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- What is a up EWU Crew?
In one of our earlier videos
we covered the tragedy of John Allen Chau,
a missionary who broke numerous laws
to travel to a restricted island
off the coast of India to make contact
with a tribe known as the Sentinelese
who eventually killed him
and buried him on their island.
Today, we are talking about a few other infamous incidents
when uncontacted tribes met people from the outside world.
The Sentinelese are just one tribe of a few
who live on the outskirts of society,
isolated for centuries or even millennia
in the most remote parts of the planet
without any real contact with the world around them
in almost complete seclusion.
In 2021, there are believed to be about a 100
different uncontacted tribes living throughout the world.
Almost all knowledge about these elusive people
either comes from aerial footage
or unfortunate disastrous encounters.
Often when helicopters, planes and drones
are sent into the remote areas where these people live
they can be witnessed looking on with wonder and shock
at the sight of modern technology.
But more often than not
the tribes respond with fear and anger
shooting arrows up into the sky
in the hopes of bringing down
the foreign objects, flying overhead.
Very few tribes have had no real interaction
with the outside world at all.
In most cases
what we consider to be uncontacted tribes
have in truth had at least some sort of interaction
with people from the outside world,
but usually these incidents were negative and violent
which could explain
why these tribes retreated into the wilderness after
and still refuse to make contact to this day.
The Sentinelese have been dubbed
the world's most hostile uncontacted tribe
for a good reason.
Over a century before John Allen Chau
made his ill-fated meeting with the Sentinelese,
British imperialists first made ill-fated contact
with the tribe.
In the 1880s the British decided to establish a relationship
with the tribe who they had witnessed hunting
on the North Sentinel Island off the coast of India.
The tribe had actually been first discovered
over a 100 years prior in 1771
when the East India Company first saw lights
along the shoreline.
But for years following
any interaction with the tribe proved to be dangerous.
However, in 1880, a British Naval officer
named Maurice Vidal Portman
was undeterred and determined to meet the Sentinelese.
At this time, the British had experience making contact
with various tribes that had previously not been exposed
to the outside world.
It was through these experiences
that they had created an unconventional protocol
that they believed led to successful interactions.
When the uncontacted tribes were unfriendly
the British would kidnap one of their members.
They would then treat the kidnapped person well
feeding them and caring for any medical aid they required
before giving them gifts
and returning them back to the tribe.
Though it seems counterproductive,
the British intended that their kind treatment
of the person would be their entrance
into meeting more of the tribe members
and eventually establishing good relationships.
It was exactly this protocol
that Portman decided to use on the Sentinelese
as they had previously been hostile and wary
when the British approached.
At first his attempted kidnappings did not go as planned
because the Sentinelese fled in fear
when they saw strangers on their Island.
However an elderly couple and some children
were unable to escape
and Portman had his men kidnap them.
Though their intention
may have been to treat the tribes people well,
the two elderly people soon became sick
after being in contact with the British.
Without knowing it
the British had exposed the Sentinelese couple
to diseases that they had no immunity for.
After only a few days, the elderly couple died.
Despite this, the British still tried
to convince the children that they were friendly
and pried them with gifts
before returning them home alone.
Once the tribe realized that two of its members had died
while with the British, they were extremely aggressive
and refused any other interaction.
Some researchers have theorized
that it was this disastrous initial contact
that directly led to the Sentinelese's
overly hostile reactions
to anyone who has set foot on their island since.
Other attempts to meet the Sentinelese were made
but none have ended well.
In 1896, a convict managed to create a makeshift raft
and escape from a penal colony
located on great Andaman Island.
In his attempts to get away
his raft drifted onto the Sentinelese Island.
Soon after, a search party was sent out
and they discovered the convicts body on the beach,
his throat cut and body covered
in several wounds from arrows.
Only three years later, Richard Carnac Temple
the Chief Commissioner of the Andaman Islands
reported that he had gone to the Sentinelese Island
to capture any other fugitives who had also escaped
from the penal colony and wound up on the Island.
But when he did, Temple said that he only found their bodies
as all had been killed by the tribe.
Temple described the Sentinelese
as a tribe which slays every stranger
however, inoffensive on sight,
resulting in them being left relatively alone
for another 100 years.
In 1974, National Geographic became interested
in the Sentinelese
and went to the Island to film a documentary.
As soon as their boat approached
they were met with a hail of arrows.
Luckily for the crew, the arrows missed them
and they continued to land on the shore.
Attempting something similar to the British,
they left a variety of gifts
to show that they were friendly.
Unconvinced the Sentinelese shot more arrows and laughed
when one of the arrows struck the documentary director
in the thigh. The director survived the wound
but the National Geographic crew fled from the island.
After this incident, no more formal attempts to
contact the Sentinelese were ever made.
Poachers in 2006 made international headlines
When they snuck onto the North Sentinelese Island.
They had gone to the shore
in the middle of the night to illegally hunt mud crabs.
But while there, they decided to drink heavily
and eventually fall asleep.
The next morning, the Sentinelese killed the intruders.
The Sentinelese aren't the only isolated tribe
who have deadly reputations
when it comes to making contact with the outside world.
In 2020, 56 year old Rieli Franciscato,
a renowned Amazon tribes expert
and member of the foundation FUNAI
which works to protect the land of remote tribes,
saw evidence of an uncontacted tribe
known as the isolated group of Cautario
in Seringueiras in the North of Brazil.
Regarded as the most experienced defender
of Amazonian uncontacted tribes,
Rieli quickly organized a team
that included police officers to follow the Cautario,
deeper into the Amazonian forest.
For three decades Rieli worked with the Brazilian government
collecting data on uncontacted tribes
and campaigning for their territory and ways of life
to be left undisturbed.
Rieli's group chased the Cautario
in an effort to keep them
from accidentally crossing over land
that belongs to local farmers which could possibly result
in an altercation.
Through the forest they followed the tribes footprints
until they came to the edge of a river.
Not knowing exactly where the tribal went
Rieli decided to go ahead alone
and leave the rest of his group waiting behind.
Though he was by himself
the tribe mistook Rieli as an intruder on their territory
and fired arrows at him. Because he was so close,
Rieli was struck directly in the chest.
A police officer with him reported that he cried out
pulled the arrow from his chest
ran 50 meters back to the group and collapsed, lifeless.
The arrow likely pierced his heart.
Previously when the tribe was observed
they were said to be peaceful.
The part of the tribe that shot
at Rieli was believed to have been sent out
by the other members as a war group
because of an unknown incident that antagonized them.
The photographer with Rieli later commented
that he thought it looked like the armed tribe members
were looking for revenge
when they killed the activist.
Brazil as the country
with the highest concentrations of uncontacted people
with somewhere between 77 and 84 different tribes
living within the dense Amazon forest
has seen more violent clashes between these tribes
and the outside world than anywhere else.
But it isn't always the tribes who are the ones
doing the killing.
Just like the Cautario,
most of the tribes in Brazil live in protected reserves
where the land has been claimed for indigenous people.
But logging, cattle farming,
the rubber trade, drug smuggling and even wildfires
have brought calamity to some of the uncontacted tribes
in these areas.
On occasion, the isolated tribes have violent encounters
with their neighbors who they usually avoid,
such as loggers and farmers
but recently they've seen their territory encroached upon.
Many of these tragedies have been disastrous
but because the tribes are so hidden and isolated
from the rest of the world
what exactly happened to them is often unknown.
One survivor of a mysterious tragedy is a lone man
known only as The Man of the Hole.
No one knows his real name, his language
or what tribe he had belonged to.
This man living completely alone
in the rainforest of Brazil is the last of his tribe.
The Man of the Hole had once lived
among an isolated tribe that refused contact
with the outside world
until something terrible happened that resulted
in the death of every member of his tribe except for him.
It is believed that his entire tribe may have been massacred
following an altercation with nearby cattle farmers
leaving The Man of the Hole completely on his own.
Today, he still refuses to make any contact with anyone
choosing to live by himself in a grass reed hut.
To protect him the, the FUNAI
have built a reserve around the area where he lives.
A territory that is surrounded by cattle ranchers,
some of whom could possibly have been the ones
to kill his tribe.
In addition to tragedies like this
other factors, such as, disease also pose just as much
of a threat to isolated tribes.
On occasion uncontacted tribes
decide to voluntarily explore the outside world,
which is exactly what happened in 2014.
In the state of Acre, Brazil
a few members of a long isolated Amazonian tribe
known as the [Indistinct] came out of the forest
to raid the settled village of another nearby tribe
in order to steal food, and tools.
While there they met members of FUNAI
and stayed for a total of three weeks
where they met with the researchers.
During their contact, several of the tribes people
started to become sick, coughing and appearing pale.
The researchers realized
that they had probably exposed them to influenza
from their close encounters, an illness
which the tribe would have no previous immunity to
and could prove to be deadly.
The sick tribes members were given flu immunizations,
and though this likely saved their lives
disaster struck soon after.
Fearing their recent illness,
the members of the [Indistinct] tribe fled the village
to return to their own community in the forest
while they were still contagious carriers
for the potentially deadly flu.
There is a good chance that they accidentally spread the flu
to the rest of their tribe
potentially wiping out all of them with one illness,
especially as there is a chance that they also picked
up malaria while staying with the researchers
which they could have infected their whole tribe
with as well. Because of their isolated nature.
it isn't clear how the tribe fared
against the potential exposure to the diseases.
In other parts of Brazil
entire uncontacted tribes have vanished due to disease.
Today people are understandably fascinated
by the existence of uncontacted tribes.
One tribe in particular has garnered a lot of attention
in recent years.
The Jarawas tribe live on the Andaman Islands in India
near the Sentinelese.
But unlike the reclusive and aggressive tribe,
the Jarawas have been more welcoming to outsiders
though contact is limited
as they are still living outside the modern world.
The Jarawas have been targeted
by tourists and guides.
Though illegal under Indian law private companies
offer the rare opportunity for sightseers to catch a glimpse
of an uncontacted tribes daily lives.
It's been alleged that
over 500 tourists a day could be secretly taken to gawk
and take pictures of the Jarawas,
who appear to be unbothered by the attention.
Another interesting uncontacted tribe is the Korowai.
Reportedly, these people live in trees
and have developed slightly splayed feet to
help them climb.
Discovered in the 1970s this Papua New Guinea tribe
is estimated to have up to 4,000 members.
Their belief system includes a concept called Khakhua.
which they believe are witches who take over men's body.
However, in the eyes of the Korowai people,
the only way to get rid of these evil entities
is to kill and cannibalize the unfortunate man.
One journalist who actually asked the tribe
about this alleged practice recalled,
"I asked Boas whether the Korowai eat people
"for any other reason or eat the bodies of enemies
"they've killed in battle?"
"Of course not." He replies giving me a funny look.
"We don't eat humans, we only eat Khakhua."
In 2017 yet another uncontacted tribe from Brazil
came into the spotlight,
but the reasons were anything but positive.
A group of miners who had just completed an illegal job
in the Amazon were overheard bragging in a bar
about an atrocious act of violence
they had committed against a group of uncontacted people.
An unidentified source had listened in horror
as the group of minors, raucously recounted their gruesome
and heartless crime.
And this source decided to record the conversation
and alert authorities.
The gold miners said they overpowered 10 tribe members
stole their tools and jewelry and brutally killed them
cutting their bodies, to prevent them from floating
and dropping them into a river.
This type of tragedy is becoming a real threat
to these isolated tribes.
As the world continues to develop and seek out resources
hungry eyes often look to the untouched land
these people have called home for generations.
Reportedly, the Peruvian government
denied the existence of uncontacted people for sometime,
and their decision to turn a blind eye
led to major oil and gas operations
being allowed to operate on the reserves
specially set aside for the tribes.
Anthropologists emphasize that fear of the unknown
often plays the biggest role
in these groups choice to remain isolated
and that when these professionals do get the chance
to sit down and interview people
who choose to finally make contact with the outside world,
they often admit that they had long considered doing so
but had simply been too scared to go through with it.
Nowadays, experts who study this people
and fight to preserve their way of life
are attempting to protect the tribes from external threats,
like logging and narco trafficking
that could end in their extinction
without encroaching on their daily lives.
Even though we may know where many
of the uncontacted tribes are
we really have no idea just how many people
make up the remote tribes, the type of lives they have
or just how isolated they truly are.
In the end one thing is for certain,
the people who choose to live away from the outside world
should be left alone, as violating their isolation
just for curiosity, usually has disastrous consequences.