The Fayu people are an ethnic group who live in an area of swampland in
Waropen Regency,
Papua Province
Papua is a province of Indonesia, comprising the northern coast of Western New Guinea together with island groups in Cenderawasih Bay to the west. It roughly follows the borders of the Papuan customary region of Tabi Saireri, and is divided in ...
and
Puncak Regency
Puncak Regency is one of the Regencies of Indonesia, regencies (''kabupaten'') in the Indonesian province of Central Papua; it is not to be confused with Puncak Jaya Regency, which is within the same province, and from whose western districts thos ...
,
Central Papua
Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province () is an Indonesian Provinces of Indonesia, province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 25 July 2022 from the former eight western regencies of ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. They can be found in Kampung Otodemo, Inggerus District, but also in Kampung Dirou, Kampung Kawari, Kampung Dairi and Kampung Subohiri and in Kirihi District (south of Otodemo).
When first contacted by westerners they numbered about 400, a number reduced from about 2000 due to violence within the group. The Fayu generally live in single family groups with gatherings of several such groups once or twice a year to exchange brides. Two books have been written about living among them. The first is by
Sabine Kuegler, who spent most of her childhood growing up with them. The second is
Jared Diamond
Jared Mason Diamond (born September 10, 1937) is an American scientist, historian, and author. In 1985 he received a MacArthur Genius Grant, and he has written hundreds of scientific and popular articles and books. His best known is '' Guns, G ...
's ''
Guns, Germs, and Steel
''Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies'' (subtitled ''A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years'' in Britain) is a 1997 transdisciplinary nonfiction book by the American author Jared Diamond. The book attempts to ...
'', where the group is used as an example of a
band type society. The Fayu are often described in books written about them as
Stone Age
The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...
people,
cannibal
Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecology, ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well ...
istic, brutal fighters, backward, and as a people who can only count up to three.
Today, the Fayu people number up to 1,470; the majority of them are
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
.
See also
*
Indigenous people of New Guinea
The indigenous peoples of Western New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, commonly called Papuans, are Melanesians. There is genetic evidence for two major historical lineages in New Guinea and neighboring islands: a first wave from the Mal ...
References
External links
*
*2007 Kuegler, Sabin
Child of the Jungle: The True Story of a Girl Caught Between Two Worlds
Indigenous ethnic groups in Western New Guinea
Ethnic groups in Indonesia
{{Oceania-ethno-group-stub