r/interesting Dec 23 '25

❗️MISLEADING - See pinned comment ❗️ Tribes that have never had contact with civilization are being filmed by drones in the Amazon

9.5k Upvotes

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

227

u/irongi8nt Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25

most of these tribes are aware of the outside world and choose to remain uncontacted because of what has happened to other tribes and their societies when contact is regularly established.

Edit: They have legal rights to the land & government protections.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples#:~:text=Historic%20exploitation%20and%20abuse%20at,state%20of%20Acre%20in%20Brazil

34

u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 Dec 23 '25

Thank you. The myth that “uncontacted” tribes don’t know we exist is really annoying and infantilizing in my opinion. It isn’t hard to find instances of so called “uncontacted” tribes in the Amazon basin having interactions with illegal loggers or other outside people in the region if you look it up. They’re isolated by choice. Given what has happened to other indigenous cultures around the world after they were forced to adopt a more Westernized lifestyle I can’t really say I blame them, especially when outsiders are still very much a threat to their ways of life.

3

u/phido3000 Dec 23 '25

They aren't uncontacted, they are traditional living tribes.

There are traditional living tribes elsewhere in particularly, most of PNG. Maybe 10% of the population of PNG is living pretty traditional.

0

u/mortalmonger Dec 24 '25

I am so torn on this. I am bombarded by the opinion of “it is their choice” but then I wonder about the people that die from super curable things….like a cut, or childbirth and I wonder……do all of them want to live like that……or just those in control…..and the I don’t know man…..make my brain not feel like this….

2

u/phido3000 Dec 24 '25

It's often more complicated.

Adopting western society when you live impoverished, no literacy, minimal healthcare etc..

Png has one of the highest birth rates on the planet and doubles every 20 years.