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Uncontacted peoples are groups of
indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted tribes challenging, but estimates from the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'' ...
in the UN and the non-profit group
Survival International Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969, a London based charity that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peo ...
point to between 100 and 200 tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals.Report of the Regional Seminar on indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and in initial contact of the Amazonian Basin and El Chaco, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (20–22 November 2006), presented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), E/C.19/2007/CRP.1, March 28, 2007, para 1. A majority of tribes live in South America, particularly Brazil, where the Brazilian government and
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...
estimate between 77 and 84 tribes reside. Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring indigenous communities and aerial footage.


Definition

''Uncontacted peoples'' generally refers to indigenous peoples who have remained largely isolated to the present day, maintaining their traditional lifestyles and functioning mostly independently from any political or governmental entities. However, European exploration and
colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
during the early modern period brought indigenous peoples worldwide into contact with colonial settlers and explorers. As such, most indigenous groups have had some form of contact with other peoples. The term "uncontacted" therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-indigenous society at the present time. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights refers to uncontacted peoples as "indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation." These groups are defined by their general rejection of contact with anyone outside of their own people. This definition also includes groups who have previously had sustained contact with the majority non-indigenous society but have chosen to return to isolation and no longer maintain contact. As such uncontacted peoples are understood not as living in an anachronistic
state of nature The state of nature, in moral and political philosophy, religion, social contract theories and international law, is the hypothetical life of people before societies came into existence. Philosophers of the state of nature theory deduce that the ...
but rather as contemporaries of modernity. A 2009
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
report also classified "peoples in initial contact" as sharing the same characteristics but beginning to regularly communicate with and integrate into mainstream society. To highlight their
agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...
in staying uncontacted or isolated, international organizations emphasize calling them "indigenous peoples in isolation" or "in voluntary isolation". Otherwise they have also been called "hidden peoples" or "uncontacted tribes". Historically European colonial ideas of uncontacted peoples, and their colonial claims over them, were informed by the imagination of and search for
Prester John Prester John ( la, Presbyter Ioannes) was a legendary Christian patriarch, presbyter, and king. Stories popular in Europe in the 12th to the 17th centuries told of a Nestorian patriarch and king who was said to rule over a Christian nation lost ...
, king of a wealthy Christian realm in isolation, as well as the
Ten Lost Tribes The ten lost tribes were the ten of the Twelve Tribes of Israel that were said to have been exiled from the Kingdom of Israel after its conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire BCE. These are the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Ash ...
of Israel, identifying uncontacted peoples as "lost tribes".


Relations with outsiders

International organizations have highlighted the importance of protecting indigenous peoples' environment and lands, the importance of protecting them from exploitation or abuse, and the importance of no contact in order to prevent the spread of modern diseases. Historic exploitation and abuse at the hands of the majority group have led many governments to give uncontacted people their lands and legal protection. Many indigenous groups live on national forests or protected grounds, such as the Vale do Javari in Brazil or the
North Sentinel Island North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal which also includes South Sentinel Island. It is home to the Sentinelese, an indigenous people in voluntary isolation who have defended, often by ...
in India. Much of the contention over uncontacted peoples has stemmed from governments' desire to extract natural resources. In the 1960s and 1970s, Brazil's federal government attempted to assimilate and integrate native groups living in the Amazon jungle in order to use their lands for farming. Their efforts were met with mixed success and criticism until, in 1987, Brazil created the Department of Isolated Indians inside of
FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as S ...
(Fundação Nacional do Índio), Brazil's Indian Agency. FUNAI was successful in securing protected lands which have allowed certain groups to remain relatively uncontacted until the present day. A different outcome occurred in Colombia when the Nukak tribe of indigenous people was contacted by an evangelical group. The tribe was receptive to trade and eventually moved in order to have closer contact with settlers. This led to an outbreak of respiratory infections, violent clashes with narco-traffickers, and the death of hundreds of the Nukak, more than half of the tribe. Eventually, the Colombian government forcibly relocated the tribe to a nearby town where they received food and government support but were reported as living in poverty. The threats to the Nukak tribe are generally shared by all peoples in isolation, particularly the outside world's desire to exploit their lands. This can include lumbering, ranching and farming, land speculation, oil prospecting and mining, and
poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...
. For example, then Peruvian President
Alan García Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez (; 23 May 1949 – 17 April 2019) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011. He was the second leader of the Peruvian Apri ...
claimed in 2007 that uncontacted groups were only a "fabrication of environmentalists bent on halting oil and gas exploration". As recently as 2016, a Chinese subsidiary mining company in Bolivia ignored signs that they were encroaching on uncontacted tribes, and attempted to cover it up. In addition to commercial pursuits, other people such as
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
can inadvertently cause great damage. It was those threats, combined with attacks on their tribe by illegal cocaine traffickers, that led a group of Acre Indians to make contact with a village in Brazil and subsequently with the federal government in 2014. This behaviour suggests that many tribes are aware of the outside world and choose not to make contact unless motivated by fear or self-interest. Satellite images suggest that some tribes intentionally migrate away from roads or logging operations in order to remain secluded.
Indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...
activists have often advocated that indigenous peoples in isolation be left alone, saying that contact will interfere with their right to
self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...
as
people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
s. On the other hand, experience in Brazil suggests isolating peoples might want to have trading relationships and positive social connections with others, but choose isolation out of fear of conflict or exploitation. The Brazilian state organization National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) in collaboration with anthropological experts has chosen to make controlled initial contact with tribes. The organization operates 15 trading posts throughout protected territory where tribes can trade for metal tools and cooking instruments. The organization also steps in to prevent some conflicts and deliver
vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulat ...
s. However, FUNAI has been critical of political will in Brazil, reporting that it only received 15% of its requested budget in 2017. In 2018, after consensus among field agents, FUNAI released videos and images of several tribes under their protection. Although the decision was criticized, the director of the Isolated Indian department, Bruno Pereira, responded that "The more the public knows and the more debate around the issue, the greater the chance of protecting isolated Indians and their lands". He shared that the organization has been facing mounting political pressure to open up lands to commercial companies. He also justified the photography by explaining that FUNAI was investigating a possible massacre against the Flechieros tribe. Recognizing the myriad problems with contact, the
United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
in 2009''Guidelines on the Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and in Initial Contact of the Amazon Basin and El Chaco'' and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2013 introduced guidelines and recommendations that included a right to choose self-isolation. There have been reports of human
safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an impor ...
s in India's
Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between t ...
and in Peru, where tourism companies attempt to help tourists see uncontacted or recently contacted peoples. This practice is controversial.


By region


India

India is home to two uncontacted tribes, both living on islands in the Andaman Island chain.


Sentinelese

The
Sentinelese The Sentinelese, also known as the Sentineli and the North Sentinel Islanders, are an indigenous people who inhabit North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal in the northeastern Indian Ocean. Designated a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Gro ...
people of North Sentinel Island, which lies near
South Andaman Island South Andaman Island is the southernmost island of the Great Andaman and is home to the majority of the population of the Andaman Islands. It belongs to the South Andaman administrative district, part of the Indian union territory of Andaman a ...
in the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...
, reject contact. Attempts to contact them have usually been rebuffed, sometimes with lethal force. Their language is markedly different from other languages of the Andamans, which suggests that they have been isolated for thousands of years. They have been called by experts the most isolated people in the world, and they are likely to remain so. During the
2001 Census of India The 2001 Census of India was the 14th in a series of censuses held in India every decade since 1871. The population of India was counted as 1,028,737,436 consisting of 532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females. Total population increased by 18 ...
, a joint expedition conducted during 23–24 February 2001 identified at least a few dozen individuals, but it was not exhaustive. Helicopter surveys after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami confirmed the Sentinelese had survived, and there have been a few limited interactions with them since. The local
Andaman and Nicobar The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated fro ...
administration has adopted an "eyes-on and hands-off" policy to ensure that no poachers enter the island. A protocol for circumnavigation of North Sentinel Island has been made and notified in consultation with the Indian government. Individuals have occasionally attempted to contact them, although such attempts are against the law. In November 2018, American missionary John Allen Chau was killed by the Sentinelese during an illegal expedition to the island, where Chau had intended to convert the tribe to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
.


Andamanese

Another Andamanese
tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
, the Jarawas, live on the main islands, largely isolated from other peoples. They are thought to number a few hundred people.


South America


Bolivia

The Toromona are an uncontacted people living near the upper Madidi River and the Heath Rivers in northwestern Bolivia. The government has created an "exclusive, reserved, and inviolable" portion of the Madidi National Park to protect the Toromona. The group faced encroachment from a Chinese mining company in 2016. Among the Ayoreo people of the
Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato ...
are a small number of uncontacted
nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
ic
hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...
s in the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area.
Pacahuara Pacahuara people are an indigenous people of Bolivia. A small group live in Tujuré, a community located near the Chácobo people on the Alto Ivón River in the Beni Department. The group only consists of four people. The fifth, a 57-year-old wo ...
s are believed to be living in voluntary isolation in
Pando Department Pando is a department in Northern Bolivia, with an area of , in the Amazon Rainforest, adjoining the border with Brazil and Perú. Pando has a population 154,355 (2020 census). Its capital is the city of Cobija. The department, which is named ...
.


Brazil

Until the 1970s, Brazil attempted unsuccessfully to move anyone on lands that could be commercially cultivated. Then, in 1987, it set up the Department of Isolated Indians inside
FUNAI is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as S ...
, facilitating the work of Sydney Possuelo and José Carlos Meirelles, and declared the Vale do Javari perpetually sealed off, encompassing an area of . In 2007, FUNAI reported the presence of 67 uncontacted
indigenous peoples in Brazil Indigenous peoples in Brazil ( pt, povos indígenas no Brasil) or Indigenous Brazilians ( pt, indígenas brasileiros, links=no) once comprised an estimated 2000 tribes and nations inhabiting what is now the country of Brazil, before European con ...
, up from 40 in 2005. The Awá are people living in the eastern
Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are considered highly endangered because of conflicts with
logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply cha ...
interests in their territory. The Kawahiva live in the north of
Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...
. They are constantly on the move and have little contact with outsiders. Thus, they are known primarily from physical evidence they have left behind: arrows, baskets, hammocks, and communal houses. The Korubu live in the lower Vale do Javari in the western
Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...
. Other tribes may include the
Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau are an indigenous people of Brazil,''Las ...
, and the Himarimã. There may be uncontacted peoples in Uru-Eu-Uaw-Uaw Indigenous Territory and Kampa Indigenous Territory and Envira River Isolated Peoples. In 2019, some isolated groups of one to two people came to the media's attention. Two brothers of the Piripkura tribe had continued to live alone in the jungle but initiated contact with FUNAI after a fire they had kept burning for 18 years went out. They were the subsequent focus of the documentary ''Piripkura''. Another man colloquially called the "
Man of the Hole The Man of the Hole (; – ), or the Tanaru Indian (), was an indigenous person who lived alone in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. He was the sole inhabitant of the Tanaru Indigenous Territory, a protected indigen ...
" lived alone on where he dug hundreds of holes for farming and trapping. He was found dead in his hammock, in a self-made dwelling, in August 2022. As of 2021, uncontacted peoples in Brazil are threatened by illegal land grabbers, loggers, and gold miners. Additionally, the government of
Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...
signalled its intention to develop the Amazon and reduce the size of indigenous reservations.


Colombia

With the creation of gigantic tribal reserves and strict patrolling, Colombia is now regarded as one of the countries that offers maximum protection to uncontacted indigenous people. The Nukak people are nomadic hunter-gatherers living between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers in south-east Colombia at the headwaters of the northwest
Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...
. There are groups, including the Carabayo,
Yuri Yuri may refer to: People and fictional characters Given name *Yuri (Slavic name), the Slavic masculine form of the given name George, including a list of people with the given name Yuri, Yury, etc. * Yuri (Japanese name), also Yūri, feminine Ja ...
and the Passé, in .


Ecuador

Two isolated indigenous peoples of Ecuador live in the Amazon region: the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Both are eastern Huaorani peoples living in
Yasuni National Park Yasuni can mean: * Yasuni National Park in Ecuador * The Yasuní-ITT Initiative, a proposal to refrain from exploiting oil reserves within the park * Lophostoma yasuni, a species of bat * Osteocephalus yasuni, a species of frog * Yasuni antwren, a ...
. These semi-nomadic people live in small groups, subsisting on hunting, gathering, and some crops. They are organized into extended families. Since 2007 there is a national policy which mandates: untouchability, self-determination, equality, and no contact. In 2013, more than 20 Taromenane were killed by other Huaorani.


Paraguay

Approximately 100 Ayoreo people, some of whom are in the Totobiegosode tribe, live uncontacted in the forest. They are nomadic, and they hunt, forage, and conduct limited agriculture. They are the last uncontacted peoples south of the Amazon basin, and are in Amotocodie. Threats to them include rampant illegal deforestation. According to
Survival International Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969, a London based charity that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peo ...
, Brazilian company Yaguarete Porá S.A. is converting thousands of hectares of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe's ancestral territory into cattle ranching land. The Union of Ayoreo Natives of Paraguay is working for their protection, with support from the Iniciativa Amotocodie.


Peru

The Mashco-Piro are nomadic
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...
hunter-gatherers who inhabit
Manú National Park Manú National Park ( es, Parque Nacional del Manú) is a national park and biosphere reserve located in the regions of Madre de Dios and Cusco in Peru. It protects a diverse number of ecosystems including lowland rainforests, cloud forests and ...
in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
. In 1998, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimated their number to be around 100 to 250. They speak a dialect of the
Piro languages The Piro languages, a.k.a. Purus, or in Aikhenvald South-Western Arawak, are Arawakan languages of the Peruvian and western Brazilian Amazon. Languages Kaufman (1994) gives the following breakdown: * Piro (Yine, Machinere) * Iñapari * Kana ...
. Amid incursions on their land, the tribe has made it clear they do not wish to be contacted. As of 2013, all the bands seem to be surviving. Other groups include the
Machiguenga The Machiguenga (also Matsigenka, Matsigenga) are an indigenous people who live in the high jungle, or''montaña'', area on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in the Amazon Basin jungle regions of southeastern Peru. Their population in 2020 amou ...
, Nanti,
Asháninka The Asháninka or Asháninca are an indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre, Brazil. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and part of Ucayali in Peru. Population The Ashán ...
, Mayoruna, Isconahua, Kapanawa, Yora, Murunahua, Chitonahua, Mastanahua, Kakataibo, and Pananujuri. Many of them speak dialects of
Panoan languages Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, and Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family. Genetic relations The Panoan family is generally believed to be relat ...
. There are five reserves for uncontacted peoples. However, the law designed to protect those peoples does not prevent economic operations there.


Venezuela

In
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
some groups from the Hoti,
Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Etymology The ethnonym ''Yanomami' ...
, and Piaroa tribes live in relative isolation. The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples has no policies designed to protect these people specifically.


New Guinea

There are over 40 uncontacted tribes living in West Papua region in Indonesia, although contact is usually established upon their initial encounter. While it is illegal for journalists and other organizations to enter West Papua, there is no dedicated government agency to protect isolated indigenous groups. Human rights organizations, including
Survival International Survival International is a human rights organisation formed in 1969, a London based charity that campaigns for the rights of indigenous and/or tribal peoples and uncontacted peoples. The organisation's campaigns generally focus on tribal peo ...
, have argued that there is a need to raise awareness of the existence of uncontacted tribes, for example, to prevent the development of infrastructure near their lands. On the other hand, remaining vague about the exact location and size of the tribe may help to avoid encouraging contact.


Historical


Australia

The Pintupi Nine lived a traditional life in the
Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. Th ...
of Australia until 1984, having earlier split off from another group of
Pintupi The Pintupi are an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose traditional land is in the area west of Lake Macdonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved (or were moved) into ...
people.


United States

Ishi Ishi ( – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native Americans in the United States, Native American Yana people#Yahi, Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as ...
, a member of the Yahi people of Northern California, remained in voluntary isolation from the outside world until 1911 and was acclaimed as the "last wild Indian".


See also

*
Isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangl ...
*
List of contemporary ethnic groups The following is a list of contemporary ethnic groups. There has been constant debate over the classification of ethnic groups. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be associated with shared ancestry, history, homeland, language or dialect ...
*
Noble savage A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of the indigene, outsider, wild human, an " other" who has not been "corrupted" by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness. Besides appearing in m ...
*
Stateless society A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held ...
*
Terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. : : ...


References


Further reading

* Wallace, Scott (2011).
The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes
'. Crown Publishers. * Cabodevilla, Miguel Angel, and Aguirre, Milagros (2013).
Una Tragedia Ocultada'': the story of the killing in 2013 of more than 20 uncontacted Taromenane Indians by armed settled Indians.


External links


Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources
* [http://www.culturalsurvival.org Cultural Survival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncontacted Peoples Uncontacted peoples, ">Cultural Survival">Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources

Cultural Survival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uncontacted Peoples Uncontacted peoples,
Stone Age
Indigenous peoples