Wild tribes: Cruel rites of male initiation (8 photos). Wild tribes and their life in the modern world
I wonder if our lives would be much calmer and less nervous and hectic without all the modern technological advances? Probably yes, but it’s unlikely to be more comfortable. Now imagine that on our planet in the 21st century there are tribes living peacefully who can easily do without all this.
1. Yarawa
This tribe lives in the Andaman Islands in Indian Ocean. It is believed that the age of the Yarawa is from 50 to 55 thousand years. They migrated there from Africa and now there are about 400 of them left. The Yarawa live in nomadic groups of 50 people, hunt with bows and arrows, fish in coral reefs and collect fruits and honey. In the 1990s, the Indian government wanted to give them more modern conditions for life, but the Yarava refused.
2. Yanomami
The Yanomami carry on as usual ancient image of life on the border between Brazil and Venezuela: 22 thousand live on the Brazilian side and 16 thousand on the Venezuelan side. Some of them have mastered metal processing and weaving, but the rest prefer not to contact the outside world, which threatens to disrupt their centuries-old way of life. They are excellent healers and even know how to catch fish using plant poisons.
3. Nomole
About 600-800 representatives of this tribe live in the tropical forests of Peru, and only since about 2015 have they begun to appear and cautiously contact civilization, not always successfully, it must be said. They call themselves "nomole", which means "brothers and sisters". It is believed that the Nomole people do not have the concept of good and evil in our understanding, and if they want something, they do not hesitate to kill their opponent in order to take possession of his thing.
4. Ava Guaya
The first contact with Ava Guaya occurred in 1989, but it is unlikely that civilization has made them happier, since deforestation actually means the disappearance of this semi-nomadic Brazilian tribe, of which there are no more than 350-450 people. They survive by hunting, live small family groups, have many pets (parrots, monkeys, owls, agouti hares) and have proper names, naming himself after his favorite forest animal.
5. Sentinelese
If other tribes somehow make contact with the outside world, then the inhabitants of North Sentinel Island (Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal) are not particularly friendly. Firstly, they are supposedly cannibals, and secondly, they simply kill everyone who comes to their territory. In 2004, after the tsunami, many people on the neighboring islands were affected. When anthropologists flew over North Sentinel Island to check on its strange inhabitants, a group of aborigines came out of the forest and threateningly waved stones and bows and arrows in their direction.
6. Huaorani, Tagaeri and Taromenan
All three tribes live in Ecuador. The Huaorani had the misfortune of living in an oil-rich area, so most of them were resettled in the 1950s, but Tagaeri and Taromenan split from the main Huaorani group in the 1970s and went into the rainforest to continue their nomadic, ancient way of life. . These tribes are quite unfriendly and vindictive, so no special contacts were established with them.
7. Kawahiwa
The remaining members of the Brazilian Kawahiwa tribe are mostly nomads. They do not like contact with people and simply try to survive through hunting, fishing and occasional farming. The Kawahiwa are endangered due to illegal logging. In addition, many of them died after communicating with civilization, having contracted measles from people. According to conservative estimates, there are now no more than 25-50 people left.
8. Hadza
The Hadza are one of the last tribes of hunter-gatherers (about 1,300 people) living in Africa near the equator near Lake Eyasi in Tanzania. They are still living in the same place for the last 1.9 million years. Only 300-400 Hadza continue to live in the old ways and even officially reclaimed part of their land in 2011. Their way of life is based on the fact that everything is shared, and property and food should always be shared.
They don't know what a car, electricity, a hamburger or the United Nations are. They get their food by hunting and fishing, believe that the gods send rain, and do not know how to write or read. They may die from catching a cold or flu. They are a godsend for anthropologists and evolutionists, but they are becoming extinct. They are wild tribes that have preserved the way of life of their ancestors and avoid contact with the modern world.
Sometimes the meeting occurs by chance, and sometimes scientists specifically look for them. For example, on Thursday, May 29, in the Amazon jungle near the Brazilian-Peruvian border, several huts were discovered surrounded by people with bows who tried to fire at the expedition plane. IN in this case specialists from the Peruvian Center for Indian Tribal Affairs carefully flew around the jungle in search of savage settlements.
Although in Lately Scientists rarely describe new tribes: most of them have already been discovered, and there are almost no unexplored places on Earth where they could exist.
Wild tribes live in the territory South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. According to rough estimates, there are about a hundred tribes on Earth that do not or rarely come into contact with the outside world. Many of them prefer to avoid interaction with civilization by any means, so it is quite difficult to keep an accurate record of the number of such tribes. On the other hand, tribes that willingly communicate with modern people gradually disappear or lose their identity. Their representatives gradually adopt our way of life or even go away to live “in the big world.”
Another obstacle preventing the full study of tribes is their immune system. "Modern Savages" for a long time developed in isolation from the rest of the world. The most common diseases for most people, such as a runny nose or flu, can be fatal for them. The body of savages does not have antibodies against many common infections. When the flu virus strikes a person from Paris or Mexico City, his immune system immediately recognizes the “attacker”, since it has already encountered him before. Even if a person has never had the flu, immune cells “trained” against this virus enter his body from his mother. The savage is practically defenseless against the virus. As long as his body can develop an adequate “response,” the virus may well kill him.
But recently, tribes have been forced to change their usual habitats. The development of new territories by modern man and the cutting down of forests where savages live force them to establish new settlements. If they find themselves close to the settlements of other tribes, conflicts may arise between their representatives. And again, cross-infection with diseases typical for each tribe cannot be ruled out. Not all tribes were able to survive when faced with civilization. But some manage to maintain their numbers at a constant level and not succumb to the temptations of the “big world”.
Be that as it may, anthropologists were able to study the lifestyle of some tribes. Knowledge about them social structure, language, tools, creativity and beliefs help scientists better understand how human development occurred. In fact, every such tribe is a model ancient world, representing possible options for the evolution of culture and people's thinking.
Piraha
In the Brazilian jungle, in the valley of the Meiki River, lives the Piraha tribe. There are about two hundred people in the tribe, they exist thanks to hunting and gathering and actively resist being introduced into “society”. The Piraha have unique language features. First, there are no words for shades of color. Secondly, the Pirahã language lacks the grammatical structures necessary to form indirect speech. Thirdly, the Pirahã people do not know numerals and the words “more”, “several”, “all” and “every”.
One word, but pronounced with different intonation, serves to designate the numbers “one” and “two”. It can also mean “about one” or “not very many.” Due to the lack of words for numbers, the Pirahã cannot count and cannot solve simple mathematical problems. They are unable to estimate the number of objects if there are more than three. At the same time, the Pirahã show no signs of a decline in intelligence. According to linguists and psychologists, their thinking is artificially limited by the features of language.
The Pirahã have no creation myths, and a strict taboo forbids them to talk about things that are not part of their own experience. Despite this, the Pirahã are quite sociable and capable of organized actions in small groups.
Cinta larga
The Sinta Larga tribe also lives in Brazil. Once the number of the tribe exceeded five thousand people, but now it has decreased to one and a half thousand. The minimum social unit of the Sinta Larga is the family: a man, several of his wives and their children. They can move freely from one settlement to another, but more often they establish their own home. The Sinta Larga engage in hunting, fishing and farming. When the land where their home stands becomes less fertile or game leaves the forests, the Sinta Larga move from their place and look for a new site for their home.
Each Sinta Larga has several names. One thing - the “real name” - is kept secret by each member of the tribe; only the closest relatives know it. During their life, Sinta Largas receive several more names depending on their individual characteristics or important events that happened to them. Sinta Larga society is patriarchal and male polygamy is common.
The Sinta Larga have suffered greatly due to contact with the outside world. In the jungle where the tribe lives, there are many rubber trees. Rubber collectors systematically exterminated the Indians, claiming that they were interfering with their work. Later, diamond deposits were discovered in the territory where the tribe lived, and several thousand miners from all over the world rushed to develop the Sinta Larga land, which is illegal. The tribe members themselves also tried to mine diamonds. Conflicts often arose between savages and diamond lovers. In 2004, 29 miners were killed by Sinta Larga people. After that, the government allocated $810,000 to the tribe in exchange for a promise to close the mines, allow police cordons to be placed near them, and not engage in stone mining themselves.
Tribes of Nicobar and Andaman Islands
The Nicobar and Andaman Islands group is located 1,400 kilometers off the coast of India. Six primitive tribes lived in complete isolation on the remote islands: the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, Shompens, Sentinelese and Negrito. After the devastating 2004 tsunami, many feared the tribes had disappeared forever. However, it later turned out that most of Of these, to the great joy of anthropologists, she escaped.
The tribes of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands are in the Stone Age in their development. Representatives of one of them - the Negritos - are considered the most ancient inhabitants of the planet who have survived to this day. Average height Negrito is about 150 centimeters, and Marco Polo wrote about them as “cannibals with dog faces.”
Korubo
Cannibalism is a fairly common practice among primitive tribes. And although most of them prefer to find other sources of food, some have maintained this tradition. For example, the Korubo, who live in the western part of the Amazon Valley. The Korubo are an extremely aggressive tribe. Hunting and raids on neighboring settlements are their main means of subsistence. Korubo's weapons are heavy clubs and poison darts. The Korubo do not practice religious rites, but they have a widespread practice of killing their own children. Korubo women have equal rights with men.
Cannibals from Papua New Guinea
The most famous cannibals are, perhaps, the tribes of Papua New Guinea and Borneo. The cannibals of Borneo are cruel and indiscriminate: they eat both their enemies and tourists or old people from their tribe. The last surge in cannibalism was noted in Borneo at the end of the past - the beginning of this century. This happened when the Indonesian government tried to colonize some areas of the island.
In New Guinea, especially in its eastern part, cases of cannibalism are observed much less frequently. Of the primitive tribes living there, only three - the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai - still practice cannibalism. The most cruel tribe is the Karafai, and the Yali and Vanuatu eat someone in rare cases. special occasions or as needed. The Yali are also famous for their death festival, when the men and women of the tribe paint themselves as skeletons and try to please Death. Previously, to be sure, they killed a shaman, whose brain was eaten by the leader of the tribe.
Emergency ration
The dilemma of primitive tribes is that attempts to study them often lead to their destruction. Anthropologists and ordinary travelers find it difficult to refuse the prospect of going to stone Age. In addition, the habitat modern people is constantly expanding. Primitive tribes managed to carry their way of life through many millennia, however, it seems that in the end the savages will join the list of those who could not stand the meeting with modern man.
Small groups of people representing uncontacted tribes are completely unaware of the moon landings, nuclear weapons, Internet, David Attenborough, Donald Trump, Europe, dinosaurs, Mars, aliens and chocolate, etc. Their knowledge is limited to their immediate environment.
There are probably several other tribes that have yet to be discovered, but let's stick to the ones we know about. Who are they, where do they live and why do they remain isolated?
Although it's a bit of a vague term, we define an "uncontacted tribe" as a group of people who have not had significant direct contact with modern civilization. Many of them have only a brief acquaintance with civilization, since the conquest of the New World resulted in ironically uncivilized results.
Sentinel Island
Hundreds of kilometers east of India are the Andaman Islands. About 26,000 years ago, during the heyday of the latter ice age, the land bridge between India and these islands jutted out of the shallow sea and then sank under the water.
The Andamanese peoples were nearly wiped out by disease, violence and invasion. Today there are only about 500 of their representatives left, and, according to at least, one tribe, Jungli, became extinct.
However, on one of the Northern Islands, the language of the tribe living there remains incomprehensible, and little is known about its representatives. It seems that these miniature people cannot shoot and do not know how to grow crops. They survive by hunting, fishing and gathering edible plants.
It is not known exactly how many of them are alive today, but there may be anywhere from several hundred to 15 people. The 2004 tsunami, which killed about a quarter of a million people across the region, also hit these islands.
Back in 1880, British authorities planned to kidnap members of this tribe, keep them well captive, and then release them back to the island in an attempt to demonstrate their benevolence. They captured an elderly couple and four children. The couple died of illness, but the young people were given gifts and sent to the island. Soon the Sentinelese disappeared into the jungle, and the tribe was no longer seen by the authorities.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Indian authorities, soldiers and anthropologists tried to establish contact with the tribe, but it hid inside the jungle. Subsequent expeditions were met with either threats of violence or attacks with bows and arrows, and some ended in the death of the attackers.
Uncontacted tribes of Brazil
Vast areas of the Brazilian Amazon, especially in the interior of the western state of Acre, are home to up to one hundred uncontacted tribes, as well as several other communities that would readily establish contact with the outside world. Some tribal members were wiped out by drugs or gold diggers.
As is known, respiratory diseases common in modern society, can quickly destroy entire tribes. Since 1987, official government policy has been not to engage with tribes if their survival is at risk.
Very little is known about these isolated groups, but they are all distinct tribes with different cultures. Their representatives tend to avoid contact with anyone who tries to contact them. Some hide in the forests, while others defend themselves using spears and arrows.
Some of the tribes, such as the Awá, are nomadic hunter-gatherers, which makes them more resilient to outside influences.
Kawahiwa
This is another example of uncontacted tribes, but is best known for leading nomadic image life.
It appears that in addition to bows and baskets, its members may use spinning wheels to make strings, ladders to collect honey from bee nests, and elaborate animal traps.
The land they occupy has received official protection, and anyone who trespasses on it faces severe persecution.
Over the years, many of the tribes engaged in hunting. The states of Rondonia, Mato Grosso and Maranhao are known to contain many dwindling uncontacted tribes.
Loner
One man presents a particularly sad picture simply because he is last representative of your tribe. Living deep in the rainforest of Tanaru in the state of Rondônia, this man always attacks those nearby. His language is completely untranslatable, and the culture of the disappeared tribe to which he belonged remains a mystery.
Besides the basic skills of growing crops, he also likes to dig holes or lure animals. Only one thing is certain, when this man dies, his tribe will become nothing more than a memory.
Other uncontacted tribes of South America
Although Brazil contains a large number of uncontacted tribes, such groups of people are known to still exist in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, French Guiana, Guyana and Venezuela. In general, little is known about them compared to Brazil. Many tribes are suspected of having similar yet distinct cultures.
Uncontacted tribes of Peru
The nomadic group of Peruvian peoples have endured decades of aggressive deforestation for the rubber industry. Some of them even deliberately contacted the authorities after fleeing drug cartels.
In general, keeping away from all other tribes, most of them rarely turn to Christian missionaries, who are accidental spreaders of disease. Most tribes like Nanti can now only be observed from a helicopter.
Huaroran people of Ecuador
This people are connected common language, which does not appear to be related to any other in the world. As hunter-gatherers, the tribe has over the past four decades settled on a long-term basis in a fairly developed area between the Curaray and Napo rivers in the east of the country.
Many of them had already made contact with the outside world, but several communities rejected this practice and instead chose to move to areas untouched by modern oil exploration.
The Taromenan and Tagaeri tribes number no more than 300 members, but are sometimes killed by loggers looking for valuable mahogany wood.
A similar situation is observed in neighboring countries, where only certain segments of tribes such as the Ayoreo from Bolivia, the Carabayo from Colombia, the Yanommi from Venezuela remain completely isolated and prefer to avoid contact with the modern world.
Uncontacted tribes of West Papua
In the western part of the island New Guinea There are about 312 tribes, 44 of which are uncontacted. The mountainous region is covered in dense, Viridian forests, which means we still don't notice these wild people.
Many of these tribes avoid socializing. Many human rights violations have been reported since their arrival in 1963, including murder, rape and torture.
The tribes usually settle along the coast, wander through the swamps and survive by hunting. In the central region, which is at a high elevation, the tribes are engaged in growing sweet potatoes and raising pigs.
Little is known regarding those who have not yet installed official contact. In addition to the difficult terrain, researchers human rights organizations and journalists are also prohibited from exploring the region.
West Papua (the far left side of the island of New Guinea) is home to many uncontacted tribes.
Do similar tribes live in other places?
There may be uncontacted tribes still lurking in other forested parts of the world, including Malaysia and parts Central Africa, but this has not been proven. If they exist, it might be best to leave them alone.
Outside world threat
Uncontacted tribes are mainly threatened external world. This article serves as a cautionary tale.
If you want to know what you can do to prevent them from disappearing, then it is recommended that you join a rather interesting non-profit organization Survival International, whose staff works around the clock to ensure that these tribes live out their unique life in our colorful world.
In the modern world, there is less and less space on Earth every year. secluded places, where no civilization has gone before. It's coming everywhere. And wild tribes are often forced to change the places of their settlements. Those of them that make contact with the civilized world are gradually disappearing. They either dissolve in modern society or simply die out.
The thing is that centuries of life in complete isolation did not allow the immune system of these people to properly develop. Their body has not learned to produce antibodies that can resist the most common infections. A common cold can be fatal for them.
Nevertheless, anthropologists continue to study wild tribes whenever possible. After all, each of them is nothing more than a model of the ancient world. A kind of possible version of human evolution.
Piahu Indians
The way of life of wild tribes generally fits within the framework of our idea of primitive people. They live mainly in polygamous families. They engage in hunting and gathering. But the way of thinking and language of some of them is capable of striking any civilized imagination.
Once upon a time, the famous anthropologist, linguist and preacher Daniel Everett went to the Amazonian Piraha tribe for scientific and missionary purposes. First of all, he was struck by the language of the Indians. It had only three vowels and seven consonants. They did not have the slightest idea about the only and plural. There were no numerals in their language at all. And why would they need them, if the Piraha didn’t even have a clue about what was more and less. It also turned out that the people of this tribe live outside of any time. Such concepts as present, past and future were alien to him. In general, the polyglot Everett had a very difficult time learning the Pirahu language.
Everett’s missionary mission was in for a big embarrassment. First, the savages asked the preacher whether he personally knew Jesus. And when they found out that he was not, they immediately lost all interest in the Gospel. And when Everett told them that God himself created man, they fell into complete bewilderment. This bewilderment could be translated something like this: “What are you doing? Isn’t he as stupid as people are?”
As a result, after visiting this tribe, the unfortunate Everett, according to him, almost turned from a convinced Christian into a complete one.
Cannibalism still exists
Some wild tribes also have cannibalism. Now cannibalism among savages is not as common as it was about a hundred years ago, but still cases of eating their own kind are not uncommon. The savages of the island of Borneo are the most successful in this matter; they are famous for their cruelty and indiscriminateness. These cannibals happily eat tourists too. Although the last outbreak of kakibalism dates back to the beginning of the last century. Now this phenomenon among wild tribes is episodic.
But in general, according to scientists, the fate of wild tribes on Earth has already been decided. In just a few decades they will finally disappear.
It seems to us that we are all literate, smart people, we enjoy all the benefits of civilization. And it’s hard to imagine that there are still tribes on our planet that are not far removed from the Stone Age.
Tribes of Papua New Guinea and Barneo. People still live here according to the rules adopted 5 thousand years ago: men go naked, and women cut off their fingers. There are only three tribes that still engage in cannibalism, these are the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai. . These tribes take great pleasure in eating both their enemies and tourists, as well as their own elderly and deceased relatives.
In the highlands of the Congo there lives a tribe of pygmies. They call themselves Mong. The surprising thing is that they have cold blood like reptiles. And in cold weather they were capable of falling into suspended animation, like lizards.
On the banks of the Amazonian River Meiki lives a small (300 individuals) Piraha tribe.
The inhabitants of this tribe have no time. They have no calendars, no clocks, no past and no tomorrow. They have no leaders, they decide everything together. There is no concept of “mine” or “yours”, everything is common: husbands, wives, children. Their language is very simple, only 3 vowels and 8 consonants, there is also no counting, they cannot even count to 3.
Sapadi tribe (Ostrich tribe).
They have an amazing property: they have only two toes on their feet, and both are big! This disease (but can this unusual foot structure be called that?) is called claw syndrome and is caused, according to doctors, by incest. It is possible that it is caused by some unknown virus.
Cinta larga. They live in the Amazon Valley (Brazil).
A family (husband with several wives and children) usually has own house, which is abandoned when the land in the village becomes less fertile and game leaves the forests. Then they move away and look for a new site for a house. When the Sinta Larga move, they change their names, but each member of the tribe keeps their “true” name a secret (only their mother and father know it). Sinta Larga have always been famous for their aggressiveness. They are constantly at war both with neighboring tribes and with “outsiders” - white settlers. Fighting and killing are an integral part of their traditional way of life.
In the western part of the Amazon Valley live the Korubo.
In this tribe, it is literally survival of the fittest. If a child is born with any defect, or falls ill with a contagious disease, he is simply killed. They know neither bows nor spears. They are armed with clubs and blowpipes that shoot poisoned arrows. Korubo are spontaneous, like small children. As soon as you smile at them, they start laughing. If they notice fear on your face, they begin to look around warily. It's almost primitive tribe, which was completely untouched by civilization. But it is impossible to feel calm in their environment, since they can become furious at any moment.
There are approximately 100 more tribes that do not know how to read and write, do not know what television or cars are, and, moreover, still practice cannibalism. They film them from the air, and then mark these places on the map. Not in order to study or enlighten them, but in order not to let anyone near them. Contact with them is not advisable not only because of their aggressiveness, but also for the reasons that wild tribes may not have immunity from the diseases of modern humans.
