Previously Uncontacted Tribe in Brazil Reveal Themselves for the First Time

Photo of author
By: Kraig Becker
Updated:
5
uncontacted tribe

Late last week, a story broke out of Brazil that is both very interesting and very disturbing at the same time. A tribe of indigenous people living in a remote corner of the Amazon Rainforest has made first contact with a settled tribe after being forced to migrate out of their territory due to illegal logging activity. Up until this point, the existence of the tribe was known by Brazilian officials, but that group of people had never been contacted by outside people before. 

These types of stories always fascinate me. It is amazing that in the 21st century there are still place on our planet that are so remote that there are people that live there that have still been untouched by the modern world. It has become increasingly difficult for such pockets of wilderness to continue to exist, even in the Amazon, but just knowing that these tribes are out there, isolated in the rainforest, is amazing to me.
The story is a bit disturbing however, because most of these tribes have occupied their little corner of the world for generations. Something dramatic and life altering must have happened to force them to abandon their territory and set out into the unknown. It is believed that loggers, harvesting trees from the Amazon illegally, may have infringed on the tribes lands, forcing them to flee the area. 
Sadly, once they begin to have contact with the outside world, the tribe faces even more dangers. Their immune systems are not equipped to handle certain diseases and illnesses that they could encounter, and if they infringe on the territory of another tribe, violence could ensue. It is no doubt a frightening time for this tribe, which is said to be quite large. 
Hopefully there will be some efforts made to isolate this tribe to a degree and assist them in resettling somewhere safe. It would be interesting to learn what caused their migration as well. Truly a fascinating piece of news. 
Kraig Becker
Latest posts by Kraig Becker (see all)

5 thoughts on “Previously Uncontacted Tribe in Brazil Reveal Themselves for the First Time”

  2. Agreed Sean. I kind of like that we know these tribes exist, and we choose to leave them alone.

  3. Interesting discovery. It shows that other ways of life than the dominant western one have to be taken into account in any sort of decisions on development.

  4. Very interesting. We certainly need to take into account indigenous values when planning any major activities that may affect the environment.

Comments are closed.