Brazil’s Uncontacted Indigenous Tribes

More than half the world’s 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru and some say they are becoming more and more at risk of extinction.

Members of one of these indigenous tribes was recently photographed in a protected area of the Amazon jungle near Peru.

Peruvian officials said the aircraft passed over the site and photographed “strong and healthy” warriors, women and children, six huts and a large planted area.

“We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, to show they exist,” the group quoted Jose Carlos dos Reis Meirelles Junior, an official in the Brazilian government’s Indian affairs department, as saying.

In an effort to expose and educate they hope to get help in protecting these amazing tribes. For me, this is a social and perhaps even environmental fight that I could get behind. We need to do all we can to protect these tribes.

Also, this topic would be a great opportunity for a “potentially” thought provoking discussion with my high school class.

Questions for them to consider could range from as simple as having students compare their lifestyles with the indigenous tribes, to more complex questions such as our contact with them and the encroachments of civilization. For example, if our contact with them is potentially unavoidable, there are serious issues. Members of these tribal groups who that have been contacted in the past have died of illnesses. They have little or no defense against things such things as chicken pox or the flu.

Do we have the moral authority to make contact with them, and try to help them? Or should we do everything we can to protect them? Another thought, why does this untouched mini-society with no enemies bother to have a “warrior” class as is assumed with the war paint and bows and arrows? Interesting questions that I think a high school level class would really get into.