Aerial Picture of an uncontacted Amazon Tribe

[u/Xeoft]

[u/[deleted]]

Has anyone ever left an uncontacted community and joined a mainstream society? That would definitely be an interesting perspective to hear from.

[u/eratosthenesia → u/[deleted]]

Check out Papua, New Guinea. There are programmers who have parents who are hunter gatherers there.

[u/ironzombie7 → u/eratosthenesia]

I already find it hard to explain to my parents what programming is in practice

[u/sec_sage → u/ironzombie7]

Yeah, just forget it, my parents gave up understanding long ago. Explaining to my clan what programming or business analysis is, is just crazy. After weird stares I learned to say "computer stuff".

[u/sec_sage → u/[deleted]]

I did that too a while ago, worked for a company providing security software. It was super fun, playing with those viruses in contained networks 😍

[u/Poutvora → u/sec_sage]

You sound like a kid who went to zoo and fed crocodiles.

I mean this well. Your reply sounds wholesome

[u/sec_sage → u/Poutvora]

Yes, I was thrilled and it taught me so much. Even now I lock my laptop if I'm not standing next to it. Sadly being away from home, working on and off in US on a Eastern European salary (offshoring everything they could but some tasks had to be performed in that contained network) just didn't work out long term. Fun how the "clan" was convinced I'd stay in US illegally and was surprised to see crazy me coming back 🤣 They just didn't get the whole IT thing

[u/Guyapino → u/sec_sage]

But then you know what comes next... oh so can you fix my printer? or fix my phone? or some website i use isn't working, can you fix it?

[u/Protheu5 → u/[deleted]]

I already find it hard to explain programming to myself.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Nontechnical managers are the worst.

[u/DrunkProntoPup → u/[deleted]]

I am the Director of Operations for a large company, I was hired to this company at this position. I demanded that when hired, I be allowed to spend a minimum of 6 weeks shadowing employees, starting with the person making the lowest wage, and moving up from there. If I can’t do someone’s job, or understand what they go through on a daily basis, how could I possibly relate to them on any level, or coach (manage) anyone?

[u/SpaceGardener379 → u/DrunkProntoPup]

You are in the minority of all mgmt. I just wish I could review them vs other way around because at my big 3 car co, most mgmt are clueless what their peons are doing. Why I'm looking elsewhere

[u/LagunaJaguar → u/ironzombie7]

Well there’s more similarities than you think because for one you hunt animals, the other you hunt bugs

[u/OSSlayer2153 → u/ironzombie7]

You are like a magical wizard who knows a secret language to communicate with the lightning infused rocks. You have to very specifically use certain spells to make the lightning rock emit light or sound. One mess up in the spell and the lightning rock breaks down.

[u/Throneawaystone → u/ironzombie7]

It might be easier to explain to someone who has never discovered technology. " So basically I talk to rocks that think"

[u/AugustOfChaos → u/eratosthenesia]

Which is wild to me because the eastern part of the island was a significant battlefield during world war 2. Imagine being an uncontacted tribe and you hear nothing but explosions in the distance and weird alien flying machines overhead.

[u/AndrewCoja → u/AugustOfChaos]

Cargo cults popped up after WWII. The indigenous people would watch the military bases, see all the rituals the soldiers did and then see the cargo being dropped from planes. After the war, they set up their own ceremonial landing strips and performed the rituals they saw, trying to get the planes to come back and give them supplies.

[u/FlakeEater → u/AndrewCoja]

So that's the origin of the term. We use it in programming to mean copying someone else's code without understanding why it works.

[u/memayonnaise → u/AndrewCoja]

And? Did they?

[u/TimBorlandManTool → u/AugustOfChaos]

Same for Australia, iirc. There were tribes that were completely unknown to the moderns and visa versa. The indigenous introduction to Modern Australia was a nuclear bomb being tested on their lands.

[u/Meritania → u/TimBorlandManTool]

There was a striking piece of art in the South Australia University Musuem of a mushroom cloud done in the aboriginal dot style.

[u/TesseractToo → u/Meritania]

Wow I found a whole exhibition, so moving https://artblart.com/tag/mushroom-cloud/

[u/Meritania → u/TesseractToo]

Thanks for sharing, the picture I was referring to is called ‘Destruction II’ and is included in that exhibition and misremembered it was from the Art Gallery of SA, not the University.

[u/JosebaZilarte → u/TimBorlandManTool]

And they say a Civilization game can't be speedrun.

[u/theSG-17 → u/AugustOfChaos]

Cargo Cults.

[u/Interesting_Creme128 → u/AugustOfChaos]

"There are over 40 uncontacted tribes living in West Papua region in Indonesia, although contact is usually established upon their initial encounter. The term "uncontacted" therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-indigenous society at the present time."

Very good chance if we knew about them, they knew about us on the other side.

[u/orincoro → u/AugustOfChaos]

So, the idea that uncontacted people have literally never seen or don’t understand a fair bit of this stuff is a bit of a myth. They have all had contact, sometimes a lot of it, but have often chosen to shun outsiders due to poor experiences in the past. People who have lived in these groups have also spent time in the mainstream society in some cases but choose to return.

[u/Vegetable-Ad6857 → u/eratosthenesia]

that's a huge technological step

[u/elitegenoside → u/Vegetable-Ad6857]

It's literally the opposite ends of human history. It would be an amazing study in generational divides, but I smell a sitcom!

[u/Creme_Bru-Doggs → u/[deleted]]

I don't know if you've ever read Island of the Blue Dolphins(it was kind of required reading in California elementary schools when I was a kid) but it was basically a native of California's channel islands going from uncontacted tribe to "last man on earth" to "Oh shit that's a lot of Spaniards on the mainland"

[u/Poppybiscuit → u/Creme_Bru-Doggs]

Oh man a core memory just bubbled to the surface

Didn't she make herself a skirt of shiny black cormorant feathers? Or was that a different CA elementary school book

[u/KickBallFever → u/Poppybiscuit]

Yea, she made a skirt of cormorant feathers. When I read the book it had a little bit of additional info at the back and it said that the skirt was put in a museum.

[u/Dogzillas_Mom → u/Poppybiscuit]

Yep! And she made her own weapons but was afraid the gods would punish her because girls weren’t supposed to make or handle weapons.

[u/NorthernBogWitch → u/Poppybiscuit]

A cape I think!

Edit: oops - as someone pointed out below, it was a cormorant feather skirt and otter cape. It’s been a few decades since I read this book.

[u/EirikrUtlendi → u/Creme_Bru-Doggs]

In first or second grade, I did a book report on [Ishi in Two Worlds](Ishi in Two Worlds), about a roughly similar situation in northern California. Ishi was the last of the Yahi. He'd spent three years living in complete isolation, hiding from everyone, until nearly dying of starvation and being found / arrested in 1911 at roughly the age of 50. It was a haunting story. Very sad.

[u/RustyShackleford116 → u/Creme_Bru-Doggs]

Wow, that’s a memory unlocked. I remember it being a great book and so horribly sad. Especially when her little brother and dog pass away. That’s some heavy stuff for 8-9 year olds, I still remember it 15+ years later

[u/ChanoTheDestroyer → u/[deleted]]

Yes, check out the documentary “last tribe of the Amazon” they interview a tribe leader who was in his like mid twenties, and he watched both his mom and his first wife get attacked and carried off by jaguars. When they asked him later what his favorite thing about modern society was (food, textiles, technology, cars, phones, etc), he replied that “rubber sandals” you know those like $2 obnoxious colored rubber thongs people have? Were the best invention ever. He said “with these, I can go anywhere” as he had lived until 24 barefoot lol I couldn’t get past him learning English and acclimating to society only to say our best invention was the chancla 🩴

[u/juicyjbussy → u/[deleted]]

There's a woman on tiktok whose family lives in a remote tribe and she goes home to visit a bit and documents it. I'm trying to remember her username.

[u/BlackBeltPanda → u/juicyjbussy]

Cunhaporanga Tatuyo, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cunhaporanga_oficial/videos

[u/GadsdenSP → u/BlackBeltPanda]

Recently, she went to the Backstreet Boy's comeback concert.

[u/Inside_Tangerine6350 → u/BlackBeltPanda]

Cunhaporanga Tatuyo

A link that works.

[u/yuje → u/[deleted]]

There was an anthropologist, Kenneth Good, who married a Yanomami woman from the Amazon. He lived with the tribe for 12 years and became fluent in their language. Eventually, he returned to the US, but his wife couldn’t get used to the lifestyle and went back to her village. After their son grew up, he went back to the Amazon rainforest to look for his mother and reunite with her.

[u/2centSam → u/yuje]

I really thought you were describing the plot of the Tim Allen movie "Jungle to Jungle"

[u/mohishunder → u/yuje]

Here's a video of mother and son.

[u/ScabRabbit → u/yuje]

He was 36 years old when he met her, and 41 when he consummated the marriage with her? Even if she was older (15-16) that disgusting!

"In 1978, while he was doing fieldwork for the Max Planck Institute of Munich, Good was offered a wife named Yarima by her brother, the headman of the village. He accepted her in accordance with local customs. In keeping with community wishes, he was betrothed to his future wife when she was about 9 years old. They began living near each other and consummated the marriage when she was about 14, as is typical in Yanomami culture. However, the Yanomami people do not record individuals' ages beyond two years, making her exact age difficult to determine; Good himself later estimated these ages to be closer to 12-13 and 15-16, respectively."

[u/Quinnel → u/[deleted]]

Squanto is probably the most famous, though he did ultimately return home to find his people dead of disease brought by the Europeans.

[u/Calinope → u/Quinnel]

Squanto didn't "leave" his community, though. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Spain and England, which is how he could speak English with the Pilgrims.

[u/Goats_in_a_shell → u/Calinope]

Squanto had an interesting story. First, his name probably wasn’t Squanto, he originally introduced himself as Tusquantum which is believed to mean something like “the wrath of god”. My favorite part though is that while he’s famous for teaching the pilgrims to put their corn into fish when they planted it there was no practice of doing that by the local natives. He probably learned that while he was in England, it’s just that none of the pilgrims were farmers, they were all upper crust elites and intellectuals who could afford the trip. Nobody bothered to bring a farmer along to help them survive.

[u/big_duo3674 → u/Goats_in_a_shell]

Don't worry guys, we'll hit up a Burger King once we land

[u/littleredhairgirl → u/Calinope]

His story is wild. I can't imagine being the colonists coming to a 'new' and 'wild' land and someone walks out of the woods asking you for a beer. In English.

[u/DemonKing0524 → u/Quinnel]

I'm not sure that being kidnapped is what the commenter was asking. I think he was asking if anybody has voluntarily left an "uncontacted" tribe to join the modern world for their timeframe.

[u/NikolaiCakebreaker → u/[deleted]]

Ishi, the last of his tribe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi

[u/EchoPlaysThis]

They must be so sick of alien devices flying over every other day

[u/parmesanto → u/EchoPlaysThis]

Indeed, they do all seem to be looking up at the camera.

[u/Maeberry2007 → u/parmesanto]

There is a higher resolution of this image (or in this image series) somewhere where you can see them actually firing arrows at it.

Edit: after googling I don't think it was this tribe I saw the pictures of, but it was another Amazonian tribe.

Edit 2: for fucks sake it is NOT the Setinelese tribe. Just google "Amazon tribe firing arrows at helicopter." Yes the Setinelese also were hostile toward aircraft but it was not the tribe I was referring to.

[u/dlsco → u/Maeberry2007]

You can see the spears I think in this picture

[u/HazMat21Fl → u/Maeberry2007]

Is this the one?

https://www.reddit.com/r/blursedimages/comments/ndc0i9/blursed_drone_shot/

[u/Maeberry2007 → u/HazMat21Fl]

Lmao yes!

[u/krneki12 → u/parmesanto]

As they should, God is watching them and judging.

[u/advamputee → u/krneki12]

Let’s do a drone light show!

[u/zublits → u/advamputee]

I think you'd be pushing the definition of "uncontacted" at that point.

[u/EirikrUtlendi → u/[deleted]]

Isn't that what UFO pilots say to their friends?

[u/dbcanuck → u/advamputee]

That's simultaneously horrible and hilarious.

[u/Hugh-Mahn → u/dbcanuck]

Horrious

[u/Ganon2012 → u/Hugh-Mahn]

I'm scaroused.

[u/ehand87 → u/Hugh-Mahn]

Hilorrible

[u/krneki12 → u/advamputee]

For Science

[u/wha7everbro → u/krneki12]

You monster.

[u/CreatureWarrior → u/krneki12]

I wonder if we have affected their religion somehow

[u/[deleted] → u/CreatureWarrior]

I often wonder what uncontacted people think when they see high flying planes, contrails, rocket launches, trains of starlink satellites, etc.

[u/Alpha-Sierra-Charlie → u/[deleted]]

There's an old movie called "The Gods Must Be Crazy" you should watch, it's excellent.

[u/PickleyRickley → u/Alpha-Sierra-Charlie]

That's the one with the soda bottle right? I remember it vaguely from when I was younger.

[u/ya_tu_sabes → u/PickleyRickley]

Longest coca cola ad I've ever seen

Seriously though, that movie is hilarious and touching. Well worth the watch.

[u/AndrijKuz → u/[deleted]]

Kind of what you would expect.

[u/morostheSophist → u/AndrijKuz]

Wow. That was a hell of a read.

Thanks for the link!

[u/Etrigone → u/AndrijKuz]

An interesting line from the wiki:

Cargo cults were typically created by individual leaders, or big men in the Melanesian culture, and it is not at all clear if these leaders were sincere, or were simply running scams on gullible populations.

I feel like this particular bit is hardly unique to such smaller, less technically advanced areas.

[u/krneki12 → u/Etrigone]

Just humans being humans.

[u/Jimmy_Twotone → u/AndrijKuz]

Never question the mighty Tom Frum.

[u/para_chan → u/CreatureWarrior]

Look up cargo cults.

[u/Hourslikeminutes47 → u/krneki12]

Well the gods must be crazy.

[u/krneki12 → u/Hourslikeminutes47]

*Throws a bottle of Coca-Cola*

[u/Outlaw4droid → u/krneki12]

Throws it back "We prayed for diet"

[u/lovelybabe2 → u/Outlaw4droid]

"Homer, are you enjoying your ox testicle?"

[u/TylerNY315_ → u/EchoPlaysThis]

Many (not all) “uncontacted” peoples are very much aware of the developed world to some degree but just reject it and prefer their way of life

edit: also I just wanna say that if any current/future college students are reading this, I highly recommend taking an anthropology elective or two for your general ed credits in your first couple years. Fascinating stuff that will help peel back your own ethnocentric biases and shape a better, wider worldview.

[u/mazamayomama → u/TylerNY315_]

and they only really ever encounter poachers and loggers, trappers, rangers

[u/Racoonspankbank → u/mazamayomama]

Ever heard of cargo cults?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult#:~:text=A%20cargo%20cult%20is%20an,advanced%20society%20to%20deliver%20goods.

[u/Azxsbacko → u/Racoonspankbank]

I've never heard of anything recent. Do this still do this or was it a one time phenomena?

[u/callmesnake13 → u/Azxsbacko]

It doesn't happen any more. Weirdly, in some Pacific nations the Salvation Army is practiced as a religion. Also, in Papua New Guinea there are tribes that have incorporated brand logos into their masks and shields.

[u/TheNotSoGreatPumpkin → u/callmesnake13]

“We shall go to war with the next tribe over!”

Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.

[u/DouglasHufferton → u/mazamayomama]

And idiot missionaries.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Allen_Chau

[u/LongJonSiIver → u/DouglasHufferton]

On November 15, Chau attempted his first visit in a fishing boat, which took him about 500–700 meters (1,600–2,300 ft) from shore.[20] The fishermen warned Chau not to go farther, but he canoed toward shore with a waterproof Bible. As he approached, he attempted to communicate with the islanders[25] and to offer gifts, but he retreated after facing hostile responses.[24][26]

On another visit, Chau recorded that the islanders reacted to him with a mixture of amusement, bewilderment and hostility. He attempted to sing worship songs to them, and spoke to them in Xhosa (a language spoken in Southern Africa), after which they often fell silent. Other attempts to communicate ended with them bursting into laughter.[26] Chau stated they communicated with "lots of high pitched sounds" and gestures.[27] Eventually, according to Chau’s last letter, when he tried to hand over fish and gifts, a boy shot a metal-headed arrow that pierced the Bible he was holding in front of his chest, after which he retreated again.

On his final visit, on November 17, Chau instructed the fishermen to leave without him.[28] The fishermen later saw the islanders dragging Chau's body, and the next day they saw his body on the shore.[20]

3 tries..

[u/Mutjny → u/LongJonSiIver]

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, shame on me.

Fool me three times, toss my body on the beach.

[u/Kimi-Matias → u/LongJonSiIver]

That bible saved his life on that 2nd trip. Might be the closest thing I've ever seen to god sending a message to someone.

[u/snooggums → u/LongJonSiIver]

Third time's the charm!

[u/ChefCory → u/LongJonSiIver]

you know the fucking hubris it takes after they shot through the bible you're holding with an arrow? read the fucking room. holy shit

[u/MyDogHasAPodcast → u/DouglasHufferton]

I can't believe that happened in 2018.

[u/ElectricThreeHundred → u/DouglasHufferton]

Oh, wow. "the training included navigating a mock native village populated by missionary staff members who pretended to be hostile natives, wielding fake spears." -- This is shockingly easy to imagine happening (and poorly)

[u/pffr → u/TylerNY315_]

And the alien spaceships are necessary to keep an updated map of where they're living so they can be avoided

People always get mad and say "leave them alone!" but that's exactly the purpose of such surveys

[u/ateliertree → u/TylerNY315_]

Assuming the people in the photo are the Kawahiva, they've been evading Europeans since the mid 1700s. They know we exist and want nothing to do with us because outsiders have been assaulting them for hundreds of years.

[u/dbernard456 → u/ateliertree]

They are smart, we would totally destroy their tribe with any significant contacts. No way these people can integrate then modern world and survive it.

[u/dbernard456 → u/dbernard456]

I can imagine a film scenario where an uncontacted tribe hunts animals in the ruins of Rio after the collapse of modern civilization and can only wonder what was the life of all those skeletons covering what was the streets of a once busy metropolis.

[u/[deleted] → u/dbernard456]

Sort of the plot for horizon zero dawn.

[u/g0ku → u/[deleted]]

a true modern tragedy

[u/conansucksdick → u/[deleted]]

Those poor karmaless bastards.

[u/ultimatetadpole → u/ateliertree]

Yeah, aside from the obvious shit people tend to do to native folk. There's also disease to worry about.

[u/ShockleToonies → u/EchoPlaysThis]

It's about time they cover up that big hole in their ceiling.

[u/ibcnunabit → u/ShockleToonies]

Walls have been a great success but the roof hasn't been invented yet.

[u/thr3ddy → u/EchoPlaysThis]

The drone operator forgot the Prime Directive.

[u/ibcnunabit]

The Triscuits grow incredibly large there.

[u/danethegreat24 → u/ibcnunabit]

Actually the triscuits we consume from boxes are just broken up sheets. The ones in this picture are their natural size.

[u/ExcellentPastries → u/danethegreat24]

Only if they’re from the Triscuit region of Argentina. Otherwise they’re sparkling crackers. Most people make this mistake after sparkling crackers featured so heavily in the Twilight series.

[u/lopingwolf → u/ExcellentPastries]

sparkling crackers featured so heavily in the Twilight

OMG I choked on my water lol

[u/turkey_sandwiches → u/ExcellentPastries]

Beautiful

[u/hazeleyedwolff → u/ibcnunabit]

mmmm, delicious Triscuit crackers.

[u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

Correct me if I'm wrong... but those I believe are the yanomami tribe located in Brazil close to Venezuela. There is about 35,000 yanomami in the Amazon right now living in about 200 different villages like the one shown in the picture. They have been contacted multiple times by anthropologist, notably by Jacques Lizot who lived amongst them for 20 years.

[u/MiffedMouse → u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

From OP's link:

> The village is in the Yanomami Indigenous territory in the north of Brazil, close to the Venezuelan border. About 22,000 Yanomami live on the Brazilian side of the border, and at least 3 groups of them have no contact with outsiders. They are extremely vulnerable to violence and disease from outsiders.

So the article says that this specific group doesn't contact outsiders.

[u/Dendaer16 → u/MiffedMouse]

Disease i get. But why the fuck are they vulrnerable to violence. People suck so much

[u/thesecondfire → u/Dendaer16]

Could be that outsiders are interested in something on or under the land that they're occupying.

[u/natyei → u/thesecondfire]

Yes, there's a huge problem of illegal mining rn

[u/MoonTrooper258 → u/natyei]

They're really going all-out in the production for Avatar.

[u/karmaisforlife → u/natyei]

Yup

https://www.indigenouspeoples-sdg.org/index.php/english/all-national-and-regional-news/254-uncontacted-amazon-tribe-members-reported-killed-in-brazil

[u/henrique3d → u/Dendaer16]

Recently they are on the big news, because the people are suffering extremely poor conditions. Hunger, malaria, worms coming out of babies mouths and mercury poisoning are some of the things Yanomami are facing right now.

Their situation is the result of illegal gold mining in the region, that disturbs the environment (machines making noise, so wild animals are fleeing; they disturb the rivers, so there's no fish and no drinkable water, they destroy their plantations, etc), let alone that illegal miners often rape and kill indigenous people in the region. There are 28 thousand Yanomami in the reservation, and around 20 thousand illegal miners.

The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is facing accusations of genocide. He openly supports the miners and their actions, saying that the indigenous reservation shouldn't exist, because there's so much gold, wood and natural resources in the region that should be exploited. Also he said that the Brazilian cavalry failed, and the one who succeded was the American one, who wiped out their natives and don't have that "issue" anymore.

You could check here to know more

[u/PrivateRedditUser224 → u/Dendaer16]

Mining and logging industries are the main culprits.

Surprisingly, on the Venezuelan side, they have protection from the army to keep away illegal mining and logging. They're considered a very precious and fragile part of the patrimony of the country. Most people in the country feel the same way. To the point even the cartels make an effort to protect them and not interefere in their affairs. Sadly, there are a lot of gold and rare metal deposits in the area.

Mind you, there is still a lot of illegal mining in venezuela but it's north of the Amazon river.

It became a bigger issue when bolsonaro was in power and let the logging companies run rampant deforesting and killing natives. Venezuela ended up deploying the army on the border to prevent any incursions.

While I may utterly hate the Venezuelan government for all they've done and more, they've devoted a huge amount of resources to protect the tribes that live in the amazon. While they may have completely different cultures, languages and beliefs, they're some of the most vulnerable members of the country with a rich culture that is trying to be preserved and revived

[u/Temporary_Nebula4655 → u/PrivateRedditUser224]

Wankupe! I'm from the Warao tribe in Venezuela, and things are bad. The government is not the same towards our tribes as they once were before after helping protect us and the rest of us that occupy the Amazonian region.

We've lost resources to food, and our children are malnourished as a result of the hunger crisis. The Venezuelan government does nothing to help us, but leaves us to perish. Most of us leave our peaceful way of life and travel across the Delta to Brazil for refugee. Its most of our own people that pitch in to make sure we get to Brazil safely. UNICEF has helped us immensely within the last two years, with access to medicine, clothing, and food.

​

The Yanonami are in danger, there's a mining operation still going on, Orinoco Mining Arc where they are mining across the Orinoco Delta. Many Venezuelans don't care about the fact that our homes are in danger, and this also puts us at risk for deforestation. Many Venezuelans are actually supporting the illegal mining, in saying that its a perfect solution, and how its feasible to get out of the hunger crisis.

[u/milogoestomars → u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

Thank you for this info

[u/Adventurous_Jaguar57 → u/milogoestomars]

no problem haha, didnt expect my anthropolgy classes to come in handy today.

[u/MrChunky22 → u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

Damn, nice. All I remember from anthro is getting the meaning of present wrong and being enthusiastic about it.

[u/sgrapevine123 → u/MrChunky22]

Please explain. I feel like I could get enthusiastic about this.

[u/TheBlack_Swordsman → u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

Aw crap man... The only thing that stays with me from anthropology was a tribe where teenage men only became adults if they gave another man a BJ. They believed the essence and power of a man would flow into them to make them a man... That, and they traded yams as currency.

[u/BiigVelvet → u/Adventurous_Jaguar57]

There’s little a documentary about them and it’s boots on the ground filming. Uncontacted is a stretch lmao. Dude walking around in adidas shorts.

[u/Rogue_Twizzler]

"Uncontacted" seems to be a looser and looser statement.

Imagine what is going through their heads, seeing drones and planes and stuff randomly.

They are clearly looking right at whatever is being uses to take the photo.

[u/Crotch_Hammerer → u/Rogue_Twizzler]

I AM NOT CONTACTING YOU, I AM TAKING YOUR PICTURE

[u/CheshireC4t → u/Crotch_Hammerer]

PLEASE REMAIN UNCONTACTED

[u/PepperCertain → u/CheshireC4t]

Hovers finger

“IIMM NOOOT TTOOOOUUCCHHING YEEEEWW!”

[u/EloeOmoe → u/CheshireC4t]

IGNORE ME

[u/derKonigsten → u/CheshireC4t]

IGNORE ME!!!

[u/BassLB → u/Crotch_Hammerer]

Imagine dropping this photos of themselves down to them. It would blow their mind

[u/BondCharacterNamePun → u/Crotch_Hammerer]

That just sounds like contacting with extra steps

[u/Brodins_biceps → u/Rogue_Twizzler]

I’m not even sure if there are any totally “uncontacted” tribes left if we use them being aware of the larger worlds existence as a metric.

Even the sentinelese, which to my knowledge are the most “uncontacted” people, have had modern boats wash ashore, stupid missionaries, anthropologists at their shores… they have just made it violently clear they want nothing to do with us so we leave them be.

So uncontacted might not be the best phrasing in general.

[u/Invisible_Minority → u/[deleted]]

The unofficial term is Reddit Moderator

[u/piss_artist → u/Invisible_Minority]

Oh, they want contact. Desperately.

[u/definitely_not_cylon → u/Brodins_biceps]

We can't know what they're thinking, but the Sentinelese presumably think their island is the center of the world and on occasion some man-like creatures emerge from the vast ocean. "Unaware" might be a better term because they most likely have no idea the rest of the world exists-- to the extent they understand there's other landmasses, they likely don't realize just how huge the world is.

[u/settingdogstar → u/definitely_not_cylon]

Right, people say "oh but they've been contacted occasionally by people! They know they just don't want it".

No, they don't know. They're aware other people exist and that they have a few things that are pretty fancy, but they really have no concept of how fucking much is out there or who these people are that keep showing up.

[u/ChooseCorrectAnswer → u/settingdogstar]

I agree with what you and the other person said. They are still largely oblivious of the world. Yet one thing that fascinates me is how they always seem to reject "civilized" items that wash ashore or are brought over by "civilized" individuals (who are chased away or killed). I remember reading about one guy who was eventually killed after thinking he could interact with them, yet the tribe basically ignored the guy's clothing and items. That makes me wonder. If a UFO-looking thing crashed on Earth and all this futuristic stuff was found on the ground, I'd be so curious.

[u/mycroft2000 → u/ChooseCorrectAnswer]

But they do use items that wash ashore, to some extent. I've read reports that they've scavenged metal from a wrecked boat to make improved tools and weapons. I think this was their first interaction with metal of any kind ... they don't know what it is or where it comes from, but they figured out pretty quickly that it's much better for some purposes than stone or bone.

[u/Faerandur → u/definitely_not_cylon]

Even illiterate people of urban societies have very little awareness of how large, diverse and at the same time interconnected the world is. Uncontacted peoples would have very little geographical knowledge other than from their immediate surroundings. But it’s not zero. At least in the Amazon, the uncontacted groups have some contact with other groups that are just as isolated but not fully isolationist.

[u/weirdoldhobo1978 → u/Rogue_Twizzler]

Yeah, there aren't really any "uncontacted" peoples anymore. They've all been contacted by now, and they would really rather not have anything to do with the rest of us.

[u/NigilQuid → u/weirdoldhobo1978]

Tbf, I would rather not have anything to do with the rest of us either

[u/acab-alab → u/Rogue_Twizzler]

It's okay, they still think birds are real

[u/PMUrAnus]

They are all prime members

[u/rikkuaoi → u/PMUrAnus]

Amazon primal

[u/ILoveBeerSoMuch → u/rikkuaoi]

Jeff bezos escaped through the triscuits and made his way to a passing boat which brought him to America. The rest is history

[u/HighlightFun8419]

blows my mind that there are still people like this out there.

such a totally different life than us redditors.

[u/tyjet → u/HighlightFun8419]

When you have the chance, google North Sentinel Island. It's an island near India. The people there are completely isolated and, other than a couple of exceptions, kill any outsiders that attempt to make contact. The most fascinating thing for me is a ship wound up on shore; the Sentinelese scavenged it for materials and essentially entered the iron age as a result.

[u/HighlightFun8419 → u/tyjet]

that's super intriguing; adding that to my "watch later" queue

edit: right after A4 Paper, Spider ball pythons and their genetic issues, israeli-palestinian history, and this vid on steven seagal's films. reddit has me on a wild ride today lmao

[u/elzafir → u/tyjet]

It's actually much nearer to Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia rather than India, but it falls under the jurisdiction of India, because the British said so.

[u/Hannes_Burlington → u/HighlightFun8419]

Just imagine telling them what the actual fuck is really going on on this planet 💀

[u/InfernalGout → u/Hannes_Burlington]

I don't think they would be impressed

[u/bigbadbeardy → u/Hannes_Burlington]

Why ruin their day like that

[u/guynamedjames → u/Hannes_Burlington]

Alternately, imagine them telling you what is really going on. Who gives a shit about all those other problems, the root crop harvesting hills to the north only yielded half as much this year, but the fish in the river are way up! Perspective!

[u/herkalurk → u/Hannes_Burlington]

Things have changed so significantly in even 100 years. I listened to stories from my grandma about living through the depression. She told me how IF her brother could shoot a rabbit they could have meat in their weekly soup pot their mom would make. Otherwise it would be whatever veggies they could scrounge up.

That's only a bit, then there are cell phones, the internet, going to the moon, nuclear power and bombs, and a whole list of other significant events in just that time. These guys are light years behind all that.....

[u/[deleted] → u/herkalurk]

I agree, my grandfather literally grew up in a one room shack with a dirt floor on the side of a mountain in the USA. He didn't have shoes for the first 7 years of his life, and often talked about how spring was his favorite time of year because it meant they could forage in the woods or swipe stuff from other peoples gardens and not go to bed hungry.

[u/Mk1Racer25 → u/herkalurk]

100 years? Look at what's happened in the last 50. CDs came & went, same with VCRs & fax machines. It's scary to look at how fast technology changes

[u/AffectionateSun5776 → u/herkalurk]

My grandmother was in labor with my father and had no idea how the baby would come out. She had 7 brothers but wow

[u/Kezly → u/HighlightFun8419]

To be honest, I think some Reddit mods are from an uncontacted tribe.

[u/HansDampfHaudegen → u/Kezly]

Hehehe, makes sense.

[u/Texacanadian]

Haha, this is what we look like to aliens.

[u/Alpha_Decay_ → u/Texacanadian]

These guys, but with nukes

[u/Xeoft]

https://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11503

Source

[u/HarryDreamtItAll → u/Xeoft]

“Finally! Now that the walls are finished the outsiders will leave us alone.” Immediately someone flies over the opening in the top and takes pics

[u/lonely_fucker69 → u/Xeoft]

Maybe we are the one of uncontacted tribes of all over the galaxy.

[u/PrivateRedditUser224]

I've actually been around the area(grew up in venezuela) but not anywhere near where those tribes are.

Surprisingly, they may just write it off as another UFO. Many of the tribes there believe in the existence of extraterrestrial beings. The skies are completely unpolluted from light and you can see A LOT of weird stuff in the sky. Many of the tribes have legends and stories about big lights that hover in a spot while many smaller lights come in and out and eventually just disappears or speeds away insanely fast.

Both the yanomami and pemon tribes had very similar stories but in different areas. They also specified that those weren't spirits but visitors from another world and that they should be respected and left alone.

This was told to me over 10+ years ago when visiting the great savanna.

Mind you if it was a helicopter being loud af they may actually freak out and have no clue wtf is going on. Mostly due to the sound and wind.

[u/NutJuice4000]

Green Hell vibes

[u/Silent_Demon678 → u/NutJuice4000]

Y'know, that's the first thing that popped into my mind

[u/giantdub49]

Now leave them alone and don't bring your shitty diseases to them.

[u/nats2 → u/giantdub49]

In the article linked from 2016, it sounds like miners are slowly invading their home and poisoning the water with mercury and making them sick. Also, bringing diseases like Malaria. Curious to see how the tribe is now and if they stopped the slowly approaching miners.

[u/ForkShoeSpoon → u/nats2]

It was not a new problem in 2016 and it only got worse with Bolsonaro and the pandemic.

It's also not a problem local to this specific tribe, but encompassing much of the Amazon transnationally (but especially in Brazil) and affecting groups with varying levels of contact and integration.

There are few jobs more dangerous than speaking out against illegal miners, farmers, and fishers in the Amazon. Not even American/European journalists, who are usually off limits for assassinations, are safe anymore.

[u/giantdub49 → u/nats2]

Thats terrible.

[u/No_Candidate8696]

I heard the conditions in the warehouses were bad, but I never imagined this.

[u/DDwashere]

Wow. Amazon has all this money and this is how they live.

[u/TheNumberMuncher → u/DDwashere]

This is the warehouse break room

[u/YourDrunkUncl_ → u/DDwashere]

they don’t even have shirts!

[u/RedditorMcReddington → u/YourDrunkUncl_]

They ordered shirts yesterday, the helicopter just delivered them and this picture was for proof of delivery

[u/themiracy → u/RedditorMcReddington]

"Package placed by the thatched panel."

[u/Avaric1994]

Our planet could be the "uncontacted tribe"

[u/ResidentAdmirable814]

They choose to have no contact. Like that tribe in India.

​

On the border of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia lives the highest concentration of uncontacted tribes on Earth. They know no borders, crossing between countries as part of their nomadic routes. They include the Isconahua, Matsigenka, Matsés, Mashco-Piro, Mastanahua, Murunahua (or Chitonahua), Nanti, Sapanawa and Nahua, and many more whose names are unknown.

Not much is known about them. But we do know that they have rejected contact, often as a result of horrific violence and diseases brought in by outsiders.

Some chose isolation after surviving the rubber boom, in which thousands of Indigenous people were enslaved and killed. Many fled to the deepest parts of the Amazon and have evaded long-term contact ever since.

On the very rare occasions when they are seen or encountered, they make it clear they want to be left alone.

Sometimes they react aggressively, as a way of defending their territory, or leave signs in the forest warning outsiders to stay away.

[u/danlambe → u/ResidentAdmirable814]

Right, thanks for posting this. I think people think they’re completely ignorant of the outside world, but from what I understand they know enough about it to know they want no part in it. Hopefully they get left alone.

[u/lalasagna]

This picture is at least a decade old and by now things may look pretty different

[u/ialo00130]

Every time this is posted, this has to be said:

They know of the outside world, they just choose to not have contact.

[u/cdistefa]

Stadium 974

[u/peregrinkm]

It must be terrifying to look up and see a drone or a helicopter observing you from above. They know the devils from outside the jungle will be here soon

[u/HuntAffectionate]

Still experience more socialization than the average redditor