Tribes of primitive people. Are there wild tribes today

North Sentinel Island, one of India's united Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, is located just 40 kilometers from the coast of South Andaman Island and 50 kilometers from the developed administrative center of Port Blair located on it. These 72 square kilometers of forest are only one-fifth the size of Manhattan. All the other islands of the archipelago have been explored, and their peoples have long established relations with the government of India, but not a single stranger has yet set foot on the land of North Sentinel Island. Moreover, the Indian government has established a five-kilometer no-go zone around the island to protect the local people, known as the Sentinelese, who have been isolated from world civilization for millennia. Because of this, the Sentinelese contrast sharply with other peoples.

The inhabitants of the island this moment are one of about a hundred non-contact peoples left on the planet. Most are closely located in remote West Papua and the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Peru. But many of these non-contact tribes are not completely isolated. As the human rights organization Survival International observes, these peoples will undoubtedly learn from their cultural neighbors. However, many non-contact peoples, whether due to the atrocities of past colonizers who conquered them or lack of interest in the achievements of the modern world, prefer to remain closed. They are now a changing and dynamic people, retaining their languages, traditions and skills, rather than ancient or primitive tribes. And since they are not completely secluded, missionaries and even people who want to eradicate them for the sake of a free land show interest in them. It is precisely because of its territorial isolation from other cultures and external threats Sentinelese are a unique ethnic group even among non-contact peoples.

But this does not mean that no one has ever tried to contact the Sentinelese. People have been swimming in the Andaman Islands for at least the last thousand years. Both the British and Indians began to colonize the region from the 18th century. Over the past century, on most of the islands, even the most remote tribes had contacts with other ethnic groups, and their inhabitants were assimilated more than big people and even appointed to public office. Despite laws that have prevented access to traditional tribal lands since the 1950s, illegal tribal contact has taken place across much of the archipelago. And yet, no one has yet set foot on the lands of North Sentinel Island, because its population responded to all attempts by modern scientists to visit the island with incredible aggression. One of the first encounters with the local population was with an escaped Indian prisoner who washed ashore on the island in 1896. Soon his arrow-strewn body with its throat slit was found on the coast. The fact that even neighboring tribes consider the Sentinel language to be completely incomprehensible implies that they have maintained this hostile isolation for hundreds or even thousands of years.

India has tried for years to contact the Sentinelese for many reasons: scientific, protectionist, and even based on the idea that it is better for the tribe to maintain contact with the state than with fishermen who accidentally swam here, destroying the ethnic group with disease and cruelty. But the locals successfully hid from the first anthropological mission in 1967 and scared away the scientists who returned in 1970 and 1973 with a hail of arrows. In 1974, a National Geographic director was shot in the leg with an arrow. In 1981, a stranded sailor was forced to fight off the Sentinelese for several days before help arrived. During the 70s, several more people were injured or killed in attempts to establish contact with the natives. Eventually, nearly twenty years later, anthropologist Trilokina Pandey made some sparse contacts, spending several years dodging arrows and gifting metal and coconuts to the natives—he let the Sentinelese undress him and gathered some information about their culture. But, realizing the financial losses, the Indian government finally gave in, leaving the Sentinelese to themselves and declaring the island a no-go zone to protect the tribe's residence.

Considering what happened to the rest of the tribes in the Andaman Islands, this may be for the best. The Greater Andamanese, who numbered about 5,000 before first contact, after waves of migrations, are only a few dozen people. The Jarawa people have lost 10 percent of their population in the two years since first contact in 1997 due to measles, displacement, and sexual abuse by visitors and police. Other tribes, such as the Onge, in addition to bullying and insults, suffer from rampant alcoholism. It is typical of people whose culture has been radically changed and whose lives have been turned upside down by an outside force that has broken into their territories.

Sentinelese firing a bow at a helicopter

Meanwhile, a video showing the Sentinelese - a little over 200 dark-skinned people whose only "clothing" was ocher on the body and cloth bandages on their heads - showed that the inhabitants of the tribe were alive and well. We do not know much about their life and can only be guided by Pandey's observations and subsequent videos made from a helicopter. They are thought to feed on coconuts by cracking them open with their teeth, and also prey on turtles, lizards, and small birds. We suspect that they mine the metal for their arrowheads from sunken ships near the shore, as they do not possess modern technologies– even the technology of making fire. (Instead, they have an intricate procedure for storing and carrying smoldering poles and burning coals in earthenware vessels. In this state, the coals have been maintained for thousands of years and probably originate from prehistoric lightning strikes.) We know that they live in thatched huts, for fishing they make primitive canoes, with which it is impossible to go out into the open ocean, as a greeting they sit on each other's knees and slap the interlocutor on the buttocks, and also sing using a two-note system. But there is no certainty that all these observations are not false impressions, given how little information we know about their culture.

Using DNA samples from the surrounding tribes, and given the unique isolation of the Sentinel language, we suspect that the genetic ancestry of the people of North Sentinel Island could go as far back as 60,000 years. If so, then the Sentinelese are the direct descendants of the first people who left Africa. Any geneticist dreams of studying the DNA of the Sentinels for a better understanding of human history. Not to mention, the Sentinelese somehow survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated the surrounding islands and washed away much of their own. The inhabitants themselves remained untouched, hiding on the island's peaks as if they had predicted a tsunami. This gives reason to wonder if they have secret knowledge about the weather and nature that could be useful to us. But this secret is closely guarded, and, as ironic as it may sound, the Sentinelese are clearly not eager to teach us. However, if they make contact, their long isolation will surely enrich the whole world, both culturally and scientifically.

But despite all the luck that preceded the tribe and attempts to maintain their isolation, we can see disturbing signs that signal the imminent forceful invasion of the outside world into the life of the island. So, the murder by the islanders of two fishermen accidentally thrown ashore and the subsequent unsuccessful attempt to pick up their corpses - the helicopter with the rescuers was driven away by the arrows of the Sentinelese - entailed a thirst for justice among the Indians. In the same year, authorities noticed that the island's waters had become attractive to poachers, and that some of them could enter the island itself (although at the moment there is no evidence of contacts between poachers and Sentinelese). Today there is a real threat of collision. And when contact with the tribe occurs, the best thing we can do is to prevent the atrocities that led the Sentinelese to cruelty in the past, and try to preserve their ancient history and culture, as much as possible.

Author: Mark Hay.
Original: GOOD Magazine.

It seems to us that we are all literate, smart people We enjoy all the benefits of civilization. And it is hard to imagine that there are still tribes on our planet that are not far from the Stone Age.

Tribes of Papua New Guinea and Barneo. Here they still live according to the rules adopted 5 thousand years ago: men go naked, and women cut off their fingers. There are only three tribes still engaged in cannibalism, these are Yali, Vanuatu and Carafai. . These tribes with great pleasure eat both their enemies and tourists, as well as their own old people and deceased relatives.

In the highlands of the Congo lives a tribe of pygmies. They call themselves Mong. The amazing thing is that they cold blood like reptiles. And in cold weather they were able to fall into suspended animation, like lizards.

On the banks of the Amazonian river Meiki lives a small (300 individuals) tribe Piraha.

The inhabitants of this tribe do not have time. They have no calendars, no clocks, no past and no tomorrow. They have no leaders, they decide everything together. There is no concept of "mine" or "yours", everything is common: husbands, wives, children. Their language is very simple, only 3 vowels and 8 consonants, there is also no counting, they cannot even count to 3.

Sapadi Tribe (Ostrich Tribe).

They have an amazing property: there are only two fingers on their feet, and both are big! This disease (but can this unusual structure of the foot be called that?) Is called claw syndrome and is caused, according to doctors, by incest. It is possible that the cause of it is some unknown virus.

Sinta larga. They live in the Amazon Valley (Brazil).

A family (husband with several wives and children) usually has a house of its own, which is abandoned when the land in the village becomes less fertile and game leaves the forests. Then they take off and look for new site for home. When moving, Sinta larga change their names, but each member of the tribe keeps the “true” name a secret (only mother and father know it). Sinta larga have always been famous for their aggressiveness. They are constantly at war both with neighboring tribes and with "foreigners" - white settlers. Fighting and killing is an integral part of their traditional way of life.

Korubo live in the western part of the Amazon Valley.

In this tribe literally words, survival of the fittest. If a child is born with some kind of defect, or falls ill with a contagious disease, he is simply killed. They know neither bows nor spears. They are armed with clubs and blowpipes that shoot poisoned arrows. Korubo are spontaneous, like small children. As soon as they smile, they start laughing. If they notice fear on your face, they begin to look around warily. This is almost primitive tribe, which is completely untouched by civilization. But it is impossible to feel calm in their environment, as they can become furious at any moment.

There are approximately 100 more tribes that cannot read and write, do not know what television, cars are, moreover, they still practice cannibalism. They shoot them from the air, and then mark these places on the map. Not in order to study or enlighten them, but in order not to let anyone near them. Contact with them is undesirable, not only because of their aggressiveness, but also for the reasons that wild tribes may not be immune from the diseases of modern man.

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 towards 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 refers to XVIII century: sailors, being nearby, left records of strange "primitive" people who do not allow 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 a bow shot. 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. IN different time they were given coconuts, dishes, pigs and other things that 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 utensils 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 gathering 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.

Even though the Sentinelese don't care about the rest of the world, big land they have protectors. 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.

It is quite difficult for a modern person to imagine how one can do without all the benefits of civilization to which we are accustomed. But there are still corners on our planet where tribes live, which are extremely far from civilization. They are not familiar with the latest achievements of mankind, but at the same time they feel great and are not going to make contact with the modern world. We invite you to get acquainted with some of them.

Sentinelese. This tribe lives on an island in the Indian Ocean. They fire arrows at anyone who dares to approach their territory. This tribe has absolutely no contact with other tribes, preferring to enter into intra-tribal marriages and maintain its population in the region of 400 people. Once, National Geographic employees tried to get to know them better, having previously laid out various offerings on the coast. Of all the gifts, the Sentinelese left only red buckets for themselves, everything else was thrown into the sea. Even the pigs, which were also among the offerings, they shot with a bow from afar, and buried the carcasses in the ground. It didn't even occur to them that they could be eaten. When the people, who decided that it was now possible to get to know each other, decided to approach, they were forced to take cover from the arrows and flee.

Piraha. This tribe is one of the most primitive known to mankind. The language of this tribe does not shine with diversity. It does not contain, for example, the names of various color shades, definitions natural phenomena, - the set of words is minimal. Housing is built from branches in the form of a hut, there is almost nothing from household items. They don't even have a number system. In this tribe, it is forbidden to borrow the words and traditions of foreign tribes, but they also do not have the concept of their own culture. They have no idea about the creation of the world, they do not believe anything that has not been experienced by themselves. However, they are not aggressive at all.

Loaves. This tribe was discovered quite recently, in the late 90s of the XX century. Little monkey-like men live in huts in the trees, otherwise the "sorcerers" will get them. They behave very aggressively, they let strangers in reluctantly. As pets, wild pigs are tamed, which are used on the farm as horse-drawn vehicles. Only when the pig is already old and unable to carry cargo can it be fried and eaten. Women in the tribe are considered common, but they make love only once a year, at other times women cannot be touched.

Masai. This is a tribe of born warriors and herdsmen. They do not consider it shameful to take away cattle from another tribe, since they are sure that all the cattle in the area belong to them. They are engaged in cattle breeding and hunting. While the man is dozing in the hut with a spear in his hands, his wife takes care of the rest of the household. Polygamy in the Maasai tribe is a tradition, and in our time this tradition is forced, as there are not enough men in the tribe.

Nicobar and Andaman tribes. These tribes do not disdain cannibalism. From time to time they raid each other to profit from the little man. But since they understand that such food as a person does not grow and add very quickly, then in Lately they began to arrange such raids only on a certain day - the holiday of the goddess of Death. IN free time men make poison arrows. To do this, they catch snakes, and stone axes are sharpened to such a state that it costs nothing to cut off a person’s head. In especially hungry times, women can even eat their children and the elderly.

Surprisingly, there are still the wildest tribes of the Amazon and Africa, who were still able to survive the onset of a ruthless civilization. It is we who are surfing the Internet here, struggling to conquer thermonuclear energy and flying farther and farther into space, and these few remnants of prehistoric times lead the same way of life that was familiar to them and our ancestors a hundred thousand years ago. To fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere wildlife, it’s not enough just to read the article and see the pictures, you need to go to Africa yourself, for example, by ordering a safari in Tanzania.

The wildest tribes of the Amazon

1. Piraha

The Piraha tribe lives on the banks of the Mayhe River. Approximately 300 natives are engaged in gathering and hunting. This tribe was discovered by the Catholic missionary Daniel Everett. He lived next to them for several years, after which he finally lost faith in God and became an atheist. His first contact with the feast took place in 1977. Trying to convey the word of God to the natives, he began to study their language and quickly achieved success in this. But the deeper he sank into primitive culture the more surprised.
The pirate has a very strange language: there is no indirect speech, words denoting colors and numerals (everything that is more than two is “a lot” for them). They did not create, as we do, myths about the creation of the world, they do not even have a calendar, but for all this, their intelligence is not weaker than ours. Piraha did not think of private property, they do not have stocks - they immediately eat the caught prey or harvested fruits, so they do not rack their brains over storage and planning for the future. To us, such views seem primitive, however, Everett came to a different conclusion. Living one day and what nature gives, feasts are freed from fears for the future and all sorts of worries with which we burden our souls. Therefore, they are happier than us, so why do they need gods?

The Trans-Siberian Railway or the Great Siberian Way, which connects the Russian capital Moscow with Vladivostok, until recently bore an honorary title with ...

2. Sinta larga

Lives in Brazil wild tribe Sinta larga of about 1500 people. Once it lived in the jungle of rubber plants, but their massive cutting down led to the fact that Sinta larga moved to nomadic life. They are engaged in hunting, fishing and collecting gifts of nature. Sinta larga are polygamous - men have several wives. During his life, a man gradually acquires several names that characterize either his qualities or the events that happened to him, there is also a secret name that only his mother and father know.
As soon as the tribe catches all the game near the village, and the depleted land ceases to bear fruit, then it is removed from the place and moves to a new place. During the move, the names of Sinta Largs also change, only the “secret” name remains unchanged. To the misfortune of this small tribe, civilized people found on their lands, occupying 21,000 square meters. km, the richest reserves of gold, diamonds and tin. Of course, they could not just leave these riches in the ground. However, the Sinta Largi turned out to be a warlike tribe, ready to defend themselves. So, in 2004, they killed 29 miners on their territory and did not suffer any punishment for this, except that they were driven into a reservation of 2.5 million hectares.

3. Korubo

Closer to the origins of the Amazon River lives a very warlike tribe korubo. They live mainly by hunting and raiding neighboring tribes. Both men and women participate in these raids, and their weapons are clubs and poisoned darts. There is evidence that the tribe sometimes comes to cannibalism.

4. Amondava

The Amondava tribe living in the jungle has no concept of time, there is no such word even in their language, as well as such concepts as “year”, “month”, etc. Linguists were discouraged by this phenomenon and are trying to understand whether it is not characteristic and other tribes from the Amazon basin. Amondava therefore does not mention ages, and when growing up or changing his status in the tribe, the aborigine simply takes on a new name. Also absent in the language of amondava and turns, which describe the process of the passage of time in spatial terms. For example, we say “before this” (meaning not space, but time), “this incident is left behind”, but in the Amondava language there are no such constructions.

Most people want to get a window seat on an airplane so they can enjoy the views below, including takeoff and d...

5. Kayapo

In Brazil, in the eastern part of the Amazon basin, there is a tributary of the Hengu, on the banks of which the Kayapo tribe lives. This is very mysterious tribe numbering approximately 3,000 people is engaged in the usual activities for the natives: fishing, hunting and gathering. The Kayapo are great experts in the field of knowledge of the healing properties of plants, they use some of them to heal their fellow tribesmen, and others for witchcraft. Shamans from the Kayapo tribe treat female infertility with herbs and improve potency in men.
However, most of all they interested researchers with their legends, which tell that in the distant past they were led by heavenly wanderers. The first chief of the Kayapo arrived in a kind of cocoon drawn by a whirlwind. Some attributes from modern rituals are consonant with these legends, for example, objects resembling aircraft and space suits. Tradition says that the leader who descended from heaven lived with the tribe for several years, and then returned to heaven.

The wildest African tribes

6. Nuba

The African Nuba tribe has about 10,000 people. Nuba lands lie on the territory of Sudan. This is a separate community with its own language, which does not come into contact with outside world, therefore, while protected from the effects of civilization. This tribe has a very remarkable make-up ritual. The women of the tribe scarify their bodies with intricate patterns, pierce their lower lip and insert quartz crystals into it.
Their marriage ritual associated with annual dances is also interesting. During them, the girls point to the favorites, putting their feet on their shoulders from behind. The happy chosen one does not see the girl's face, but can inhale the smell of her sweat. However, such an “affair” does not at all have to end in a wedding, it is only permission for the groom to sneak secretly from his parents at night into her parents’ house, where she lives. The presence of children is not grounds for recognizing the legality of marriage. A man must live with domestic animals until he builds his own hut. Only then will the couple be able to sleep together legally, but for another year after the housewarming, the spouses cannot eat from the same pot.

7. Mursi

Women from the Mursi tribe calling card became exotic underlip. It is cut even in childhood for girls, pieces of wood are inserted into the cut over time. bigger size. Finally, on the wedding day, a debi is inserted into the sagging lip - a plate made of baked clay, the diameter of which can reach up to 30 cm.
Mursi easily become an inveterate drunkard and constantly carry batons or Kalashnikovs with them, which they are not averse to using. When battles for supremacy take place within a tribe, they often end in the death of the losing side. The bodies of Mursi women usually look sickly and flabby, with saggy breasts and stooped backs. They are almost devoid of hair on their heads, hiding this shortcoming with incredibly magnificent headdresses, the material for which can be anything that comes to hand: dried fruits, branches, pieces of rough skin, someone's tails, swamp mollusks, dead insects and other carrion. It is difficult for Europeans to be near the Mursi because of their unbearable smell.

8. Hamer (hamar)

On the eastern side of the African Omo Valley, the Hamer or Hamar people live, numbering approximately 35,000 - 50,000 people. Along the banks of the river stand their villages, made up of huts with gabled roofs covered with thatch or grass. The entire household is placed inside the hut: a bed, a hearth, a granary and a goat pen. But only two or three wives with children live in the huts, and the head of the family all the time either grazes cattle or protects the tribe's possessions from the raids of other tribes.
Meetings with wives are very rare, and in these rare moments, the conception of children occurs. But even after returning to the family for a short while, the men, having beaten their wives with long rods, are satisfied with this, and go to sleep in pits resembling graves, and even sprinkle themselves with earth to the point of slight asphyxia. Apparently, they like such a semi-conscious state more than intimacy with their wives, and even they, in truth, are not happy with the “caresses” of their husband and prefer to please each other. As soon as a girl develops external sexual characteristics (at about 12 years old), she is considered ready for marriage. On the wedding day, the newly-made husband, having beaten the bride hard with a reed rod (the more scars remain on her body, the more he loves), puts a silver collar around her neck, which she will wear all her life.

The German statistical company Jacdec has compiled its authoritative ranking of the safest airlines in the world for 2018. The authors of this list...

9. Bushmen

IN South Africa there is a group of tribes collectively called the Bushmen. These are people of short stature, broad cheekbones, with a narrow slit of the eyes and swollen eyelids. Their skin color is difficult to determine, since it is not customary in the Kalahari to waste water on washing, but they are definitely lighter than neighboring tribes. Leading a wandering, half-starved life, the Bushmen believe in an afterlife. They have neither a tribal leader nor a shaman, in general there is not even a hint of a social hierarchy. But the elder of the tribe enjoys authority, although he does not have privileges and material advantages.
Bushmen surprise with their cuisine, especially "Bushman rice" - ant larvae. Young Bushwomen are considered the most beautiful in Africa. But as soon as they reach puberty and give birth, how appearance changes dramatically: the buttocks and hips are spreading sharply, and the stomach remains swollen. All this is not a consequence of dietary nutrition. To distinguish a pregnant Bushwoman from other belly-bellied women, she is coated with ocher or ash. Yes, and the men of the Bushmen at 35 already look like 80-year-old old men - their skin sags everywhere and becomes covered with deep wrinkles.

10. Masai

The Maasai people are slender, tall, they cleverly braid their hair. They differ from other African tribes in their manner of holding on. While most tribes easily come into contact with strangers, the Maasai, who have an innate sense of dignity, keep their distance. But nowadays they have become much more sociable, they even agree to video and photography.
There are about 670,000 Masai, they live in Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa, where they are engaged in cattle breeding. According to their beliefs, the gods entrusted the Maasai with the care and custody of all the cows in the world. Maasai childhood, which is the most carefree period in their lives, ends at the age of 14, culminating in an initiation ritual. And it is in both boys and girls. The initiation of girls comes down to the terrible custom for Europeans of circumcision of the clitoris, but without it they cannot marry and do housework. After such a procedure, they do not feel the pleasure of intimacy, so they will be faithful wives.
After initiation, the boys turn into Morans - young warriors. Their hair is coated with ocher, and covered with a bandage, they give out a sharp spear, and a kind of sword is hung on their belt. In this form, the moran should pass with a proudly raised head for several months.