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Uncontacted peoples

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Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.[1] Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the nonprofit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals total.[2][3][4] A majority of uncontacted peoples live in South America, particularly northern Brazil, where the Brazilian government and National Geographic estimate between 77 and 84 tribes reside.[5]

Members of an uncontacted tribe photographed in 2012 near Feijó in Acre, Brazil

Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring Indigenous communities and aerial footage.

Definition

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Uncontacted peoples generally refers to Indigenous peoples who have remained largely isolated to the present day, maintaining their traditional lifestyles and functioning mostly independently from any political or governmental entities. However, European exploration and colonization during the early modern period brought Indigenous peoples worldwide into contact with colonial settlers and explorers. As such, most Indigenous groups have had some form of contact with other peoples. The term uncontacted therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-Indigenous society at present.[6]

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights refers to uncontacted peoples as "Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation." These groups are defined by their general rejection of contact with anyone outside of their own people. This definition also includes groups who have previously had sustained contact with the majority non-Indigenous society but have chosen to return to isolation and no longer maintain contact.[7] As such uncontacted peoples are understood not as living in an anachronistic state of nature but rather as contemporaries of modernity.[8]

A 2009 United Nations report also classified "peoples in initial contact" as sharing the same characteristics but beginning to regularly communicate with and integrate into mainstream society.[9]

To highlight their agency in staying uncontacted or isolated, international organizations emphasize calling them "Indigenous peoples in isolation" or "in voluntary isolation". Otherwise they have also been called "hidden peoples" or "uncontacted tribes".[1]

Historically European colonial ideas of uncontacted peoples, and their colonial claims over them, were informed by the imagination of and search for Prester John, king of a wealthy Christian realm in isolation,[10][11] as well as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, identifying uncontacted peoples as "lost tribes".[12]

Relations with outsiders

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International organizations have highlighted the importance of protecting indigenous peoples' environment and lands, the importance of protecting them from exploitation or abuse, and the importance of no contact in order to prevent the spread of modern diseases.[13][3][9]

Historic exploitation and abuse at the hands of the majority group have led many governments to give uncontacted people their lands and legal protection. Many Indigenous groups live on national forests or protected grounds, such as the Vale do Javari in Brazil[14] or North Sentinel Island in India.[15]

 
Uncontacted peoples in the state of Acre in Brazil

In 1961, British explorer Richard Mason was killed by an uncontacted Amazonian tribe, the Panará.[16] The Panará lived in relative isolation until 1973 when the government project (Cuiabá-Santarém) road BR-163 was built through their territory. As a result, the tribe was decimated by newly introduced diseases and suffered from the environmental degradation of their land. Of the more than 350 members of the Panará tribe, more than 250 perished in the first twelve months after their first contact with settlers.[17]

Much of the contention over uncontacted peoples has stemmed from governments' desire to extract natural resources. In the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil's federal government attempted to assimilate and integrate native groups living in the Amazon jungle in order to use their lands for farming.[citation needed] Their efforts were met with mixed success and criticism until, in 1987, Brazil created the Department of Isolated Indians inside the Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), Brazil's Indian Agency. FUNAI was successful in securing protected lands which have allowed certain groups to remain relatively uncontacted until the present day.[citation needed]

A different outcome occurred in Colombia when the Nukak tribe of Indigenous people was contacted by an evangelical group. The tribe was receptive to trade and eventually moved in order to have closer contact with settlers. This led to an outbreak of respiratory infections, violent clashes with illicit drug traffickers, and the death of hundreds of the Nukak, more than half of the tribe. Eventually, the Colombian government forcibly relocated the tribe to a nearby town where they received food and government support but were reported as living in poverty.[18][14]

The threats to the Nukak tribe are generally shared by all peoples in isolation, particularly the outside world's desire to exploit their lands. This can include lumbering, ranching and farming, land speculation, oil prospecting and mining, and poaching. For example, then Peruvian President Alan García claimed in 2007 that uncontacted groups were only a "fabrication of environmentalists bent on halting oil and gas exploration".[19] As recently as 2016, a Chinese subsidiary mining company in Bolivia ignored signs that they were encroaching on uncontacted tribes, and attempted to cover it up.[20] In addition to commercial pursuits, other people such as missionaries can cause great damage.[21]

 
Warning against entering the territory of uncontacted people in Peru

It was those threats, combined with attacks on their tribe by illegal cocaine traffickers, that led a group of Acre Indians to make contact with a village in Brazil and subsequently with the federal government in 2014. This behaviour suggests that many tribes are aware of the outside world and choose not to make contact unless motivated by fear or self-interest. Satellite images suggest that some tribes intentionally migrate away from roads or logging operations in order to remain secluded.[6]

Indigenous rights activists have often advocated that Indigenous peoples in isolation be left alone, saying that contact will interfere with their right to self-determination as peoples.[6] On the other hand, experience in Brazil suggests isolating peoples might want to have trading relationships and positive social connections with others, but choose isolation out of fear of conflict or exploitation.[22] The Brazilian state organization FUNAI in collaboration with anthropological experts has chosen to make controlled initial contact with tribes. The organization operates 15 trading posts throughout protected territory where tribes can trade for metal tools and cooking instruments.[19] The organization also steps in to prevent some conflicts and deliver vaccinations.[13] However, FUNAI has been critical of political will in Brazil, reporting that it only received 15% of its requested budget in 2017.[19] In 2018, after consensus among field agents, FUNAI released videos and images of several tribes under their protection. Although the decision was criticized, the director of the Isolated Indian department, Bruno Pereira, responded that "The more the public knows and the more debate around the issue, the greater the chance of protecting isolated Indians and their lands". He shared that the organization has been facing mounting political pressure to open up lands to commercial companies. He also justified the photography by explaining that FUNAI was investigating a possible massacre against the Flecheiros tribe.[23]

Recognizing the myriad problems with contact, the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2009[9] and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2013[7] introduced guidelines and recommendations that included a right to choose self-isolation.[24][12]

There have been reports of human safaris in India's Andaman Islands and in the Peruvian Amazon, where tourism companies attempt to help tourists see uncontacted or recently contacted peoples. This practice is controversial.[25]

By region

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India

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Aerial photograph of North Sentinel Island

Sentinelese

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Main article: Sentinelese

The Sentinelese people of North Sentinel Island, which lies near South Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal, reject contact. Attempts to contact them have usually been rebuffed, sometimes with lethal force. Their language is markedly different from other languages of the Andamans, which suggests that they have been isolated for thousands of years.[26] They have been called by experts the most isolated people in the world,[6] and they are likely to remain so.[26]

South America

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Bolivia

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The Toromona are an uncontacted people living near the upper Madidi River and the Heath Rivers in northwestern Bolivia.[20] The government has created an "exclusive, reserved, and inviolable" portion of the Madidi National Park to protect the Toromona.[27]

Among the Ayoreo people of the Gran Chaco are a small number of uncontacted nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area.

Pacahuaras are believed to be living in voluntary isolation in Pando Department.[28]

Brazil

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Members of an uncontacted tribe in Acre, Brazil, in 2009

Until the 1970s, Brazil attempted unsuccessfully to move anyone on lands that could be commercially cultivated. In 1987, it set up the Department of Isolated Indians inside FUNAI, facilitating the work of Sydney Possuelo and José Carlos Meirelles, and declared the Vale do Javari perpetually sealed off, encompassing an area of 85,444 square kilometres (32,990 sq mi).[14] In 2007, FUNAI reported the presence of 67 uncontacted Indigenous peoples in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005.[29]

The Awá are people living in the eastern Amazon rainforest. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are considered highly endangered because of conflicts with logging interests in their territory.[30]

The Kawahiva live in the north of Mato Grosso. They are constantly on the move and have little contact with outsiders. Thus, they are known primarily from physical evidence they have left behind: arrows, baskets, hammocks, and communal houses.[31]

The Korubu live in the lower Vale do Javari in the western Amazon Basin.[32] Other tribes may include the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau, and the Himarimã. There may be uncontacted peoples in Uru-Eu-Uaw-Uaw Indigenous Territory and Kampa Indigenous Territory and Envira River Isolated Peoples.

In 2019, some isolated groups of one to two people came to the media's attention. Two brothers of the Piripkura tribe had continued to live alone in the jungle but initiated contact with FUNAI after a fire they had kept burning for 18 years went out. They were the subsequent focus of the documentary Piripkura. Another man colloquially called the "Man of the Hole" lived alone on 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) where he dug hundreds of holes for farming and trapping.[33] He was found dead in his hammock, in a self-made dwelling, in August 2022.

Since 2021, uncontacted peoples in Brazil have been threatened by illegal land grabbers, loggers, and gold miners. Additionally, the government of Jair Bolsonaro signalled its intention to develop the Amazon and reduce the size of Indigenous reservations.[34]

Colombia

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With the creation of gigantic tribal reserves and strict patrolling, Colombia is now regarded as one of the countries that offer maximum protection to uncontacted Indigenous people.[35]

The Nukak people are nomadic hunter-gatherers living between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers in south-east Colombia at the headwaters of the northwest Amazon basin.[36] There are groups, including the Carabayo, Yuri and Passé, in Río Puré National Park [es].[37][38][39]

Ecuador

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Two isolated Indigenous peoples of Ecuador live in the Amazon region: the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Both are eastern Huaorani peoples living in Yasuni National Park. These semi-nomadic people live in small groups, subsisting on hunting, gathering, and some crops. They are organized into extended families.[21] Since 2007 there has been a national policy which mandates untouchability, self-determination, equality, and no contact.[21] In 2013, more than 20 Taromenane were killed by Waorani, another Huaorani group.[40]

Paraguay

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Approximately 100 Ayoreo people, some of whom are in the Totobiegosode tribe, live uncontacted in the forest. They are nomadic, and they hunt, forage, and conduct limited agriculture. They are the last uncontacted peoples south of the Amazon Basin, and are in Amotocodie.[41] Threats to them include rampant illegal deforestation.[42] According to Survival International, Brazilian company Yaguarete Porá S.A. is converting thousands of hectares of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe's ancestral territory into cattle ranching land.[43] The Union of Ayoreo Natives of Paraguay is working for their protection, with support from the Iniciativa Amotocodie.[21]

Peru

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The Nomole (derogatory called Mashco-Piro) are nomadic Arawak hunter-gatherers who inhabit Manú National Park in Peru. In 1998, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimated their number to be around 100 to 250.[44] They speak a dialect of the Piro languages.[45] Amid incursions on their land, the tribe has made it clear they do not wish to be contacted.[46] As of 2013, all the bands seem to be surviving. Other groups include the Machiguenga, Nanti, Asháninka, Mayoruna, Isconahua, Kapanawa, Yora, Murunahua, Chitonahua, Mastanahua, Kakataibo, and Pananujuri. Many of them speak dialects of Panoan languages.[21] There are five reserves for uncontacted peoples. However, the law designed to protect those peoples does not prevent economic operations there.[21] There are about 25 uncontacted indigenous groups in Peru.[47]

Venezuela

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In Venezuela some groups from the Hoti, Yanomami, and Piaroa tribes live in relative isolation. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples has no policies designed to protect these people specifically.[21]

Indonesia

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Java

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Banten is home to the Baduy or Kanekes which are divided into the Tangtu (Inner Baduy) and Panamping (Outer Baduy) or Dangka. Inner Baduy shun all contacts with outsiders, while Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world. Dangka are the outermost Baduy groups which do not live in the Kanekes region and have sustained contact with outside world.[48]

North Maluku

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The O’Hongana Manyawa (Inner Tobelo or Togutil) are a semi-nomadic ethnic group living in the interior of Halmahera Island. Recently[as of?] they came into contact with nickel mining activities on the island.[49]

Western New Guinea

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Over 40 uncontacted tribes live in the West Papua region in Indonesia, although contact is usually established upon initial encounter. While it is difficult for journalists and organizations to enter West Papua, no government agency is dedicated to protecting isolated Indigenous groups. Human rights organizations, including Survival International, have argued that there is a need to raise awareness of the existence of uncontacted tribes, for example, to prevent the development of infrastructure near their lands. On the other hand, remaining vague about the exact location and size of the tribe may help to avoid encouraging contact.[50]

Historical

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Australia

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The Pintupi Nine lived a traditional life in the Gibson Desert of Australia until 1984, having earlier split off from another group of Pintupi people.

New Guinea

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The New Guinea Highlands were first visited by Western explorers in the 1930s. The highland valleys were found to be inhabited by over a million people.[51]

United States

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Ishi, a member of the Yahi people of Northern California, remained in voluntary isolation from the outside world until 1911 and was acclaimed as the "last wild Indian".

Peru

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The Matsés made their first permanent contact with the outside world in 1969. Before that date, they were effectively at war with the Peruvian government.[52]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Granizo, Tarsicio. "Guardians of the forests...or refugees? Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in the Amazon". Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil". BBC News. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b Holmes, Bob (22 August 2013). "How many uncontacted tribes are left in the world?". New Scientist. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  4. ^ Report of the Regional Seminar on Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact of the Amazonian Basin and El Chaco, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (20–22 November 2006), presented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), E/C.19/2007/CRP.1, March 28, 2007, paragraph 1.
  5. ^ "More than 100 tribes exist totally isolated from global society". The Independent. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
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  8. ^ International, Survival. "The Uncontacted Frontier". Survival International. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
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  10. ^ Knobler, A. (2016). Mythology and Diplomacy in the Age of Exploration. European Expansion and Indigenous Response. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32490-9. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  11. ^ Crotty, Kenneth (2004). The role of myth and representation in the origins of colonialism (Thesis). Maynooth University. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
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  13. ^ a b Phillips, Dom (5 April 2019). "Brazil: high-risk expedition to contact isolated tribe declared success". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Hammer, Joshua (March 2013). "The Lost Tribes of the Amazon". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  15. ^ Sengar, Resham. "Know more about this 60,000 year-old tribe of the North Sentinel Island". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Rain delays rescue of explorers". The Herald. Glasgow, Scotland. 8 September 1961. p. 8 – via Google News.
  17. ^ Frontier expansion in Amazonia pg. 86 Marianne Schmink, Charles H. Wood, University of Florida. Center for Latin American Studies (1991) ISBN 0-8130-0785-2
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  24. ^ Gregg, Benjamin (April 2019). "Against Self-Isolation as a Human Right of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America". Human Rights Review. 20 (3): 313–333. doi:10.1007/S12142-019-0550-X. S2CID 150900416. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  25. ^ Hill, David (25 February 2012). "'Human safaris' pose threat to uncontacted Amazon tribe". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  26. ^ a b "The most isolated tribe in the world?". Survival International. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  27. ^ Quote from Stolton, Sue; Dudley, Nigel (31 May 2010). Arguments for protected areas: Multiple benefits for conservation and use. Earthscan. ISBN 978-1-84407-881-3.
  28. ^ Dany Mahecha R.; Carlos Eduardo Franky C., eds. (2013). Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary isolation and initial contact. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) and Instituto de Promoción Estudios Sociales (IPES). pp. 104–109. ISBN 978-87-92786-32-6.
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  33. ^ Tharoor, Kanishk (1 January 2019). "The Modern Dignity of an Uncontacted Tribe". The Atlantic. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  36. ^ "Nukak". Survival International. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
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  38. ^ InfoAmazonia (19 July 2018). "Firman decreto para proteger a los pueblos indÃgenas aislados de Colombia" (in Spanish). El Espectador. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
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  40. ^ "Death in the Amazon". The Economist. 8 November 2013.
  41. ^ Brice, Arthur (14 November 2008). "Legal battle over forest is victory for Paraguayan Indians". CNN. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
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  49. ^ "Mengenal O'Hongana Manyawa di Hutan Halmahera yang 'Dikepung' Tambang Nikel". ppman (in Indonesian). 23 March 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
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  52. ^ Snell, Ron (2 February 2006). Jungle Calls (Kindle ed.). Garland, Texas: Hannibal Books. ISBN 0-929292-86-3. Retrieved 27 May 2020.

Further reading

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