The ethnic diversity on Earth is amazing in its abundance. People living in different corners planets are at the same time similar to each other, but at the same time very different in their way of life, customs, and language. In this article we will talk about some unusual tribes, about which you will be interested to know.
Piraha Indians - a wild tribe inhabiting the Amazon jungle
The Pirahã Indian tribe lives among the Amazon rain forest, mainly along the banks of the Maici River, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.
This nation South America known for its language, Pirahã. In fact, Pirahã 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 by numbers or by persons,
- there are no names for colors,
- consists of 8 consonants and 3 vowels! Isn't this amazing?
According to linguistic scholars, Piraha men understand rudimentary Portuguese and even speak very limited topics. True, not all male representatives can express their thoughts. Women, on the other hand, have little understanding of the Portuguese language and do not use it at all to communicate. However, the Pirahã language has several loanwords from other languages, mainly Portuguese, such as "cup" and "business".
Speaking of business, the Piraha Indians trade Brazil nuts and provide sexual services in order to buy consumables and tools, for example, machetes, milk powder, sugar, whiskey. Chastity is not a cultural value for them.
There are several more interesting moments associated with this nation:
- Pirahã have no compulsion. They don't tell other people what to do. There seems to be no social hierarchy at all, no formal leader.
- This Indian tribe has no idea of \u200b\u200bdeities and God. However, they believe in spirits, which sometimes take the form of jaguars, trees, or people.
— it feels like the Pirahã tribe are people who don’t sleep. They can take a nap of 15 minutes or at most two hours throughout the day and night. They rarely sleep through the night.
The Wadoma tribe is an African tribe of people with two toes.
The Vadoma tribe lives in the Zambezi River valley in northern Zimbabwe. They are known for the fact that some members of the tribe suffer from ectrodactyly, three middle toes are missing from their feet, and the outer two are turned inward. As a result, members of the tribe are called “two-fingered” 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 common occurrence of ectrodactyly in the Vadoma tribe is isolation and the prohibition of marriage outside the tribe.
Life and life of the Korowai tribe in Indonesia
The Korowai tribe, also called the Kolufo, live in the southeast of the autonomous Indonesian province of Papua and consist of approximately 3,000 people. Perhaps before 1970 they did not know about the existence of other people besides themselves.
Most Korowai clans live in their isolated territory in tree houses, which are located at an altitude of 35-40 meters. In this way, they protect themselves from floods, predators, and arson by rival clans who take people, especially women and children, into slavery. In 1980, some of the Korowai moved to settlements in open areas.
Korowai have excellent hunting and fishing skills, and are engaged in gardening and gathering. They practice slash-and-burn agriculture, when the forest is first burned and then crops 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 times of need, they sacrifice domestic pigs to them.
Surprisingly, there are still the most savage tribes of the Amazon and Africa who have managed to survive the onset of a ruthless civilization. We are here surfing the Internet, struggling to conquer thermonuclear energy and flying further 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 completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere wildlife, it’s not enough to just read the article and look at 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 Mahi River. Approximately 300 Aboriginal people are engaged in gathering and hunting. This tribe was discovered by 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 Pirahã took place in 1977. Trying to convey the word of God to the aborigines, he began to study their language and quickly achieved success in this. But the more he immersed himself in primitive culture, the more surprised he was.
The Pirahã have a very strange language: there is no indirect speech, no words for colors and numerals (anything more than two is “many” for them). They did not, like us, create myths about the creation of the world, they do not have a calendar, but for all this, their intellect is no weaker than ours. The Piraha did not think of private property, they do not have reserves - they immediately eat the caught prey or the collected fruits, so they do not rack their brains over storage and planning for the future. Such views seem primitive to us, however, Everett came to a different conclusion. Living one day at a time and with what nature provides, the Pirahã are freed from fears for the future and all sorts of worries with which we burden our souls. That's why they are happier than us, so why do they need gods?
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2. Sinta Larga
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In Brazil there lives a wild tribe called the Sinta Larga, numbering approximately 1,500 people. It once lived in the rubber jungle, but their massive deforestation led to the fact that the Sinta Larga switched to a nomadic life. They engage 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 stops bearing fruit, it leaves the place and moves to a new place. During the move, the names of the Sinta Largs also change; only the “secret” name remains unchanged. Unfortunately for this small tribe, civilized people found on their lands occupying 21,000 square meters. km, rich reserves of gold, diamonds and tin. Of course, they couldn’t 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 with an area of 2.5 million hectares.
3. Korubo
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Closer to the sources of the Amazon River lives a very warlike Korubo tribe. They make their living 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 reaches the point of cannibalism.
4. Amondava
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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 typical and other tribes from the Amazon basin. Among the Amondawa, therefore, ages are not mentioned, and when growing up or changing his status in the tribe, the aborigine simply takes a new name. Also absent in the Amondava language are phrases that describe the process of the passage of time in spatial terms. We, for example, say “before this” (meaning not space, but time), “this incident was left behind,” but in the Amondava language there are no such constructions.
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5. Kayapo
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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 very mysterious tribe of approximately 3,000 people is engaged in the usual activities of the aborigines: fishing, hunting and gathering. The Kayapo are great experts in the knowledge of the healing properties of plants, they use some of them to treat their fellow tribesmen, and others for witchcraft. Shamans from the Kayapo tribe use herbs to treat female infertility and improve potency in men.
However, most of all they interested researchers in their legends, which tell that in the distant past they were guided by heavenly wanderers. The first Kayapo chief arrived in a kind of cocoon, drawn by a whirlwind. Some attributes from modern rituals are also 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
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The African Nuba tribe numbers about 10,000 people. Nuba lands lie in Sudan. This is a separate community with its own language, which does not come into contact with outside world, so for now it has been protected from the influence of civilization. This tribe has a very remarkable makeup ritual. Women of the tribe scar their bodies with intricate patterns, pierce their lower lip and insert quartz crystals into it.
Their mating ritual, associated with annual dances, is also interesting. During them, girls point to their favorites, placing their leg on their shoulder 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 have to end in a wedding; it is only permission for the groom to sneak into her parents’ house, where she lives, secretly from her parents at night. The presence of children is not a basis for recognizing the legality of a marriage. A man must live with his pets 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
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Women from the Mursi tribe have an exotic lower lip as their calling card. It is cut for girls when they are children, and pieces of wood that become larger and larger are inserted into the cut over time. Finally, on the wedding day, a debi is inserted into the drooping lip - a plate made of baked clay, the diameter of which can reach up to 30 cm.
Mursi easily become drunkards and constantly carry clubs or Kalashnikovs with them, which they are not averse to using. When fights for supremacy occur within a tribe, they often end in the death of the losing side. Mursi women's bodies typically look sickly and flabby, with sagging breasts and hunched backs. They are almost devoid of hair on their heads, hiding this defect with incredibly fluffy headdresses, the material for which can be anything that comes to hand: dried fruits, branches, pieces of rough leather, someone's tails, swamp mollusks, dead insects and other carrion. It is difficult for Europeans to be near Mursi because of their unbearable smell.
8. Hamer (hamar)
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On the eastern side of Africa's Omo Valley live the Hamer or Hamar people, numbering approximately 35,000 - 50,000 people. Along the banks of the river stand their villages, made up of huts with pointed roofs, covered with thatch or grass. The entire household is located inside the hut: a bed, a hearth, a granary and a goat pen. But only two or three wives and children live in the huts, and the head of the family all the time either grazes cattle or protects the tribe’s possessions from attacks by other tribes.
Dating with wives occurs very rarely, and at these rare moments children are conceived. But even after returning to the family for a while, the men, having beaten their wives to their hearts content with long rods, are satisfied with that, and go to sleep in pits that resemble graves, and even cover themselves with earth to the point of mild asphyxia. Apparently, they like this semi-fainting state more than intimacy with their wives, and even those, to tell the truth, are not delighted with the “caresses” of their husbands and prefer to please each other. As soon as a girl develops external sexual characteristics (at about 12 years of age), 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 deeply he loves), puts a silver collar around her neck, which she will wear for the rest of her life.
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9. Bushmen
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IN South Africa There is a group of tribes collectively called the Bushmen. These are people of short stature, wide cheekbones, with narrow eyes and swollen eyelids. Their skin color is difficult to determine, since the Kalahari do not 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, and in general there is not even a hint of social hierarchy. But the elder of the tribe enjoys authority, although he does not have privileges or material advantages.
The Bushmen surprise with their cuisine, especially “Bushman rice” - ant larvae. Young Bushmen are considered the most beautiful in Africa. But as soon as they reach puberty and give birth, they appearance changes radically: the buttocks and hips spread sharply, and the stomach remains swollen. All this is not a consequence of dietary nutrition. To distinguish a pregnant Bushwoman from the rest of her potbellied tribesmen, she is coated with ocher or ash. Yes, and Bushmen men at 35 already look like 80-year-old men - their skin sags everywhere and becomes covered with deep wrinkles.
10. Maasai
The Maasai people are slender, tall, and they braid their hair in clever ways. They differ from other African tribes in their manner of behavior. While most tribes easily come into contact with outsiders, the Maasai, who have an innate sense of dignity, keep their distance. But these days they have become much more sociable, even agreeing to video and photography.
The Maasai number about 670,000 and live in Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa, where they engage in livestock farming. According to their beliefs, the gods entrusted the Maasai with the care and guardianship 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. Moreover, both boys and girls have it. The initiation of girls comes down to the terrible custom of circumcision of the clitoris for Europeans, but without it they cannot get married and do housework. After such a procedure, they do not feel pleasure from intimacy, so they will be faithful wives.
After initiation, boys turn into morans - young warriors. Their hair is coated with ocher and covered with a bandage, they are given a sharp spear, and something like a sword is hung on their belt. In this form, the moran should pass with his head held high for several months.
Mursi tribe. This is one of the most aggressive tribes in Africa. For little girls, their lower lip is cut and a round wooden plate is inserted there. As the child ages, the plate changes to a larger one.
A man from one of the friendliest Ethiopian tribes, Hamer, Africa.
Hamer woman.
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Girls of the Hamer tribe, located in Africa, drink an alcoholic drink in the morning that tastes like beer and dance in circles. The heat and alcohol put them into a kind of trance.
Residents of the Karo tribe are engaged in animal husbandry, they are considered the best masters on body painting, as well as preparation for dances and holidays.
Photo of representatives of the Bena tribe, whose traditions have not yet been fully studied.
Men of the Hamer tribe go to graze cattle in the morning, armed with spears. Africa.
The Mursi are one of the most aggressive tribes in Ethiopia, whose men carry sticks and beat to death those who encroach on their leadership.
The people of the Karo tribe love a strict geometric style - they draw stripes, circles, and spirals on the body. They use natural materials for painting: chalk, iron ore, ocher deposits, coal.
The African Karo tribe is the smallest (about a thousand people).
A woman from the Surma tribe, which is located in the southwestern part of Ethiopia. These tribes are fenced off from the rest of the world by inaccessible mountains.
Hamer woman.
Photo of a woman from the Surma tribe with a child.
The tribes of Ethiopia mainly speak Amharic and Oromo languages.
An Ethiopian tribal woman smokes a pipe.
A child from the Surma tribe, whose population lives by raising cattle.
Men and women of the Surma tribe shave their heads to be beautiful, and children decorate each other with designs.
Unlike children of other peoples of Ethiopia, children of the Hamer, Karo and Benna tribes do not ask for money.
The Ethiopian Hamer tribe is interested in communicating with tourists who come to photograph them, touch and look at the white man.
Cattle breeding is well developed in this African tribe. The number of livestock measures the well-being of a family. In the Hamer language there are about thirty words for various shades color and texture of livestock skin.
Women from the Hamer tribe.
Distinctive features Hamer representatives have high cheekbones. They decorate themselves with beads, leather and thick copper necklaces around their necks.
Each tribe in the valley is unique, with its own customs and beliefs.
The Hamer people number approximately 35-50 thousand people; they inhabit the eastern part of the lowland Omo Valley.
The Hamer are Sunni Muslims. They believe that natural objects have a soul, and also believe in spirits that are able to take the form of a person or animal.
Representatives of the Arbore, a people belonging to the Afro-Asian linguistic group, live in one of the villages. There are about five thousand of them.
The Hamer tribe has a very interesting ritual - “running on the backs of bulls”, which men who have reached adulthood undergo before getting married. They must run four times along the backs of bulls standing in a row. A Hamer man performs the ritual naked, symbolizing the childhood he is about to leave behind. Cows do not always stand still, so it is important not only to run, but also not to fall, losing your balance. After successfully completing the ritual, the young man is classified as a “maza”. If he falls, he will train and undergo this ritual in a year.
The Arbore differ from other nationalities in that they wear numerous multi-colored beads. During ritual dances, they sing, believing that this relieves them of accumulated negative energy.
Before marriage, a tribal girl must be a virgin.
Representatives of the Hamer tribe have neither surnames nor passports.
A girl gets married at the age of 12.
A Hamer man has two or three wives and many children.
Typically, an African tribal village consists of several dozen round huts standing on stilts with conical roofs. Their frame is knitted from poles, and the top is covered with a thick layer of dried grass and straw.
The inside of the hut is divided into a living area, a granary and a goat pen. The master's bed is made of stones, covered with a layer of clay and straw, and on top is covered with many goat skins.
African women They braid their hair into a certain number of dreadlocks and smear them with ocher (for beauty and protection from insects).
A woman from one of the Ethiopian tribes drinks water.
The western and southwestern regions of the country are inhabited by various races: Afar, Agau, Oromo, Sidamo, Somali, Kafa, Beja, etc. And if you consider that each race includes up to a dozen different tribes speaking their own dialects, then various languages in Ethiopia it will be more than 200.
Almost every man from the African Suri tribe has a Kalashnikov assault rifle, which is always ready to shoot.
Not every man can have a wife, not everyone can afford marriage. The groom negotiates with the bride's father about the amount of the ransom. A wife costs 8-10 cows - for Ethiopia this is a fortune.
After the groom has paid the ransom to the bride's family, he builds her his own new home, no matter what kind of wife she is. There she brings her dowry (clothes, several bags of grain, a dozen chickens and other little things necessary for arranging a new home). The husband himself does not have his own separate house; he leads a semi-nomadic lifestyle, living alternately in the houses of his wives, which he builds either close to each other or in one large fenced yard.
If suddenly the wife dies soon after marriage, then the husband has the right to return his ransom back. If the bride’s family has another daughter who has reached marriageable age, then the widower receives her in return for the deceased. Widows do not remarry.
Among the African tribes Surma and Mursi, the labial disc traditionally plays an important role social role. The larger its diameter, the higher the girl’s authority and the greater demand she is as a bride.
Women take out the discs during meals or before bed, but do not leave them outside the home or in public. African women Surma and Mursi often exchange these jewelry among themselves (except those given by their husbands).
Hamer (Africa) woman with a pipe.
A Karo chief who participated in numerous raids and battles.
The African tribe Daasanach, whose people have become Orthodox Christians since 1983.
The population of Hamer often goes hungry - droughts lead to crop failure. Africa.
When a member of the Bodi tribe dies, his body is guarded for three days, after which he is eaten by his fellow tribesmen as a sign of respect. Africa.
Chief Hamer. The scars on the skin show the number of enemies he has defeated in battle.
The British photographer began by walking through Tibet for a year, creating a unique visual diary that received international recognition. He then photographed in the hot zones of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yugoslavia, and explored all corners of China with his wife. Since 1997, he began to travel a lot around the world on various commercial assignments, simultaneously collecting valuable material for the project “Before They Disappeared” - a photo narrative about the unique peoples inhabiting the continents of our planet.
Before he began photography, Jimmy Nelson came into contact with people of different tribes, drank their mystical drinks, observed a lot, tuned his antenna to their frequency, shared their vibrations with them, participated in their rituals and gained true trust. The result of his amazing work was an amazing, aesthetic document of a rapidly disappearing world with its unique spirit, primordial traditions and natural purity.
Hey, let’s plunge into the unprecedented... We’re all a bit of a tribe~
Maasai- tribe of East Africa. When the Maasai migrated from Sudan in the 15th century, they attacked tribes and captured livestock along the way. By the end of the journey, they occupied almost the entire territory of the Rift Valley. To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the most warlike cultures in the world.
Mongolian Kazakhs- descendants of Turkic, Mongolian and Indo-Iranian tribes and Huns who inhabited the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea. They are a semi-nomadic people and have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century. They believe in pre-Islamic cults of the sky, ancestors, fire and the supernatural powers of good and evil spirits. Eagle hunt - them traditional art, and every year the Eagle Festival is celebrated, to which participants and spectators come from all aimags of the country.
Himba - ancient tribe tall, slender shepherds of Namibia. Since the 16th century, they have lived in scattered settlements and lead a life that remains unchanged, surviving wars and droughts. The tribal structure helps them live in one of the most extreme territories on our planet.
Hooley- Papuan people living in the highlands. Traditionally they are animists, performing strict ritual offerings to please their ancestors. They live by hunting, carried out mainly by men, and by collecting and growing plants, carried out mainly by women. They have plenty of food, close-knit families and reverence for the wonders of nature. They also quarrel a lot with neighboring tribes, which is why their intimidating coloring and hairstyle are so important.
Asaro- clay people - wild tribe Papua New Guinea. They first met the civilized Western world in the mid-20th century. They make frightening masks from clay and smear themselves with gray clay, wanting, according to legend, to resemble formidable spirits that scare away enemies.
Kalamas- another tribe of Papua New Guinea, living in the remote mountain village of Simbai, which has helped them maintain a strong and rich distinctive culture.
Chukchi- ancient Arctic people of the Chukotka Peninsula. Due to the inaccessibility of their territories, hospitality is highly valued among these people, and they believe that all natural phenomena have their own spirits. Their original lifestyle is well preserved, but the invasion of achievements modern civilization continues to approach. Chukchi of all ages love to sing, dance, listen to fairy tales and recite tongue twisters. Their primordial art is carving on the bones and tusks of walruses all sorts of scenes from everyday reality.
Maori- Polynesian people, indigenous people New Zealand. Thanks to centuries spent in isolation, they organized a separate community with characteristic art, its own language and unique mythology. Although they assimilated with European colonists in the 18th century, they retained many aspects of their original culture. Legend has it that 12 large canoes brought 12 different tribes from their mystical homeland of Hawaii in the 13th century. And to this day, true Maoris can tell which of these tribes they belong to.
Mustang, former Lo Kingdom, Nepal. On this territory of 2 thousand sq. km. There are only 7,000 inhabitants. The traditions of the inhabitants of this kingdom are closely related to early Buddhism. Almost every village has a monastery, demonstrating the most important influence of religion on the life of society. Polygamy still exists among brothers.
Samburu, people of northern Kenya. They move every 5-6 weeks to provide food for their livestock. They are an independent and egalitarian people. They build huts from mud and surround them with thorny fences to protect them from wild animals. Childbirth is very important for the Samburu; childless women are ridiculed even by children. They believe in spells, rituals and spirits. Decisions in the tribe are made by men, but women can call a council and then announce its results to the men.
Tsaatani- reindeer herders living in northwestern Mongolia. At the moment there are only 44 families. They do not eat deer meat, only milk and use their bones. With their tipis, they move 5 to 10 times a year through remote areas in conditions up to 50 degrees below zero in winter. To this day they practice shamanism.
Gaucho- pastoralists of Spanish-Indian origin living in the prairies of Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Brazil. They were a wandering tribe, similar in spirit to the American cowboys, but now much of the prairie is settled or given over to commercial ranching, leaving little room for their nomadic life. The word "gaucho" began to be used in the second half of the 19th century to refer to lonely wanderers, sometimes in the company of a woman, invariably with a knife, throwing bolas and lasso. In duels, they tried not to kill the enemy, but to leave a scar on his face. Gauchos are excellent horsemen and their skills were used in the wars of independence.
Rabari are nomads who have roamed western India for almost 1,000 years, and apparently migrated from the Iranian plateau a thousand years ago. The most skillful embroidery is the most important indicative characteristic of their culture. Men usually leave in search of new pastures for livestock, and women remain in villages in modest two-room houses, the interior of which is also the highest art exquisite decoration. Their art is also tattoos; most of the body is covered with them.
Ni-Vanuatu- inhabitants of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu (the word means "this land forever") to the right of Australia. An important part of their culture is dance, the most famous being the male snake dance. Archaeological excavations claim that settlements on these islands began 500 BC, and the first settlers sailed from Papua New Guinea. Nowadays, all the inhabited islands have their own language (more than a hundred differ), their own traditions and customs. They practice, presumably, primitive forms of religion.
Ladakhi- inhabitants of the cold desert in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Their folklore is very rich and dates back to pre-Buddhist times. And they have been practicing Tibetan neighboring Buddhism for about 1000 years. Due to weather conditions they work 4 months a year, the other 8 months have minimal work and plentiful holidays. They are mainly farmers growing potatoes, pumpkins, beets, beans and wheat. And they make a variety of dishes for lamb and chicken. These are very united and ready to help people.
Mursi- an ethnic group of southwestern Ethiopia. They are originally nomadic people, but the establishment of national parks has reduced their access to the territory and endangered their natural resources. As they travel, they build or move their huts from reeds, branches and sticks, and this is the responsibility of the women. Women are famous for the clay plates they insert into their lower lip (stretching it incredibly) at the age of 15. This custom was invented in order to scare away a possible enemy. But now the larger the plate, the more cattle a girl who has reached the age of marriage is worth.
An ethnic group of approximately 5.5 million people. Archaeologically, they are believed to be descendants of the original nomadic Qiang tribes. And the history of Tibet (“Roof of the World”) began 4000 years ago. Prayer flags, celestial funerals, ritual demonic dances, rubbing of sacred stones - all these characteristic Tibetan customs developed from the ancient shamanic religion of Bon. Buddhism mixed with Bon in the 8th century AD and is practiced everywhere, not only daily, but sometimes hourly. Costumes and decorations reflect not only habits, but also the history, beliefs, climate and character of the people. is based on the principle of perceiving the human body as a microcosmic system consisting of five basic elements. Treatment is carried out using a wide range of plants, minerals and other natural resources.
Warani(translated as “people”) are an Indian people living in eastern Ecuador. They consider themselves the bravest tribe in the Amazon. Until 1956 they had no contact with the outside world. According to legend, they consider themselves the descendants of the marriage of a jaguar and an eagle. They never hunt jaguars and never kill snakes (this is considered a bad omen). Family life is very important in their culture and they live in close large families in long houses. They move to other places when they have used the area to the maximum to help the land recover.
Dasanechi- an indigenous people living in southwestern Ethiopia in the Omo River Valley. Interestingly, this tribe is not defined by ethnicity: anyone can be accepted into the tribe if they agree to spiritual cleansing (possibly circumcision). Women build semicircular hut structures without internal divisions from sticks, reeds and branches, and set aside the right side of the dwelling for their needs. Most of them have Muslim names, but animism is still widely practiced.
Banna- another Ethiopian tribe numbering about 45,000 people. They live in camps consisting of several related families. Due to the harsh conditions, they have to live a semi-nomadic life. During the dry season, men travel long distances in search of water and grass and to collect wild honey. They are excellent beekeepers and produce much more honey than they consume, so they sell honey in markets and use this money to buy tools that they cannot produce themselves.
Caro- Ethiopian neighbors of Banna. They number from 1000 to 3000 inhabitants eastern shores Omo River. They were famous for building magnificent dwellings, but since they lost their wealth, they began to build lighter conical huts. Each family has two houses: it- the main living quarters of the family, and gappa- a place where everyday activities are concentrated. Women are very loyal family life, on their feet from dawn to dusk, and the men are mainly engaged in protecting the village from wild animals, hunting crocodiles and other predators, or simply sitting under awnings and chewing tobacco.
Hamary- another inhabitants of the fertile Omo River valley in Ethiopia. The 2007 national census recorded approximately 50,000 people of this ethnic group, of whom about a thousand became urban residents. Parents have significant control over the lives of their sons, who herd cattle for their family, and they also give permission for marriage. Men often wait until they are 30-35 to get married, while girls, on the contrary, become brides at the age of about 17. Upon marriage, the groom's family is obliged to pay the bride's family a large tribute, consisting of heads of cattle, goats and weapons; they do this in installments, sometimes throughout their lives.
Arbore- an Ethiopian tribe of about 4.5 thousand people. Women wear multiple multi-colored beads and cover their heads with black scarves. During ritual dances, they sing to cleanse themselves of negative energy. The Arbore believe in a Supreme Person, the creator and father of all people, they call him Waq. A family's wealth is calculated by the number of livestock it has.
Dani- Indonesian people living in the mountainous parts of Western New Guinea, in the Baliem Valley. They are skilled farmers and use a productive irrigation system. Archaeological excavations show that these lands have been cultivated for 9,000 years. They often have to fight with neighboring peoples and tribes, but they do not eat human flesh like most other local tribes. Men go naked, and put a koteka, something like a case, made mainly from a pumpkin, on their penis. Wikipedia says that the Dani language has no names for any colors other than black and white.
Yali- Papuan people living in the upper reaches of Papua. They call themselves “Kings of the Earth”, and officially they are considered pygmies, since men do not reach a height above 150 cm. And their koteks are particularly long and thin. Their territory has very limited natural access, mainly only by air. Their buildings are usually located on mountain ridges, maintaining the traditional need for such protection from other tribes. Yali are considered one of the most dangerous cannibals in western New Guinea. Men, women and children sleep in different huts.
Korowai- Papuan wild tribe, living in the southeastern part of the Indonesian province of Papua. We talked about them separately just now. They number about 3,000 people, didn't see white people until the 70s, and don't wear kotekas. But men hide their penis in the scrotum and tie a sheet tightly on top. They build tree dwellings and practice hunting and gathering. They have a strict separatism between men and women.
Drukpa(about 2,500 people) live in three small villages in the disputed territory between India and Pakistan. Historians identify them as the only descendants of the Aryans remaining in. They are completely different - culturally, socially and linguistically - from everyone else in Ladakh. They traditionally kiss in public and exchange sexual partners without any restrictions. Their main source of income is produce from well-kept vegetable gardens.
They live on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. They lead a nomadic life as reindeer herders, migrating 1,000 kilometers across the Yamal Peninsula annually, including 48 kilometers along the frozen waters of the Ob River. Since Stalin's times, children have been sent to boarding schools, and oil and gas production has greatly changed their indigenous way of life since the early 70s. Families live in individual tents made of deer skins stretched over long wooden poles and carried with them during migration. According to legend, they have an unspoken cooperation agreement with deer. Clothes are still traditionally made by women: a double layer of 8 deer skins, and thigh-high deerskin shoes. They practice shamanism and belief in the spirits of local gods. They transport wooden idols on special sacred sleighs. They sacrifice a deer, eat half and give the other half to the gods, and also smear the blood of the deer on the sacred sleigh. They also believe that the stones of unusual shapes are the remains of the gods who have been guiding them for more than a millennium.
Map of the location of the indicated tribes
So we have reached the end of this exciting world story. On the author's website you can find many additional photographs, including photographs of the author's friendly interactions with the natives. Thank you Jimmy for this unforgettable virtual trip, in fact, we even envy you, because you have richly touched upon the truths of the beginning of time...
They don't know what a car, electricity, a hamburger, or the United Nations are. They get their food by hunting and fishing, believe that the gods send rain, and do not know how to write or read. They may die from catching a cold or flu. They are a godsend for anthropologists and evolutionists, but they are becoming extinct. They are wild tribes that have preserved the way of life of their ancestors and avoid contact with the modern world.
Sometimes the meeting occurs by chance, and sometimes scientists specifically look for them. For example, on Thursday, May 29, in the Amazon jungle near the Brazilian-Peruvian border, several huts were discovered surrounded by people with bows who tried to fire at the expedition plane. IN in this case specialists from the Peruvian Center for Indian Tribal Affairs carefully flew around the jungle in search of savage settlements.
Although in lately Scientists rarely describe new tribes: most of them have already been discovered, and there are almost no unexplored places on Earth where they could exist.
Wild tribes live in South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. According to rough estimates, there are about a hundred tribes on Earth that do not or rarely come into contact with the outside world. Many of them prefer to avoid interaction with civilization by any means, so it is quite difficult to keep an accurate record of the number of such tribes. On the other hand, tribes that willingly communicate with modern people gradually disappear or lose their identity. Their representatives gradually adopt our way of life or even go away to live “in the big world.”
Another obstacle preventing the full study of tribes is their immune system. "Modern savages" developed for a long time in isolation from the rest of the world. The most common diseases for most people, such as a runny nose or flu, can be fatal for them. The body of savages does not have antibodies against many common infections. When the flu virus strikes a person from Paris or Mexico City, his immune system immediately recognizes the “attacker”, since it has already encountered him before. Even if a person has never had the flu, immune cells “trained” against this virus enter his body from his mother. The savage is practically defenseless against the virus. As long as his body can develop an adequate “response,” the virus may well kill him.
But recently, tribes have been forced to change their usual habitats. Development modern man new territories and deforestation where savages live, forcing them to establish new settlements. If they find themselves close to the settlements of other tribes, conflicts may arise between their representatives. And again, cross-infection with diseases typical for each tribe cannot be ruled out. Not all tribes were able to survive when faced with civilization. But some manage to maintain their numbers at a constant level and not succumb to the temptations of the “big world”.
Be that as it may, anthropologists were able to study the lifestyle of some tribes. Knowledge about their social structure, language, tools, creativity and beliefs helps scientists better understand how human development took place. In fact, every such tribe is a model ancient world, representing possible options evolution of culture and people's thinking.
Piraha
In the Brazilian jungle, in the valley of the Meiki River, lives the Piraha tribe. There are about two hundred people in the tribe, they exist thanks to hunting and gathering and actively resist being introduced into “society”. The Piraha have unique language features. First, there are no words for shades of color. Secondly, the Pirahã language lacks the grammatical structures necessary for the formation of indirect speech. Thirdly, the Pirahã people do not know numerals and the words “more”, “several”, “all” and “every”.
One word, but pronounced with different intonation, serves to designate the numbers “one” and “two”. It can also mean “about one” or “not very many.” Due to the lack of words for numbers, the Pirahã cannot count and cannot solve simple problems. mathematical problems. They are unable to estimate the number of objects if there are more than three. At the same time, the Pirahã show no signs of a decline in intelligence. According to linguists and psychologists, their thinking is artificially limited by the features of language.
The Pirahã have no creation myths, and a strict taboo prohibits them from talking about things that are not part of them. own experience. Despite this, the Pirahã are quite sociable and capable of organized actions in small groups.
Cinta larga
The Sinta Larga tribe also lives in Brazil. Once the number of the tribe exceeded five thousand people, but now it has decreased to one and a half thousand. The minimum social unit of the Sinta Larga is the family: a man, several of his wives and their children. They can move freely from one settlement to another, but more often they establish their own home. The Sinta Larga engage in hunting, fishing and farming. When the land where their home stands becomes less fertile or game leaves the forests, the Sinta Larga move from their place and look for a new site for their home.
Each Sinta Larga has several names. One thing - the “real name” - is kept secret by each member of the tribe; only the closest relatives know it. During their life, Sinta Largas receive several more names depending on their individual characteristics or important events that happened to them. Sinta Larga society is patriarchal and male polygamy is common.
The Sinta Larga have suffered greatly due to contact with the outside world. In the jungle where the tribe lives, there are many rubber trees. Rubber collectors systematically exterminated the Indians, claiming that they were interfering with their work. Later, diamond deposits were discovered in the territory where the tribe lived, and several thousand miners from all over the world rushed to develop the Sinta Larga land, which is illegal. The tribe members themselves also tried to mine diamonds. Conflicts often arose between savages and diamond lovers. In 2004, 29 miners were killed by Sinta Larga people. After that, the government allocated $810,000 to the tribe in exchange for a promise to close the mines, allow police cordons to be placed near them, and not engage in stone mining themselves.
Tribes of Nicobar and Andaman Islands
The Nicobar and Andaman Islands group is located 1,400 kilometers off the coast of India. Six primitive tribes lived in complete isolation on the remote islands: the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, Shompens, Sentinelese and Negrito. After the devastating 2004 tsunami, many feared the tribes had disappeared forever. However, it later turned out that most of them, to the great joy of anthropologists, were saved.
The tribes of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands are in the Stone Age in their development. Representatives of one of them - the Negritos - are considered the most ancient inhabitants of the planet who have survived to this day. The average height of a Negrito is about 150 centimeters, and Marco Polo wrote about them as “dog-faced cannibals.”
Korubo
Cannibalism is a fairly common practice among primitive tribes. And although most of them prefer to find other sources of food, some have maintained this tradition. For example, the Korubo, who live in the western part of the Amazon Valley. The Korubo are an extremely aggressive tribe. Hunting and raids on neighboring settlements are their main means of subsistence. Korubo's weapons are heavy clubs and poison darts. The Korubo do not practice religious rites, but they have a widespread practice of killing their own children. Korubo women have equal rights with men.
Cannibals from Papua New Guinea
The most famous cannibals are, perhaps, the tribes of Papua New Guinea and Borneo. The cannibals of Borneo are cruel and indiscriminate: they eat both their enemies and tourists or old people from their tribe. The last surge in cannibalism was noted in Borneo at the end of the past - the beginning of this century. This happened when the Indonesian government tried to colonize some areas of the island.
In New Guinea, especially in its eastern part, cases of cannibalism are observed much less frequently. Of the primitive tribes living there, only three - the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai - still practice cannibalism. The most cruel tribe is the Karafai, and the Yali and Vanuatu eat someone on rare ceremonial occasions or out of necessity. The Yali are also famous for their death festival, when the men and women of the tribe paint themselves as skeletons and try to please Death. Previously, to be sure, they killed a shaman, whose brain was eaten by the leader of the tribe.
Emergency reserve
The dilemma of primitive tribes is that attempts to study them often lead to their destruction. Anthropologists and ordinary travelers find it difficult to refuse the prospect of going to Stone Age. In addition, the habitat modern people is constantly expanding. Primitive tribes managed to carry their way of life through many millennia, however, it seems that in the end the savages will join the list of those who could not stand the meeting with modern man.