A recent quiz has challenged you to see which "tribe" you belong to. Well, if you took it, you're a fool. Whatever section of society you identify with is NOT tribe.
THESE are tribes...
www.itv.com/news/update/2014-03-30/uncontacted-amazon-tribe-reacts-to-planes-overhead/
This article is incredible. It tells of how a tribe living in the Amazon, thought to be uncontacted by anthropologists, reacts to a plan flying overhead. And frankly, this really interests me in a good way.
I first came across this tribe when it was first reported 6 years ago after a helicopter flying over the Amazon found itself being attacked by arrows from a previously undiscovered tribe below. Photos were taken and the tribe was left alone.
However, they have resurfaced and photos have once again been taken of this tribe, once again, preparing to attack the plane flying overhead. But, even so, I don't think people completely understand the importance of this news. There are numerous ramifications for knowing this tribe exist and that they still occupy this territory. And, if I'm brutally honest, it should change the way you perceive the world.
1. This means that this tribe (however extensive) survived the conquistadors when they came to South America. If you think that the Incas, the Mayans and the Aztecs all succumbed to the Europeans when they came, this tribe were obviously so well hidden that they were untouched and didn't succumb to the disease and the slavery the Spaniards (and others) brought with them.
2. They have no clue about the outside world at all. As far as they're concerned, they might think they're the only people in the world. If they are uncontacted as many anthropologists believe, then they've never seen anyone outside their own tribe. Imagine the horror they would get if they one day met a white, black or Asian man!
But with this, they've also missed the whole of history! Crusades, World War I, Hitler, World War II, Sputnik, the Falklands, Kennedy, the Moon Landings, the Cold War, 9/11, all of it. They have no idea about what's happened in the world WE inhabit. Look at the way they attack both a helicopter and a plane. As my friend Frances, (Scrapbook of a Dreamer), pointed out when we discussed it they've never seen a plane or a helicopter before! They have no idea what it is, where it came from or what it does.
The picture taken above from 2008, was taken on a return journey from a research trip. The tribe had been spotted on the way but weren't painted. The tribes people noticed the plane but did nothing. However, on the return trip, the people had painted themselves and started firing arrows at the craft. It's now thought that the paint is used as a sign of aggression. But we still don't know that for sure.
But there is a saving grace and annoyance to this whole thing. For their own protection, we can't meet them. If they were looking for volunteers to meet them, I'd gladly put myself forward because of the sheer awesomeness of meeting a tribe never before been contacted. But, realistically speaking, we'd end up killing them. And I don't mean with guns or weapons, though I will get onto that, but with our bio-chemistry. Over the years, as a world, we have made ourselves immune to so many diseases that we have had time to build up a resistance to. The tribes people, may not have the same resistance to certain diseases. If they catch it then we risk losing one of the last remnants of a bygone era of human history.
Because that's what they are. They are the legacies of a history we have long forgotten. It's strange to think there was a world before our own. And I'm not talking medieval or Mesopotamian, I'm talking when the world acted like they do. The Cradle Of Civilization, the Aboriginals, the Maoris before Western Culture came and decimated them. Even Britain had tribes! The Celts in Scotland, the Welsh tribes and even in England. It's weird to think of it considering we're now so used to our globalized world but they don't know that. They don't know that we can get from one end of the world to another in 24 hours or that we even have the ability to destroy us and them.
So look at it from their perspective. You've lived in complete solitude for all your life, been brought up in a tight-knit community and only know the ways of your elders. Suddenly, a massive noisy silver bird appears out of no-where. You've never seen it before, nor have anyone else in your community. But there it is. In the sky. Just there. Your first reaction? That's what I thought. They have no idea what a plane or a helicopter does because they've never seen or experienced one before! As far as they're concerned, it's coming to attack them. They just don't know because they're not part of OUR world. But this is also not say that people in uncontacted tribes themselves don't make first contact. The four men to the right made contact on their own accord in 2004. So it does work both ways. But still, for their own protection, contact must be a last resort.
Now, for why this should change everything we know about the world and how we act around it. These people in the Amazon are by no means the only undiscovered tribes in the world but these guys are at some disadvantage. If you consider that a vast proportion of the Amazon is chopped down daily to make way for various projects and various other perhaps unorthodox practices, it could be that one day that we some kind of Avatar situation. If they go far enough into the forest or far enough in that direction, they may well end up on the tribe's territory. I'm sure there are safeguards in place to protect them from this but, the way things are going, you can't help but wonder. There are companies all the time trying to get into the lands of these people and take the natural resources. With some South American politicians suggesting that these people don't actually exist. Well...if this is the case, it's a pretty elaborate hoax don't you think?
To bring the point home, this man below is apparently 'the last' of his tribe and lives on his own in the rainforest after his tribe were massacred. (I'm not sure how but that's the story behind this photo). He lives a very solitary life in the rainforests because it's all he knows.I should also point out that it's not only the Amazon where these uncontacted people are either. There are some dotted over the world and there's every reason to believe there are still undiscovered people that we haven't found yet in places like Borneo. But just to balance things, this is a picture of a "Sentinelese" man who is part of a tribe who live solely on the North Sentinel Island off India. This picture was taken shortly after the Boxing Day Tsunami 10 years ago this year. Many were concerned that they might not have survived the Tsunami given its destructive power. But we can breath a sigh of relief knowing that they did!
Although we shouldn't really ever meet these people for their own safety, as long as more people are aware that they exist and are vulnerable to the modern world then something good's been done. These people are legacies of a time long lost to us. They need to be cherished, understood and protected. They know nothing of our world. Whether by fate or by choice, they don't know what we've achieved, what we've done or what we've lost. But that doesn't mean we should write them off just because they think differently to us. These people are wonderful. They're wonderful and so interesting. I would give anything to learn everything about their cultures and their beliefs but as long as we appreciate that they are there then that's all. That's all we need to do. And respect them enough to leave them alone unless they come to us.
No?
First picture belongs to the Associated Press.
Second picture belongs to Reuters
Third, Fourth and Fifth Pictures belong to Survival International.
