Youth from isolated Amazon tribe filmed making contact with locals

A young man from an uncontacted tribe* in the Amazon rainforest has been filmed in a rare encounter with locals in a Brazilian riverside village.

A villager told the Associated Press they believed the man, who was wearing only a loincloth* and carrying wooden sticks, was asking for fire.

However, the villager said locals in the Bela Rosa community along the Purus River in Brazil where the encounter happened had been told not to talk about it.

In the video, locals tried to show the Indigenous man how to use a lighter.

He could be heard speaking in a language they did not understand.

Brazil’s National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) said it put in place a contingency plan* that included “sanitary isolation*”, after the indigenous man reached out to the non-indigenous community at about 7pm on Wednesday. He was returned to the forest the next day.

Isolated tribes are vulnerable* to Western diseases because they haven’t been exposed to the same types of germs. The health and wellness of the residents in the non-indigenous community was therefore assessed as part of the response from FUNAI.

In 2021, FUNAI had officially confirmed that there was an isolated indigenous tribe in the Mamoriá Grande area of Brazil after finding hunting shelters, pottery, woven baskets and bows, but had reportedly not been in contact with the people until this moment.

Teams will remain in the area to monitor the situation, which includes someone from the nearby Juma indigenous group, who they hope may speak the same language as the young man and his tribe.

UNCONTACTED TRIBES OF THE WORLD
It may amaze you to know that despite all the advances in technology and travel that have helped us to map out our world, there are still tribes living much the same way as they have for centuries, if not millennia* – and they are doing so without having any contact with the rest of the world. According to Survival International, there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the globe.

“Uncontacted tribes are indigenous peoples who avoid all contact with outsiders,” the site states. “They’re not backward and primitive relics* of a remote past, they are our contemporaries* and a vitally important part of humankind’s diversity*.”

Here are just a few uncontacted tribes of the world.

1. Mashco Piro tribe, Peru – Believed to be the largest group of indigenous people living with no outside contact, the Mashco Piro lives in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Last year members of the tribe were photographed near the Las Piedras River a few kilometres from tree-cutting projects in the Southeastern section of the country.

2. Awa tribe, Brazil – Living in the Brazilian Amazon, the resourceful Awa use the resin of the native maçaranduba tree to make fire, according to Survival International. This fire helps them hunt at night and light up their homes. They are also able to build a house from leaves and tree trunks in just a few hours.

3. Ayoreo, Paraguay – Under threat of dying out due to land clearing, the Ayoreo are the last uncontacted tribe in South America outside the Amazon, according to Survival International.

4. Shompen, India – Considered one of the most isolated tribes on Earth, the Shompen live on the Great Nicobar Island in the eastern Indian Ocean but are at risk of being wiped out because the Indian Government plans to build a mega-development on the island, which would see the destruction of about one-third of the island’s unique rainforest. The Shompen rely on the rainforest and river system of the island for survival.

5. Hongana Manyawa, Indonesia – One of the last nomadic* people of Indonesia, hundreds of Hongana Manyawa people live in rainforest that has been targeted for mining, according to Survival International. Their names mean “People of the Forest” in their own language and are said to believe that trees have souls and feelings, which is why they never cut them down – not even to make homes.

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GLOSSARY

• uncontacted tribe: indigenous people who avoid contact with people outside their tribe
• loincloth: a piece of cloth that is wrapped around the waist and worn as an item of clothing
• contingency plan: a plan designed to take action against a future event
• sanitary isolation: staying away from others to prevent against the spread of sickness and germs
• vulnerable: at risk of harm
• millennia: thousands of years
• relics: objects of the past or people from an earlier time that have survived but have become outdated or unimportant
• contemporaries: existing in the present time
• diversity: lots of different ideas, identities, cultures and perspectives
• nomadic: not living in one place

EXTRA READING

Last member of Brazilian forest tribe dies

Drone films Amazon tribe

Amazing photos of ancient cultures

QUICK QUIZ

1. In which country was the young tribesman who made contact with local villagers filmed?
2. Why was the man placed in isolation after coming in contact with villagers?
3. What are “uncontacted tribes”?
4. In which country do the Shompen reside?
5. What does the name “Hongana Manyawa” mean?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Indigenous tribes
These Indigenous tribes that live with no contact from the outside world, are happy in their own communities and way of life. However, this man, found possibly asking for a lighter, makes you wonder if they could do with a little help or supplies.

If you could give the tribe five things to help with their way of life, what would you give in a donated survival kit that you think they could use or enjoy? Remember they would need to know how to use it and probably could not read information the way we do as they have their own language and way of communicating.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
What could we learn from these Indigenous tribes about how to balance our lives with less consumerism and technology?

Do you think their families and relationships would be more bonded than ours in today’s busy world?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Wow word recycle
There are plenty of wow words (ambitious pieces of vocabulary) being used in the article. Some are in the glossary, but there might be extra ones from the article that you think are exceptional as well.

Identify all the words in the article that you think are not common words, and particularly good choices for the writer to have chosen.

Select three words you have highlighted to recycle into your own sentences.

If any of the words you identified are not in the glossary, write up your own glossary for them.

Extension
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any base words with more specific synonyms?

Down-level for a younger audience. Find a sentence in the article that is high level. Now rewrite it for a younger audience so they can understand the words without using the glossary.