People say that the world is getting smaller and smaller. With the advent of digital technology and the growth and expansion of phones, radio and online telecommunication, we have unprecedented access to some of the most remote people and cultures on Earth. We can view exotic locales and foreign people instantly if we so wish, and almost every blank space on our maps has been filled in.
If you were a cynical person you’d be forgiven for thinking that the age of exploration was well and truly over. There’s nowhere left on the globe that hasn’t been discovered and no single person who hasn’t been accounted for… but you’d be wrong.
It might shock you to learn that there are still tribes that exist in some of the most remote and distant corners of the Earth. These tribes are like tiny islands when measured against the vast continents of global civilisation – people and cultures that have remained relatively stagnant over thousands of years, nearly indistinguishable in most respects from the habits of our most ancient ancestors.
In 2013 it was estimated that there were more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the world, mostly in the densely forested areas of South America, Central Africa, and New Guinea. Indigenous rights activists call for such groups to be left alone, stating that it will interfere with their right to self-determination. But recently a photographer has managed to capture a few candid snapshots of one of the most remote tribes on Earth.
The high-resolution aerial images were taken of the neolithic culture were taken by Brazilian photographer Ricardo Stuckert, after his helicopter took a detour while he was out taking snaps of wildlife. Originally published by National Geographic, these pictures have given anthropologists an unprecedented look at these tribes, revealing their intricate body paint, hairstyles, and weaponry, as well as their hand-built dwellings.
On the return flight, on the 18th December, Ricardo was able to capture more images of this mobile tribe, who have allegedly been on the move constantly since their existence was first discovered by anthropologists back in 2008.
Brazil boasts approximately eight other such tribes, but their existence is increasingly threatened by illegal loggers, unscrupulous mining corporations and the increased violence of drug traffickers and cocaine farmers. On July 1st 2014, seven members of an isolated tribe emerged from the forest for the first time and made peaceful contact with people in a village near the Peruvian border.
The reason why was more sinister: the tribespeople were afraid for their lives, and had been suffering violent attacks by outsiders which had driven them from the forest. Later, details emerged that their elder relatives were massacred, and their houses set on fire by Peruvian cartels.
“They seemed more inquisitive than fearful,” Stuckert told National Geographic. “I felt there was a mutual curiosity, on their part and mine”. Stuckert was impressed with the body paint on one of the men, which he saw as camouflage. “When it is cold we put clothes on. They put that paint to protect themselves,” he said. “I thought, ‘You have to photograph this, it has to be preserved.'”
It truly is historic when cultures as small and simple as this one encounter the greater portion for the first time, or even another race.
If you were a cynical person you’d be forgiven for thinking that the age of exploration was well and truly over. There’s nowhere left on the globe that hasn’t been discovered and no single person who hasn’t been accounted for… but you’d be wrong.
It might shock you to learn that there are still tribes that exist in some of the most remote and distant corners of the Earth. These tribes are like tiny islands when measured against the vast continents of global civilisation – people and cultures that have remained relatively stagnant over thousands of years, nearly indistinguishable in most respects from the habits of our most ancient ancestors.
In 2013 it was estimated that there were more than 100 uncontacted tribes around the world, mostly in the densely forested areas of South America, Central Africa, and New Guinea. Indigenous rights activists call for such groups to be left alone, stating that it will interfere with their right to self-determination. But recently a photographer has managed to capture a few candid snapshots of one of the most remote tribes on Earth.
The high-resolution aerial images were taken of the neolithic culture were taken by Brazilian photographer Ricardo Stuckert, after his helicopter took a detour while he was out taking snaps of wildlife. Originally published by National Geographic, these pictures have given anthropologists an unprecedented look at these tribes, revealing their intricate body paint, hairstyles, and weaponry, as well as their hand-built dwellings.
On the return flight, on the 18th December, Ricardo was able to capture more images of this mobile tribe, who have allegedly been on the move constantly since their existence was first discovered by anthropologists back in 2008.
Brazil boasts approximately eight other such tribes, but their existence is increasingly threatened by illegal loggers, unscrupulous mining corporations and the increased violence of drug traffickers and cocaine farmers. On July 1st 2014, seven members of an isolated tribe emerged from the forest for the first time and made peaceful contact with people in a village near the Peruvian border.
The reason why was more sinister: the tribespeople were afraid for their lives, and had been suffering violent attacks by outsiders which had driven them from the forest. Later, details emerged that their elder relatives were massacred, and their houses set on fire by Peruvian cartels.
“They seemed more inquisitive than fearful,” Stuckert told National Geographic. “I felt there was a mutual curiosity, on their part and mine”. Stuckert was impressed with the body paint on one of the men, which he saw as camouflage. “When it is cold we put clothes on. They put that paint to protect themselves,” he said. “I thought, ‘You have to photograph this, it has to be preserved.'”
It truly is historic when cultures as small and simple as this one encounter the greater portion for the first time, or even another race.
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