Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Isolated tribe discovered in Paraguay
Officials in Paraguay say that they have found evidence of a never-before contacted tribe living in a remote region of that country's Chaco forest. The discovery came about as two Brazilian ranching companies moved into the region and began encroaching on the tribe's space. Now there are fears that these indigenous people could be unfairly forced off their land due to increased deforestation and a growing number of cattle ranches.Experts believe that the tribe belongs to the Ayoreo Totobiegosode culture, which is a reclusive group that has had violent encounters with the outside world in the past. While this particular tribe has yet to be spotted, authorities say they have found numerous footprints, broken branches and traps designed to capture turtles. Those traps resemble the ones used by other Ayoreo tribes encountered in other parts of the forest.
Brazilian companies River Plate and BBC recently purchased the land on which this tribe lives. Those two organizations have been systematically logging the forest to create more land for grazing cattle and both were cited for illegal deforestation in the region just last year. As these two companies continue to remove trees from the Chaco forest, they force the natives living there onto increasingly smaller plots of land or into a situation where they can no longer avoid contact with outsiders.
Because these tribes haven't been touched by the modern world, first contact must be handled very delicately. The indigenous people lack immunities to diseases and infections that we take for granted and something as simple as the common cold can have a devastating effect on a tribe. It is also not uncommon for them to react violently against interlopers in their territory, particularly interlopers that they don't understand very well. It is because of these dangers that the United Nations has passed a treaty that makes it illegal to contact these people unless communication is first initiated by members of the tribe.
The Paraguayan government hasn't decided how it will proceed yet, although there have been calls to investigate how River Plate and BBC came by the plots of land they are now clearing of trees. It is highly possible that the government will step in and prevent further encroachment on the land in order to protect the natives who are living there, but that outcome is far from certain.
When I read stories such as this one I can't help but wonder what those tribes think of us when they encounter us for the first time. Clearly we are of the same species but we have technology that must seem like magic to them. I can't imagine how that makes them feel.
[Photo credit: IIosuna via WikiMedia]
The Paraguayan government hasn't decided how it will proceed yet, although there have been calls to investigate how River Plate and BBC came by the plots of land they are now clearing of trees. It is highly possible that the government will step in and prevent further encroachment on the land in order to protect the natives who are living there, but that outcome is far from certain.
When I read stories such as this one I can't help but wonder what those tribes think of us when they encounter us for the first time. Clearly we are of the same species but we have technology that must seem like magic to them. I can't imagine how that makes them feel.
[Photo credit: IIosuna via WikiMedia]
Filed under: History, Learning, South America, Brazil, Paraguay, News
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Seymour Mar 18th 2012 1:32PM
Leave them alone! You do-gooders and missionaries have ruined everything you've touched so far. Desginate the area "non-accessible" and stay out!
Tony Mar 18th 2012 1:57PM
AS THE REPUBLICAN/TEA BAGS SAYING GOES...
"DRILL BABY DRILL"
fowler Mar 18th 2012 2:53PM
I got your tea bags.Their hangin' right here.
Tony Mar 18th 2012 3:38PM
To Fowler: I am not and have never been a rebublican!
So, Take you'r tea bags and give them to a republican closeses to you.This is where thery want to be and this is where they belong.Don't beleive, Just ask nuttie baby.
Tony Mar 18th 2012 2:08PM
"DRILL BABY DRILL"...REBUBLICANS WANT TO TAKE THIS AND START THEIR "DRILL BABY DRILL'" TO THE MOON ALSO!! JUST ASK NETTIE BABY.
Frank Mar 28th 2012 2:20PM
We should leave these people alone as aif we never knew they are there. They have the right to live as they are. Live and let live. How would we like others to drive us out of our land? Not fair, is it?
fowler Mar 18th 2012 2:49PM
The gov't. should stop this greedy trash from destroying these peoples' land.If we,known as the civilized ,get hold of them it is all over for them.
MKille Mar 18th 2012 5:12PM
Another tragedy in the making!
Cattle raising interests have systematically encroqched upon the land occupied for th9ousands of years thrughout Central and South America so as to feedf the burgeoning masses in the developed World.
The Tarahumara tribe of northern Guatemala is another tragic example. Having lost at the hands of the Spanish invaders 500+ years ago when milloions died rather than becoming enslaved, for 500+ years this trive survived in the rain forest just south of the Mexican border. Deforestation obliterated these ancient people just recently.
Why aren't governments protecting them??? Because they are simply, primitivge peoples. Because they've not kept pace with societal evolution. Because theyn aren't living in the "modern World", pusuing modern interests.
DOES THIS JUSTIFY SOCIETAL ANNIHILATION! GOVERNMENT DISREGARD OF AN ANCIENT PEOPLE WHO SEEK NOTHING IN RETURN? I THINK NOT!
ROSA MORALES Mar 18th 2012 4:22PM
The North and South American anthropological history WILL BE REWRITTEN. The old legends say the South Native Americans, aka First Native People came from the Root Of The Tree (South America) up to Turtle Island (North America). US genetic studies of DNA and Mitrochondrial distribution in ancient human migration patterns appear to confirm this legend with a chart showing heavy concentrations of one type of ancient human DNA and Mitrochondrial migration in all of South America and all of North America west of the MIssissippi River.
eric Mar 18th 2012 3:56PM
I think we need to contact them and show them the world there missing out on, besides with the population growing like it is they dont have a chance in the future anyway......