Non-Prophet

Peru accused of failing to protect Amazon tribes

Being that un-contacted people are in extremely short supply on the planet, and surely to disappear in my lifetime, I think it is more than worthwhile for the Peruvian government to put some resources behind keeping them from being chased around by illegal loggers.

iht.com:

Evidence is mounting that unchecked logging in the Peruvian Amazon is pushing some of the world's last isolated tribes into Brazil, increasing conflicts over land and food, a leading Brazilian tribe researcher and indigenous rights groups say.

From his observation outpost in a remote part of Brazil's Acre state near the Peru border, Jose Meirelles of the government's Indian affairs agency Funai told Reuters he was seeing regular evidence of uncontacted tribes fleeing the destruction of their traditional homeland.

"Putting it simply, the loggers are killing and expelling the isolated people. It's clear that they (the Indians) are coming here," Meirelles told Reuters by e-mail.

Pre-Columbian Amazon tribes lived in sustainable "garden cities"

Here is a cool article on the finding that pre-colombian amazonian people lived in fairly large and well planned communities. They had roads, farmed and had networks of villages that were organized with central hubs. This is in stark contrast to the concept that these people were and are made of of purely nomadic hunter and gatherer tribes.

news.mongabay.com:

Conducting archeological excavations and aerial imagery across a number of sites in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon, a team of researchers led by Michael Heckenberger found evidence of a grid-like pattern of 150-acre towns and smaller villages, connected by complex road networks and arranged around large plazas where public rituals would take place. The authors argue that the discoveries indicate parts of the Amazon supported "urban" societies based around agriculture, forest management, and fish farming. Heckenberger and colleagues write that the structure of settlement is similar to that found in other forest regions, rather than the centralized metropolises of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Kayapó shaman. The Kayapó are a Xinguano tribe that lives in the region.
The researchers say that while none of the discovered towns were as large as the largest medieval or Greek towns, they had features — including an "identical formal road, always oriented northeast to southwest in keeping with the mid-year summer solstice, connected to a central plaza" — indicative of "regional planning and political organization that are hallmarks of urban society," according to statement from the University of Florida.

Pictures From The Final Frontier

It is pretty amazing to me that uncontacted people still live on this planet. When I first heard about this story my initial thoughts were that we should just leave them alone, and I still think we should. The reason for the fly-overs was to document that they exist in an effort to raise consciousness about the importance of controlling illegal logging in the area. That's cool. I recently visited the Amazon and stayed with a group of indigenous folks, so I have a huge appreciation and genuine awe at the amazing nature of the people and forest. Like it or not though, the final frontier isn't going to remain unexplored for very much longer.

Reuters:

Amazon Indians from one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.

The photographs of the tribe near the border between Brazil and Peru are rare evidence that such groups exist. A Brazilian official involved in the expedition said many of them are in increasing danger from illegal logging.

"What is happening in this region is a monumental crime against the natural world, the tribes, the fauna and is further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilized' ones, treat the world," Jose Carlos Meirelles was quoted as saying in a statement by the Survival International group.