, who also live in the wilderness of the Amazon forests in the territory national park Manu in the southeast of the country. Previously, they always rejected strangers, but in last years They began to often leave the thicket into the “outside world.” In 2014 alone, they were spotted more than 100 times in populated areas, especially along river banks, where they pointed at passersby. 
“They seem to be making contact on their own, and we can’t pretend we don’t notice. They also have the right to this,” the government says. They emphasize that under no circumstances will they force the tribe to make contact or change their lifestyle. 
Officially, Peruvian law prohibits contact with the lost tribes, of which there are at least a dozen in the country. But many people have already managed to “communicate” with Mashko-Piro, from ordinary tourists to Christian missionaries who shared clothing and food with them. Maybe also because there is no punishment for violating the ban. 
True, not all contacts were peaceful. In May 2015, the Mashko-Piros came to one of the local villages and, having met the residents, attacked them. One guy was killed on the spot, pierced by an arrow. In 2011, members of the tribe killed another local and wounded a national park ranger with arrows. Authorities hope the contact will help prevent future deaths.
This is probably the only civilized Mashco-Piro Indian. As a child, local hunters came across him in the jungle and took him with them. Since then he has been named Alberto Flores. 
3. Andaman Islands (India)
The tiny island of this archipelago in the Bay of Bengal between India and Myanmar is inhabited by the Sentinelese, who are extremely hostile to the outside world. Most likely, these are direct descendants of the first Africans who ventured to leave the black continent approximately 60,000 years ago. Since then, this small tribe has been engaged in hunting, fishing and gathering. How they make fire is unknown. 
Their language has not been identified, but judging by its striking difference from all other Andamanese dialects, these people have not come into contact with anyone for thousands of years. The size of their community (or scattered groups) is also not established: presumably, from 40 to 500 people. 
The Sentinelese are typical Negritos, as ethnologists call them: rather short people with very dark, almost black skin and short, fine curls of hair. Their main weapons are spears and bows with different types arrow Observations have shown that they accurately hit a human-sized target from a distance of 10 meters. The tribe considers any outsiders enemies. In 2006, they killed two fishermen who were sleeping peacefully in a boat that accidentally washed up on their shore, and then greeted a search helicopter with a hail of arrows. 
There were only a few "peaceful" contacts with the Sentinelese during the 1960s. Once coconuts were left on the shore for them to see if they would plant them or eat them. - Ate. Another time they “gifted” live pigs - the savages immediately killed them and... buried them. The only thing that seemed useful to them were the red buckets, as they hurried to carry them deeper into the island. But the exact same green buckets were not touched. 
But do you know what is the strangest and inexplicable? Despite their primitiveness and extremely primitive shelters, the Sentinelese generally survived the terrible earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004. But almost 300 thousand people died along the entire coast of Asia, making this the deadliest natural disaster in modern history! 
4. Papua New Guinea
The vast island of New Guinea in Oceania holds many unknown secrets. Its inaccessible mountainous regions, covered with thick forests, only seem uninhabited - in fact, they are native home for many uncontacted tribes. Due to the peculiarities of the landscape, they are hidden not only from civilization, but also from each other: it happens that there are only a few kilometers between two villages, but they are not aware of their proximity. 
The tribes live so isolated that each has its own customs and language. Just think - linguists distinguish approximately 650 Papuan languages, and in total more than 800 languages are spoken in this country! 
There may be similar differences in their culture and lifestyle. Some tribes turn out to be relatively peaceful and generally friendly, like a funny nation to our ears bullshit, which Europeans learned about only in 1935. 
But the most ominous rumors are circulating about others. There were cases when members of expeditions specially equipped to search for Papuan savages disappeared without a trace. This is exactly how one of the members of the richest group disappeared in 1961. American family Michael Rockefeller. He became separated from the group and is suspected to have been captured and eaten. 
5. Africa
At the junction of the borders of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan live several nationalities, numbering about 200 thousand people, who are collectively called Surma. They raise livestock, but do not roam and share general culture with very cruel and strange traditions. 
Young men, for example, engage in stick fights to win brides, which can result in serious injuries and even death. And girls, when decorating themselves for a future wedding, remove their lower teeth, pierce their lip and stretch it so that a special plate fits there. The larger it is, the more cattle they will give for the bride, so the most desperate beauties manage to squeeze in a 40-centimeter dish! 
True, in recent years, young people from these tribes have begun to learn something about the outside world, and more and more Surma girls are now abandoning such a “beauty” ritual. However, women and men continue to decorate themselves with curly scars, which they are very proud of. 
In general, the acquaintance of these peoples with civilization is very uneven: they, for example, remain illiterate, but quickly mastered the AK-47 assault rifles that came to them during civil war in Sudan. 
And another one interesting detail. The first people from the outside world to come into contact with Surma in the 1980s were not Africans, but a group of Russian doctors. The Aborigines were then frightened, mistaking them for the living dead - after all, they had never seen white skin before!
Hot water, light, TV, computer - all these items are familiar to modern man. But there are places on the planet where these things can cause shock and awe like magic. It's about about the settlements of wild tribes that have preserved their way of life and habits since ancient times. And these are not the wild tribes of Africa, who now wear comfortable clothes and know how to communicate with other peoples. We are talking about Aboriginal settlements that were discovered relatively recently. They do not seek to meet modern people, quite the contrary. If you try to visit them, you may be met with spears or arrows.
The development of digital technology and the exploration of new territories leads a person to meet unknown inhabitants of our planet. Their habitat is hidden from prying eyes. Settlements may be located in deep forests or on uninhabited islands.
Tribes of Nicobar and Andaman Islands
On a group of islands located in the Indian Ocean, 5 tribes live to this day, the development of which stopped in stone age. They are unique in their culture and way of life. The official authorities of the islands look after the aborigines and try not to interfere in their lives and everyday life. Total number The population of all tribes is about 1000 people. The settlers are engaged in hunting, fishing, farming and have virtually no contact with the outside world. One of the most evil tribes is the inhabitants of Sentinel Island. The number of all settlers of the tribe does not exceed 250 people. But, despite their small numbers, these natives are ready to repel anyone who sets foot on their lands.
Tribes of North Sentinel Island
The inhabitants of Sentinel Island belong to the group of so-called uncontacted tribes. They differ high level aggression and unsociability towards a stranger. It is interesting that the appearance and development of the tribe is still not fully known. Scientists cannot understand how black people could begin to live in such a limited space on an island washed by the ocean. There is an assumption that these lands were inhabited by inhabitants more than 30,000 years ago. People remained within their lands and homes and did not move to other territories. Time passed, and water separated them from other lands. Since the tribe did not develop in terms of technology, they did not have contacts with the outside world, therefore any guest for these people is a stranger or enemy. Moreover, communication with civilized people simply contraindicated for the Sentinel Island tribe. Viruses and bacteria, to which modern humans have immunity, can easily kill any member of the tribe. The only positive contact with the settlers of the island was made in the mid-90s of the last century.
Wild tribes in the Amazon forests
Are there wild tribes today that have never been contacted? modern people? Yes, there are such tribes, and one of them was recently discovered in the dense forests of the Amazon. This happened due to active deforestation. Scientists have long said that these places could be inhabited by wild tribes. This guess was confirmed. The only video filming of the tribe was carried out from a light aircraft by one of the largest television channels USA. The footage shows that the settlers' huts are made in the form of tents covered with leaves. The inhabitants themselves are armed with primitive spears and bows.
Piraha
The Piraha tribe numbers about 200 people. They live in the Brazilian jungle and differ from other aborigines in their very weak development of language and the absence of a number system. Simply put, they can't count. They can also be called the most illiterate inhabitants of the planet. Members of the tribe are forbidden to speak about what they do not know from their own experience or to adopt words from other languages. In Piraha speech there is no designation of animals, fish, plants, colors or weather. Despite this, the natives are not malicious towards others. Moreover, they often act as guides through the jungle.
Loaves
This tribe lives in the forests of Papua, New Guinea. They were discovered only in the mid-90s of the last century. They found themselves a home in the thickets of forests between two mountain ranges. Despite their funny name, the Aborigines cannot be called good-natured. The cult of the warrior is widespread among the settlers. They are so hardy and strong-willed that they can feed on larvae and pasture for weeks until they find suitable prey while hunting.
Loaves live mainly in trees. By making their huts from branches and twigs like huts, they protect themselves from evil spirits and witchcraft. The tribe reveres pigs. These animals are used like donkeys or horses. They can be slaughtered and eaten only when the pig becomes old and can no longer carry a load or a person.
In addition to the aborigines living on islands or in tropical forests, you can meet people who live according to old customs in our country. So in Siberia for a long time lived the Lykov family. Fleeing persecution in the 30s of the last century, they went into the remote taiga of Siberia. For 40 years they survived by adapting to the harsh conditions of the forest. During this time, the family managed to almost completely lose the entire crop of plants and recreate it anew from a few surviving seeds. Old Believers were engaged in hunting and fishing. The Lykovs made their clothes from the skins of killed animals and coarse home-woven hemp threads.
The family has preserved old customs, chronology and the original Russian language. In 1978, they were accidentally discovered by geologists. The meeting became a fatal discovery for the Old Believers. Contact with civilization led to diseases of individual family members. Two of them died suddenly from kidney problems. Died a little later younger son from pneumonia. This once again proved that contact between modern man and representatives of more ancient peoples can become deadly for the latter.
Photographer Jimmy Nelson travels the world capturing wild and semi-wild tribes who manage to preserve traditional lifestyle in modern world. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for these peoples, but they do not give up and do not leave the territories of their ancestors, continuing to live the same way they lived.
Asaro tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Asaro Mudmen ("Mud-Covered People of the Asaro River") first encountered the Western world in the mid-20th century. Since time immemorial, these people have been smearing themselves with mud and wearing masks to instill fear in other villages.
“Individually they are all very nice, but because their culture is under threat, they are forced to fend for themselves.” - Jimmy Nelson.
Chinese fishermen tribe
Location: Guangxi, China. Filmed in 2010. Fishing with a cormorant is one of the the most ancient ways fishing with waterfowl. To prevent them from swallowing their catch, fishermen tie their necks. Cormorants easily swallow small fish, and bring large ones to their owners.
Maasai
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. This is one of the most famous African tribes. Young Maasai go through a series of rituals to develop responsibility, become men and warriors, learn to protect livestock from predators, and provide security for their families. Thanks to the rituals, ceremonies and instructions of the elders, they grow up to be real brave men.
Central location Maasai culture is dominated by livestock.
Nenets
Location: Siberia – Yamal. Filmed in 2011. Traditional activity Nenets - reindeer husbandry. They lead a nomadic lifestyle, crossing the Yamal Peninsula. For more than a millennium, they have survived at temperatures as low as minus 50°C. The 1,000 km long annual migration route lies across the frozen Ob River.
“If you don’t drink warm blood and don’t eat fresh meat, then you’re doomed to die in the tundra.”
Korowai
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Korowai are one of the few Papuan tribes that do not wear kotekas, a type of sheath for the penis. The men of the tribe hide their penises by tightly tying them with leaves along with the scrotum. Korowai are hunter-gatherers who live in tree houses. This people strictly distributes rights and responsibilities between men and women. Their number is estimated at approximately 3,000 people. Until the 1970s, the Korowai were convinced that there were no other peoples in the world.
Yali tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Yali live in the virgin forests of the highlands and are officially recognized as pygmies, since the men are only 150 centimeters tall. The koteka (gourd sheath for the penis) serves as part of traditional clothes. It can be used to determine whether a person belongs to a tribe. Yali prefer long thin cats.
Karo tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. The Omo Valley, located in Africa's Great Rift Valley, is home to approximately 200,000 indigenous peoples who have inhabited it for thousands of years.
Here, tribes have traded among themselves since ancient times, offering each other beads, food, cattle and fabrics. Not long ago, guns and ammunition came into circulation.
Dasanech tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. This tribe is characterized by the absence of a strictly defined ethnicity. A person of almost any background can be admitted to Dasanech.
Guarani
Location: Argentina and Ecuador. Filmed in 2011. For thousands of years, the Amazonian rainforests of Ecuador were home to the Guarani people. They consider themselves the bravest indigenous group in the Amazon.
Vanuatu tribe
Location: Ra Lava Island (Banks Islands Group), Torba Province. Filmed in 2011. Many Vanuatu people believe that wealth can be achieved through ceremonies. Dance is an important part of their culture, which is why many villages have dance floors called nasara.
Ladakhi tribe
Location: India. Filmed in 2012. Ladakhis share the beliefs of their Tibetan neighbors. Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with images of ferocious demons from the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, has underpinned Ladakhi beliefs for over a thousand years. The people live in the Indus Valley, engage mainly in agriculture, and practice polyandry.
Mursi tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. “It is better to die than to live without killing.” Mursi are pastoralists, farmers and successful warriors. Men are distinguished by horseshoe-shaped scars on their bodies. Women also practice scarring and also insert a plate into the lower lip.
Rabari tribe
Location: India. Filmed in 2012. 1000 years ago, representatives of the Rabari tribe were already roaming the deserts and plains that today belong to Western India. Women of this people devote long hours to embroidery. They also manage the farms and decide all financial issues, while the men tend the herds.
Samburu tribe
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. The Samburu are a semi-nomadic people, moving from place to place every 5-6 weeks to provide pasture for their livestock. They are independent and much more traditional than the Maasai. Equality reigns in Samburu society.
Mustang tribe
Location: Nepal. Filmed in 2011. Most of the Mustang people still believe that the world is flat. They are very religious. Prayers and holidays are an integral part of their lives. The tribe stands apart as one of the last strongholds of Tibetan culture that has survived to this day. Until 1991, they did not allow any outsiders into their midst.
Maori tribe
Location: New Zealand. Filmed in 2011. Maori are adherents of polytheism and worship many gods, goddesses and spirits. They believe that the spirits of ancestors and supernatural beings omnipresent and help the tribe in hard times. The Maori myths and legends that arose in ancient times reflected their ideas about the creation of the Universe, the origin of gods and people.
“My tongue is my awakening, my tongue is the window of my soul.”
Goroka tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2011. Life in high mountain villages is simple. Residents have plenty of food, families are friendly, people honor the wonders of nature. They live by hunting, gathering and growing crops. Internecine clashes are common here. To intimidate the enemy, Goroka warriors use war paint and jewelry.
“Knowledge is just rumors while they are in the muscles.”
Huli tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. These indigenous people fight for land, pigs and women. They also spend a lot of effort trying to impress their opponent. Huli paint their faces with yellow, red and white dyes, and also have a famous tradition of making fancy wigs from their own hair.
Himba tribe
Location: Namibia. Filmed in 2011. Each member of the tribe belongs to two clans, father and mother. Marriages are arranged for the purpose of expanding wealth. Vital here appearance. It talks about a person's place within a group and their phase of life. The elder is responsible for the rules in the group.
Kazakh tribe
Location: Mongolia. Filmed in 2011. Kazakh nomads are descendants of the Turkic, Mongolian, Indo-Iranian group and the Huns, who inhabited the territory of Eurasia from Siberia to the Black Sea.
The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of the traditions that the Kazakhs have managed to preserve to this day. They trust their clan, count on their herds, believe in the pre-Islamic cult of the sky, ancestors, fire and supernatural powers good and evil spirits.
The ethnic diversity on Earth is amazing in its abundance. People living in different corners planets are at the same time similar to each other, but at the same time very different in their way of life, customs, and language. In this article we will talk about some unusual tribes, about which you will be interested to know.
Piraha Indians - a wild tribe inhabiting the Amazon jungle
The Pirahã Indian tribe lives among the Amazon rain forest, mainly along the banks of the Maici River, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.
This nation South America known for its language, Pirahã. In fact, the Pirahã is one of the rare languages among 6000 spoken languages worldwide. The number of native speakers ranges from 250 to 380 people. The language is amazing because:
- does not have numbers, for them there are only two concepts “several” (from 1 to 4 pieces) and “many” (more than 5 pieces),
- verbs do not change either by numbers or by persons,
- there are no names for colors,
- consists of 8 consonants and 3 vowels! Isn't this amazing?
According to linguistic scholars, Piraha men understand rudimentary Portuguese and even speak very limited topics. True, not all male representatives can express their thoughts. Women have little understanding of Portuguese and do not use it for communication at all. However, the Pirahã language has several loanwords from other languages, mainly Portuguese, such as "cup" and "business".
Speaking of business, the Piraha Indians trade Brazil nuts and provide sexual services in order to buy consumables and tools, for example, machetes, milk powder, sugar, whiskey. Chastity is not a cultural value for them.
There are several more interesting moments associated with this nation:
- Pirahã have no compulsion. They don't tell other people what to do. There seems to be no social hierarchy at all, no formal leader.
- This Indian tribe has no idea of \u200b\u200bdeities and God. However, they believe in spirits, which sometimes take the form of jaguars, trees, or people.
— it feels like the Pirahã tribe are people who don’t sleep. They can take a nap for 15 minutes or more more than an hour two throughout the day and night. They rarely sleep through the night.
The Wadoma tribe is an African tribe of people with two toes.
The Vadoma tribe lives in the Zambezi River valley in northern Zimbabwe. They are known for the fact that some members of the tribe suffer from ectrodactyly, three middle toes are missing from their feet, and the outer two are turned inward. As a result, members of the tribe are called “two-fingered” and “ostrich-footed”. Their huge two-toed feet are the result of a single mutation on chromosome number seven. However, in the tribe such people are not considered inferior. The reason for the common occurrence of ectrodactyly in the Vadoma tribe is isolation and the prohibition of marriage outside the tribe.
Life and life of the Korowai tribe in Indonesia
The Korowai tribe, also called the Kolufo, live in the southeast of the autonomous Indonesian province of Papua and consist of approximately 3,000 people. Perhaps before 1970 they did not know about the existence of other people besides themselves.
Most Korowai clans live in their isolated territory in tree houses, which are located at an altitude of 35-40 meters. In this way, they protect themselves from floods, predators, and arson by rival clans who take people, especially women and children, into slavery. In 1980, some of the Korowai moved to settlements in open areas.
Korowai have excellent hunting and fishing skills, and are engaged in gardening and gathering. They practice slash-and-burn agriculture, when the forest is first burned and then crops are planted in this place.
As far as religion is concerned, the Korowai universe is filled with spirits. The most honorable place is given to the spirits of ancestors. In times of need, they sacrifice domestic pigs to them.
