Brazil tribe photographed: No contact with outside world

William Atkins
Friday, 30 May 2008 19:38

Science - Biology

Researchers have discovered (and photographed) what they say is a tribe of people in the Amazonian rainforest that have never had contact with any facet of modern society.

Photographs were taken by the researchers from a small airplane that showed several men with bodies painted red standing near a thatched hut within the dense forest. Many are pointing their bows and arrows upward in the general direction of the researcher’s low-flying aircraft.

The researchers photographed the group near the border between Brazil and Peru, in South America. The area called Acre state (in Brazil), which is along the Envira River, is considered one of the most remote areas of the Amazonian Rainforest.

The Brazilian government Indian affairs agency National Indian Foundation (or, Fundação Nacional do Indio [FUNAI]) published the photographs on Thursday, May 29, 2008, of the jungle dwellers.

The Ministry of Justice website of the FUNAI states that these indigenous people are thought to have never been contacted by any outsiders—peoples who are called “uncontacted.”

Uncontacted peoples are groups of people who live without any significant contact with the larger civilizations of the world, either by chance or by choice.

Uncontacted tribes expert José Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Júnior, who works for FUNAI, stated, "We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist. This is very important because there are some who doubt their existence.” [Survival International: “Uncontacted tribe photographed near Brazil-Peru border”]

According to Survival International (SI, a nonprofit group that defends the rights of indigenous peoples), over one hundred “uncontacted” tribes remain living around the world—that is, remain isolated from the rest of the world with no contact by any outsiders.

Representatives for SI say that about fifty or so of these tribes live in the isolated areas of the Amazonian rainforest of Peru and Brazil.

These uncontacted peoples are at great peril from the rest of the world. Read the next page to find out more. Pictures of this Brazilian group are also available.