Sole surviving member of an Amazon indigenous tribe has died
Around 790 indigenous tribes still exist in Brazil, but accelerated logging of the Amazon rainforest means remaining ‘uncontacted’ tribes face increasing threats as one tribe’s last living link dies
READING LEVEL: ORANGE
He was found lying in a hammock, his body covered with feathers. No one knew his name. No one knew the language he once spoke. And now, no one will ever know, as he was the last surviving member of his tribe.
The death in the Brazilian Amazon of a man in his sixties, referred to as “the man of the hole”, marks a sad milestone* in the effort to protect the last uncontacted tribes in Brazil from the relentless* advance of the modern world.
Five hundred years ago, when Portuguese explorers arrived in what they later named Terra do Brasil, there were several thousand tribes, perhaps three to four million people, living across the South American territory.
Today, about 790 of those indigenous* tribes still exist. Many became extinct* as the result of disease brought by the colonialists*, extermination* or intertribal war. Others were “detribalised”, meaning they were assimilated* without trace into the general Brazilian population.
The passing of the man of the hole is the first time the death of the final surviving member of a tribe has been documented. He was from an “uncontacted” tribe, a slightly misleading term. All the tribes in the Amazon have some interaction with neighbouring communities, which in turn may have limited contact with the world outside. As some trading between groups is common, basic tools such as knives and synthetic* ropes often make their way to the isolated groups, along with some knowledge of life beyond the forest.
“They choose to withdraw for their survival,” said Leonardo Lenin Santos, from Brazil’s observatory for the human rights of uncontacted and recently contacted indigenous peoples, speaking to The Times.
Very isolated tribes in the rainforest, he said, were usually “remnants of bigger tribes” that move to more remote regions for safety reasons, usually after traumatic contact with the outside world, most often involving murder or disease.
Such was the case with the man of the hole, whose relatives are all believed to have been killed in the 1980s by farmers. His name comes from the 3m deep holes he would dig around his territory, probably as hunting traps.
“He was a witness to the genocide* process and the previous contact he had with non-indigenous people was when they killed his family,” Mr Santos said.
That trauma was evident when a group of researchers from the Brazilian government briefly tried to approach him in 1996. His mood was described in a contemporary report as “terrified and extremely aggressive”. He shot an arrow at one of the team. No further attempt was made to contact him, although he was filmed briefly during a chance encounter in 2011.
By then, much of the land around his hide-out had been felled*.
He lived on “an island of forest in the middle of deforestation*”, said Ivaneide Bandeira Cardozo, who leads a group dedicated to protecting the forest and those who live within it. The man of the hole is believed to have died of natural causes and it is believed he covered himself in feathers in his final days because he knew he was dying.
Funai, Brazil’s official protection agency for indigenous people, said there was evidence of at least 114 so-called uncontacted tribes in Brazil, although the existence of only 28 has been confirmed.
Since 1987, government policy has been one of no contact with isolated tribes, meaning interaction between them and any non-indigenous people is prohibited* except in extreme circumstances.
One rule is not to leave anything behind that has been touched by outsiders and therefore could introduce infections.
“They have very low immunity,” Ms Cardozo said. “So, anything left can contaminate and contribute to the genocide of these people.”
Ms Cardozo believes that at the present rate of invasion and destruction of their land, more of the remaining isolated tribes will face extinction within 20 years – a prospect she regards as a tragedy for all humanity.
“To me, it is like you have destroyed a huge library, which you never even read,” she said.
This article was originally published by The Times and is reproduced here with permission.
GLOSSARY
- milestone: an important stage or event in the development of something
- relentless: unceasing, constant, persistent, non-stop
- indigenous: native, first, original, people who originally lived in a place
- extinct: no longer existing, having ended or died out
- colonialists: people who arrived from elsewhere and colonised a different race or group
- extermination: killing all the animals or people in a particular place or of a particular type
- assimilated: to conform to customs, attitudes and laws of a dominant group or nation
- synthetic: man-made rather than natural materials
- genocide: intentionally destroying and killing a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group
- felled: cut or knocked down, logged
- deforestation: purposeful, large-scale clearing of forested land
- prohibited: forbidden, against the law, officially forbidden
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QUICK QUIZ
- How old was Brazil’s man of the hole?
- What does his name refer to?
- What was he covered in when he was found and what is it believed to mean?
- The existence of how many uncontacted Brazilian tribes has been confirmed?
- Why is it important not to leave anything behind that has been touched by outsiders?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Making comparisons
What comparisons can you identify between what has happened to indigenous tribes in Brazil and events in Australia? Make a list of the similarities.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; HASS; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures
2. Extension
What do you think of Brazil’s approach of prohibiting contact with isolated and uncontacted indigenous tribes? Write a paragraph to explain your reasoning.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; HASS; Ethical Understanding
VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there during the event being discussed in the article, or for the interview.
Create a conversation between two characters from the article – you may need or want to include yourself as one of the characters. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.
Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.