Uncontacted Tribes Discovered In Brazil (PHOTOS)

The BBC reported last night that an uncontacted tribe had been discovered on the border between Brazil and Peru.

According to the Guardian, there are around 100 uncontacted tribes in the world. "Survival International estimates more than half are in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon."

The National Indian Foundation, a government agency in Brazil, took these photos and published them Thursday. According to CNN, "it tracks "uncontacted tribes" -- indigenous groups that are thought to have had no contact with outsiders -- and seeks to protect them from encroachment.

They and their relatives apparently live in six communal shelters known as malocas, according to the government, which has tracked at least four uncontacted groups in the region for the last 20 years.

The photos were taken during 20 hours of flights conducted between April 28 and May 2.

More photos here.

Comments

[skahimself]

Lets be fair. These people haven't had a chance to be welcomed into the loving arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We should move quickly to baptise these heathens before they die and are damned to Eternal Hellfire.

If they refuse Our Lord, then we can always mutilate the men, rape the women, and take the children as our slaves.

It's what Columbus would have done ...

[indypete]

If we don't kill them all with smallpox first.

[Boredmonkey]

Hummm. It doesn’t look like they are awaiting Jesus’ return to me. Maybe they are waiting for Joo Boo Me Smokee Alot.

I just pray they aren’t using red dye #40. :o)

[Mr. Cobb]

Also, they're not so "lost." They would have heard stories about the outside world from others by now. They're aware of us but apparently choose to be left alone so leave them alone.

[ChewyToy22]

I wish they'd just leave these people alone. They are NOT lost and they're not missing anything. Leave them in their uncivilized ignorance. For their own sakes.

[bdd]

LEAVE THEM ALONE.
Stop the fly overs.
HOW RUDE.
So called modern civilization has nothing good to offer them and looking at history, will only destroy their culture.
I repeat:
LEAVE THEM ALONE.

[olephart]

If you look closely at the second picture in the upper right corner there's a native holding a Starbucks cup.

[Mr. Cobb]

If this was staged, you would see females and children instead of only males.

I know I want this to be true and it might cloud my judgement, but I don't see anything incorrect about what you would expect.

[SwingingFromCenter]

What makes me doubt it's authenticity is the quality of the photographs. In this age of digital media, hi-tech telefoto lenses, etc....are we really to believe the best they can muster for pictures are those pics? They couldn't get ONE close up?

I highly doubt that.

[RumiSouth]

Haven't you heard? Starbucks is EVERYWHERE­...

[Mr. Cobb]

I'm thinking that this chopper has been flying over them for some time. Maybe over days or weeks. They hid at first but now they've come out to meet and repel it. The one in black is their shaman. They wouldn't be wearing red war paint all the time so they were ready and expecting it again. One has what looks like a bamboo (no bamboo in the SA rain forest) blow gun that uses frog venom on a dart.

[indypete]

The one in black is a Raiders fan, the others are for the KC Chiefs.

[Mr. Cobb]

Also, there are no females or children seen, just men.

[Quaoar]

Naked men with wide stances brandishing weapons. Sounds like a Republican Party event.

[preatorius]

Wy are tese people lost?
They look like they are standing outside their homes!
It looks like they are trying to defend their homes from invaders.
Maybe the reason why they are living ain a remote area is because they have ad contact with the western world (euphemism). Perhaps it is the explorers who are lost.

Just another example of ethnocentrism of scientists. The tribe is at home, but lost according to the scientist. The scientist, who don't recognize the tribe, are not lost in their minds!

[Mr. Cobb]

It looks authentic. There's some recent repairs on the huts. You can tell by the different weathered shading of the palm fronds. They must have buzzed them low enough in the chopper where it blew one of the palm fronds apart and pissed them off. Also, the big tree log is where they would be sitting around on.

[hope4theflowers]

For funs sake..
looks like they arent in need of a Jenny Craig center or a Bally's Fitness . o well.

[Tommygun264]

In the photo with the two men pointing drawn bows up at the photographer: is he wearing Nike shoes?

[Mr. Cobb]

Leave them alone.

[Rigagli]

Why should we leave them alone? Are you pro-bow and arrow? Bows and arrows HURT PEOPLE.
But maybe that doesn't bother you--the hurt.

[billicone24]

imagine...­these people have never heard of George Bush...

there's never been a stronger argument for "ignorance is bliss" in my opinion...

[GingerB]

It's not just the state motto of Kansas.

[hope4theflowers]

LMAO

[ZimboChick]

*SMIRKS AND LOOKS AROUND*

[Wanjiru]

...I just love the way people or places are "discovered", when they've ALWAYS BEEN THERE!...

...get over yourselves­...

.

[ZimboChick]

These people dont know when to quit

[iantepoot]

I find it hilarious that so many people are not aware of their own, condescending attitude to this group and apparently believing this makes them enlightened (by the "incredibly corrupt" Western standard). They concoct ridiculous fantasies of the "noble savage" living in a Utopia knowing nothing about them while simultaneously being vitriolic about their own culture as they suckle at the teat of technology by posting to boards. None of them, it seems, has seen fit to run into the forest and live off the land. I believe that is called hypocrisy.

That said: leave them alone. The why is straightforward:

1. We are not all-knowing, and thus have no idea the effects of our encroachment or contact. Even if we had altruistic aims, we cannot predict all the outcomes, good or bad. Thus, we need to figure what course of action entails less damage potential. Logic tells us they've lived there and built a culture without us. Contact is a complete unknown as to its effects on them.

Why do we have the right to make this decision? It may seem paternalis­tic/high-h­anded, but... (without value judgement), we are the party with more data and more means to affect the outcome. We are aware of them and the context of the world beyond their territory, while their awareness of us is limited. We know their location and have the means to go there -- vice versa is not true.

[hope4theflowers]

you argued against our atttitudes then went right ahead and said the same things we all have been saying..lo­l gues you just had to hear it from yourself eh there sparky

[iantepoot]

No, I laid out a case why yes, I agree, contacting them is unwise.

My issue was with the knee-jerk demonizing of 21st century in a froth of self-hatred and the assumption that we are always evil. And that assumption, you seem to forget, would assume you as a member of the culture.

I don't believe that, and the fact that our instinct is even a discussion regarding what would be best for their well-being, that it OCCURS to us to give a crap, belies the contention. I've been and lived a lot of places. The West is not perfect, but constantly acting as if we are the most foul culture on the planet is (a) naive/provincial and (b) ironically arrogant. You assume that we must be the "most and best" at everything -- including ethical turpitude.

I also find it belittling and naive to romanticize a culture we know nothing about and using them as a blank slate to project every utopian fantasy about how they are "living as one with nature in a spiritually richer pre-industrial edenic culture". I suppose this sprouts from an underlying (and unconscious) assumption that these non-industrial cultures are so simplistic that a glance at them lets your sophisticated western mind analyze them. Either that or they are all the same.

They might be peaceful, enlightene­d... or will eat itself alive in 50 years. Who knows?

[jethrock]

I think everyone is just relieved to not be blogging about politics..­.

I can't wait until Obama is our President and maybe I can get back to focusing more on the things I'm passionate about.

If McCain is the Prez... another four years Huffed Up politics and another four years of watching our civil liberties being annihilated and War spreading to Iran... and elsewhere.­..

I might take Susan Sarandon's lead and move over seas.

[dawn2dusk]

Yes, we should follow the Federation laws regarding "First Contact"

you know, Star Trek

[olivia]

Why two different races, apparently?

And yes, leave them alone.

[jethrock]

Olivia--

It's not two different races... It's fashion.

They probably crush berries, flowers, bugs, minerals to create paint... Like we used to do in the good ole' days.

[preatorius]

Yes, before we began to use toxic chemicals in our blue food.