And all because of the local tribe, whose members do not have a very good reputation - they are very hostile to anyone who tries to land on North Sentinel Island.
Anyone who approaches the island will be attacked by representatives of a local, little-studied tribe that has rejected any contact with the outside world.
In 2006, representatives of the tribe killed two fishermen who fished illegally in those places. Sentinelese have been known to shoot arrows and stones. Sometimes they shoot at low-flying planes or helicopters that are trying to explore the island.
It is worth noting that the island is located in the Bay of Bengal. Its area is 72 sq. km and officially it is under the control of India, being part of the united territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is assumed that the island has been inhabited for 60,000 years.
Very little is known about the tribe living on the island, the language they use and the rituals they perform on the island.
There is just a few photos taken from afar and almost no video showing local residents.
Everything you can find is pretty poor quality. Also, little is known about the number of representatives of the tribe. According to one estimate, a couple of dozen people live on the island, according to others, several hundred.
It is not known how it affected 2004 tsunami to the island, but the Sentinelese managed to survive. Moreover, one of its representatives, who was being photographed after the devastating tsunami, fired a bow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter.
Although the island is under Indian administration, the government of the country decided not to interfere in the affairs of the tribe. Previously, the government tried to establish at least some contact with the locals, but all attempts were in vain.
For security reasons, it was decided prohibit tourists and locals from coming closer than 5 km to the island.
Since the tribe does not leave the island, they eat only what the land gives them and sea animals.
And yet the waters surrounding the island are increasingly filled illegal fishermen. One of the fishermen reported that he managed to set foot on the island and get very close to the representatives of the tribe and escape alive and unharmed.
According to representatives of the non-governmental organization Survival International, which monitors the observance of the rights in relation to the tribal peoples, the Sentinelese are "the most vulnerable people on the planet", since they have no protection against common diseases such as colds and rubella (measles).
Ethnic diversity on Earth is striking in its abundance. People living in different parts of the world are at the same time similar to each other, but at the same time they differ greatly in their way of life, customs, language. In this article, we will talk about some unusual tribes that you will be interested to know about.
The Pirahã Indian tribe lives in the Amazonian rainforest, mostly on the banks of the Maici River, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.
This people of South America is known for their language, pirahão. In fact, Pirahão is one of the rarest languages among the 6,000 spoken languages around the world. The number of native speakers ranges from 250 to 380 people. The language is amazing because:
- does not have numbers, for them there are only two concepts "several" (from 1 to 4 pieces) and "many" (more than 5 pieces),
- verbs do not change either in numbers or in persons,
- it does not have names for colors,
- consists of 8 consonants and 3 vowels! Isn't it amazing?
According to linguists, Piraha men understand basic Portuguese and even speak very limited topics. True, not all males can express their thoughts. Women, on the other hand, have little understanding of the Portuguese language and do not use it at all for communication. However, the Pirahão language has several loanwords from other languages, predominantly from Portuguese, such as "cup" and "business".
Speaking of business, the Piraha Indians sell Brazil nuts and provide sexual services in order to buy supplies and tools, such as machetes, milk powder, sugar, whiskey. Chastity is not a cultural value for them.
There are several other interesting points associated with this nationality:
- Piraha have no coercion. They don't tell other people what to do. It seems that there is no social hierarchy at all, no formal leader.
- This Indian tribe has no concept of deities and God. However, they believe in spirits that sometimes take the form of jaguars, trees, people.
- it seems that the Piraha tribe are people who do not sleep. They can take a nap for 15 minutes or at most two hours throughout the day and night. They rarely sleep through the night.
The Wadoma tribe lives in the Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. They are known for being ectrodactyly by some members of the tribe, missing the three middle toes and turning the outer two inwards. As a result, members of the tribe are called "two-toed" and "ostrich-footed." Their huge two-toed feet are the result of a single mutation on chromosome number seven. However, in the tribe, such people are not considered inferior. The reason for the frequent occurrence of ectrodactyly in the Wadoma tribe is isolation and a ban on marriage outside the tribe.
The Korowai tribe, also called the Kolufo, lives in the southeast of the autonomous Indonesian province of Papua and consists of about 3,000 people. Perhaps until 1970 they were unaware of the existence of other people besides themselves.
Most clans of the Korowai tribe live in their isolated territory in tree houses, which are located at a height of 35-40 meters. In this way, they protect themselves from floods, predators, and arson by rival clans who enslave people, especially women and children. In 1980, some of the Korowai moved to settlements in open areas.
Korowai have excellent hunting and fishing skills, gardening and gathering. They practice slash-and-burn agriculture, when the forest is first burned, and then cultivated plants are planted in this place.
As far as religion is concerned, the Korowai universe is filled with spirits. The most honorable place is given to the spirits of ancestors. In difficult times, they sacrifice domestic pigs to them.
These people do not know what electricity is and how to drive cars, they live the way their ancestors lived for centuries, hunting for food and fishing. They cannot read and write, and they can die from a common cold or a scratch. All this is about wild tribes that still exist on our planet.
There are not many such communities closed from civilization; they live mainly in warm countries, in Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. To date, it is believed that no more than 100 such tribes have survived on the entire planet. Sometimes it is almost impossible to study their life and culture, because they live too isolated and do not want to have contacts with the outside world, or their immune system is not ready to “meet” with modern bacteria, and any disease that a modern person may not even notice , for a savage will be fatal. Unfortunately, civilization is still “advancing”, uncontrolled cutting down of trees is carried out almost everywhere, people are still developing new lands, and wild tribes are forced to leave their lands, and sometimes even go to the “big” world.
This people lives in New Guinea, is found in Melanesia, on the islands of Halmahera, Timor and Alor.
In terms of anthropogenic appearance, the Papuans are closest to the Melanesians, but with a completely different language and culture. Some tribes speak completely different languages that are not even related. To date, their national language is Tok Pisin Creole.
In total, there are approximately 3.7 million Papuans, while some wild tribes number no more than 100 people. Among them there are many nationalities: Bonkins, Gimbu, Ekari, Chimbu and others. It is believed that these people inhabited Oceania 20-25 thousand years ago.
Each community has a public house called buambramba. This is a kind of cultural and spiritual center of the entire village. In some villages you can see a huge house in which everyone lives together, its length can reach 200 meters.
The Papuans are farmers, the main crops grown are taro, banana, yam and coconut. The harvest must be stored on the vine, that is, it is collected only for eating. The savages also breed pigs and hunt.
These are the wild tribes of Africa. Even the ancient Egyptians knew about their existence. They are mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. However, the first time it was possible to confirm the existence of pygmies only in the 19th century, when they were discovered in the basin of the Uzle and Ituri rivers. To date, the existence of these people is known in Rwanda, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Zaire and in the forests of Gabon. You can even meet pygmies in South Asia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.
A distinctive feature of the pygmies is their short stature, from 144 to 150 centimeters. Their hair is curly and their skin is light brown. The body is usually quite large, and the legs and arms are short. Pygmies are isolated into a separate race. These peoples have not identified a special language, they communicate in those dialects whose peoples live nearby: Asua, Kimbuti and others.
Another feature of this people is a short life path. In some settlements, people live only up to 16 years. Girls give birth when they are still very young. In other settlements, women have been found who go through menopause as early as 28 years old. A meager diet endangers their health, pygmies die even from chicken pox and measles.
To date, the total number of this people has not been established, according to some estimates, there are about 40 thousand of them, according to others - 200.
For a long time, the pygmies did not even know how to make fire; they carried the hearth with them. They are engaged in gathering and hunting.
These wild tribes live in Namibia, they are also found on the territory of Angola, South Africa and Botswana, Tanzania.
These people are classified as a capoid race, with lighter skin than blacks. There are many clicking sounds in the language.
Bushmen lead an almost vagabond life, constantly half-starved. The system of building a society does not imply the presence of leaders, but there are elders who are chosen among the most intelligent and authoritative personalities of the community. This people does not have a cult of ancestors, but they are very afraid of the dead, so they conduct a unique burial ceremony. In the diet there are ant larvae, the so-called "Bushman rice".
To date, most Bushmen work on farms and have little adherence to their former way of life.
These are the wild tribes of Africa (southern part). It is believed that there are about 10 million Zulus. They speak Zulu, the most widely spoken language in South Africa.
Many representatives of this nationality have become adherents of Christianity, but many keep their own faith. According to the canons of the Zulu religion, death is the result of witchcraft, and all life on the planet was created by the creator. This people has preserved many traditions, in particular, believers can perform the ritual of washing about 3 times a day.
The Zulus are quite organized, they even have a king, today it is Goodwill Zvelantini. Each tribe is made up of clans, which include even smaller communities. Each of them has its own leader, and in the family this role is played by the husband.
The most expensive rite of the wild tribes is marriage. To take a wife, a man will have to give her parents 100 kilograms of sugar, corn and 11 cows each. For such gifts, you can rent an apartment in the suburbs of Durban, with a gorgeous view of the ocean. Therefore, there are a lot of bachelors in the tribes.
Perhaps this is the most brutal tribe in the whole world. It was possible to discover this people only in the 90s of the last century.
The life of the wild tribe is very harsh, they still use the teeth and tusks of animals as weapons and tools. These people pierce their ears and noses with the teeth of predators and live in the impenetrable forests of Papua New Guinea. They sleep in trees, in huts, very similar to those that many built in childhood. And the forests here are so dense and impenetrable that the neighboring villages do not even know about another settlement located a few kilometers away.
A pig is considered a holy animal, the meat of which is eaten by cows only after the boar has grown old. The animal is used as a riding pony. Often a piglet is taken from its mother and raised from childhood.
Women of the wild tribe are common, but sexual intercourse occurs only once a year, on the remaining 364 days it is not allowed to touch them.
The cult of the warrior flourishes among the Korowai. This is a very hardy people, for several days in a row they can only eat larvae and worms. It is believed that they are cannibals, and the first travelers who managed to reach the settlement were simply eaten.
Now that the Korowai have learned about the existence of another society, they do not seek to leave the forests, and everyone who gets here tells a legend that if they deviate from their traditions, there will be a terrible earthquake and the whole planet will die. Korowai scare away uninvited guests with stories about their bloodthirstiness, although so far there has been no evidence of this.
These are real noble warriors of the African continent. They are engaged in cattle breeding, but they never steal living creatures from neighbors and lower tribes. These people are able to protect themselves from lions and European conquerors, although in the 21st century too much pressure of civilization, which is increasingly advancing, has led to the fact that the tribes are rapidly decreasing in number. Now children graze livestock from almost 3 years of age, the women are responsible for the entire household, and the remaining men mostly rest or repulse uninvited guests.
It is among this people that it is tradition to pull off the earlobes and insert rounded objects the size of a good saucer into the lower lip.
The most bloodthirsty tribes of New Zealand and the Cook Islands. In these places, the Maori are the indigenous population.
These people are cannibals who terrified more than one traveler. The path of development of Maori society went in a different direction - from man to animal. Tribes have always settled down on areas protected by nature itself, additionally carrying out fortification works, creating multi-meter ditches and installing a palisade, on which the dried heads of enemies necessarily flaunted. They are cooked carefully, cleaned of the brain, the nasal and eye sockets and bulges are strengthened with special boards and smoked over low heat for about 30 hours.
In this country, a fairly large number of tribes have survived, living far from civilization and having interesting customs. For example, Arunta men show respect for each other in an interesting way by giving their wife to a comrade for a short time. If the gifted man refuses, then enmity begins between families.
And in one of the tribes of Australia, in childhood, the foreskin is cut into the boys and the urinary canal is pulled out, thus two genitals are obtained.
In the rainforests, according to the most conservative estimates, there are about 50 different wild Indian tribes.
Piraha. This is one of the most underdeveloped nations on the planet. There are about 200 people in the settlement, they live in the Brazilian jungle. Aborigines use the most primitive language on the planet, they have no history and myths, they don’t even have a number system.
Pirahu don't have the right to tell stories that didn't happen to them. You can not enter new words and heard from other people. The language does not designate animals and vegetation, flowers.
This people has never been seen in aggression, lives in trees, in huts. Often act as guides, but do not accept any objects of civilization.
Kayapo tribe. This is one of the wild tribes of the world, which lives in the eastern part of the river basin. Their number is about 3 thousand people. They firmly believe that they are controlled by a man who descended from heaven. Some of the kayapo's household items really resemble astronauts' spacesuits. Despite the fact that the whole village walks in the nude, yet the god appears in a robe and even with a headdress.
Korubo. This people is perhaps the most unexplored of all the tribes in the world who live far from civilization. All residents are quite aggressive towards any guests. They are engaged in gathering and hunting, often attacking neighboring tribes. Even women take part in the battles. A distinctive feature of this tribe is that they do not decorate themselves and do not make tattoos, unlike most of the natives.
The life of wild tribes is quite harsh. If a child is born with a cleft palate, then he is immediately killed, and this happens quite often. A child is often killed even after he has grown up, if he suddenly falls ill.
The tribe lives in long rooms characteristic of the Indians with several entrances. Several families live in such houses at once. Men of this tribe can have several wives.
The most basic problem of all savage tribes is the inexorable expansion of the habitats of civilized man. This is a huge risk that these almost primitive people will soon disappear, unable to withstand the onslaught of the modern world.
Photos from open sources
There are still untouched places on the planet where the way of life is the same as a couple of millennia ago.
Today there are about a hundred tribes that are hostile to modern society and do not want to let civilization into their lives.
Off the coast of India on one of the Andaman Islands - North Sentinel Island - such a tribe lives.
They were nicknamed the Sentinelese. They fiercely resist all possible contact from the outside.
The first evidence of a tribe inhabiting the North Sentinel Island of the Andaman Archipelago dates back to the 18th century: navigators, being nearby, left records of strange "primitive" people who do not allow them to descend to their land.
With the development of navigation and aviation, the ability to observe the islanders has increased, but all the information known to date has been collected remotely.
Until now, not a single outsider has managed to find himself in the circle of the Sentinelese tribe without losing his life. This non-contact tribe lets a stranger come no closer than bow-shot distance. They even throw rocks at helicopters flying too low. The last daredevils to try to make their way to the island were poachers in 2006. Their families are still unable to pick up the bodies: the Sentinelese killed the intruders, burying them in shallow graves.
However, interest in this isolated culture is not diminishing: researchers are constantly looking for opportunities to contact and study the Sentinelese. At various times, coconuts, dishes, pigs and much more were thrown at them, which could improve their living conditions on a small island. It is known that they liked coconuts, but the representatives of the tribe did not guess that they could be planted, but simply ate all the fruits. The islanders buried the pigs, doing it with honors and without touching their meat.
The experiment with kitchen utensils turned out to be interesting. The Sentinelese accepted the metal dishes favorably, and the plastic ones were divided by color: they threw out the green buckets, and the red ones suited them. There are no explanations for this, just as there are no answers to many other questions. Their language is one of the most unique and completely incomprehensible to anyone on the planet. They lead a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, hunting, fishing, and collecting wild plants for their livelihood, while they have not mastered the agricultural activity in the millennia of their existence.
It is believed that they do not even know how to make a fire: using accidental fires, they then carefully store smoldering logs and coals. Even the exact size of the tribe remains unknown: the numbers vary from 40 to 500 people; such a scatter is also explained by observations only from the side and assumptions that some of the islanders at this moment may be hiding in the thicket.
Despite the fact that the Sentinelese do not care about the rest of the world, they have defenders on the mainland. Tribal rights organizations call the people of North Sentinel Island “the most vulnerable society on the planet” and remind that they have no immunity to any common infection in the world. For this reason, their policy of driving away outsiders can be seen as self-defense against certain death.
I wonder if our lives would be much calmer and less nervous and hectic without all the modern technological advances? Probably yes, but more comfortable - hardly. Now imagine that on our planet in the 21st century, tribes live calmly, which easily do without all this.
This tribe lives in the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. It is believed that the age of Yarava is from 50 to 55 thousand years. They migrated there from Africa and now there are about 400 of them left. The Yarawa live in nomadic groups of 50 people, hunt with bows and arrows, fish in coral reefs and collect fruits and honey. In the 1990s, the Indian government wanted to provide them with more modern living conditions, but the Yarawa refused.
The Yanomami lead their usual ancient way of life on the border between Brazil and Venezuela: 22,000 live on the Brazilian side and 16,000 on the Venezuelan side. Some of them have mastered metalworking and weaving, but the rest prefer not to contact the outside world, which threatens to disrupt their centuries-old life. They are excellent healers and even know how to fish with plant poisons.
About 600-800 representatives of this tribe live in the tropical forests of Peru, and only since about 2015 did they begin to show up and carefully contact civilization, not always successfully, I must say. They call themselves "nomole", which means "brothers and sisters". It is believed that the people of Nomole do not have the concept of good and evil in our understanding, and if they want something, they will not hesitate to kill an opponent in order to take possession of his thing.
The first contact with Ava Guaya occurred in 1989, but it is unlikely that civilization has made them happier, since deforestation actually means the disappearance of this semi-nomadic Brazilian tribe, of which there are no more than 350-450 people. They survive by hunting, live in small family groups, have many pets (parrots, monkeys, owls, agouti hares) and have their own names, naming themselves after their favorite forest animal.
If other tribes somehow make contact with the outside world, then the inhabitants of the North Sentinel Island (Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal) are not particularly friendly. Firstly, they are supposedly cannibals, and secondly, they simply kill everyone who comes into their territory. In 2004, after the tsunami, many people suffered on neighboring islands. When anthropologists flew over North Sentinel Island to check on its strange inhabitants, a group of natives came out of the forest and threateningly waved stones and bows and arrows in their direction.
All three tribes live in Ecuador. The Huaorani had the misfortune of living in an oil-rich area, so most of them were resettled in the 1950s, while the Tagaeri and Taromenane broke away from the main Huaorani group in the 1970s and moved into the rainforest to continue their nomadic, ancient lifestyle. . These tribes are rather unfriendly and vengeful, therefore, special contacts were not established with them.
The remaining representatives of the Brazilian tribe Kawahiwa are mostly nomads. They do not like to interact with humans and simply try to survive by hunting, fishing and occasional farming. The Kawahivas are endangered due to illegal logging. In addition, many of them died after communicating with civilization, picking up measles from people. According to conservative estimates, there are now no more than 25-50 people left.
The Hadza are one of the last tribes of hunter-gatherers (about 1300 people) living in Africa near the equator near Lake Eyasi in Tanzania. They still live in the same place for the last 1.9 million years. Only 300-400 Hadza continue to live the old fashioned way and even officially reclaimed part of their land in 2011. Their way of life is based on the fact that everything is shared, and property and food should always be shared.
