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The Flecheiros are one of the
uncontacted peoples Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples 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. Leg ...
in the Javari region of the Amazon. Their ambiguous name simply means "arrow shooters".


Region

The Flecheiros live in the far west of
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory, an area covering . Access to the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory is limited by the government of Brazil to protect the indigenous groups inhabiting the area and the environment on which they depend for their traditional lifeways from exploitation by loggers, miners, poachers, drug traffickers and others. Several other indigenous peoples live in this territory, including the Kanamari and the Tsohom Djapa, who speak languages in the Katukina family, the
Matis The Matis people (also called Matsë in their own native language) are an indigenous people of Brazil. Outsiders sometimes call them the Jaguar People, but they do not like the name. They currently live in the far west of Brazil, in the Vale d ...
, the Marubo, the
Kulina Pano Kulina may refer to: *Kulina (Aleksinac), village in central Serbia *Kulina (Derventa), a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina *Kulina (Kalesija), a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina *Kulina, Estonia, village in Vinni Parish, Lääne-Viru County, Esto ...
, the
Korubo The Korubo or Korubu, also known as the , are a largely uncontacted, Panoan-speaking indigenous people of Brazil living in the lower Vale do Javari in the western Amazon Basin. The group calls themselves , and in Portuguese they are referred ...
and the Matses or Mayoruna, who speak
Panoan languages Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family. Genetic relations The Panoan family is generally bel ...
. The region is also home to certain other groups of
uncontacted peoples Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples 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. Leg ...
. Contact with uncontacted peoples is prohibited by the government of Brazil, even with respect to other indigenous groups living traditional lifeways, but state capacity is low in these areas and monitoring or enforcement is difficult.


Language

Ethnographically, the people are similar to the Kanamarí. However, a meeting between a Kanamarí and the Flecheiros was observed, showing that the two have different languages. Their language is thus unknown and therefore unattested. Similarities in arrow design with another "uncontacted" tribe contacted by the Kanamari, the Tsohom Djapa or Toucan People suggest that the Flecheiros may be related to or the same people as them.


Culture

Little is known about the Fleicheros due to their apparent preference not to engage with the world community and the Brazilian government's policy of preventing contact by outsiders. However, limited expeditions in and around Flecheiro territory by
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officials have produced evidence that the Flecheiros hunt various animals, including
peccary Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccari ...
,
tapir Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...
,
capybara The capybara or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris'') is the largest living rodent, native to South America. It is a member of the genus '' Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmi ...
,
caiman A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...
,
sloth Sloths are a Neotropical realm, Neotropical group of xenarthran mammals constituting the suborder Folivora, including the extant Arboreal locomotion, arboreal tree sloths and extinct terrestrial ground sloths. Noted for their slowness of move ...
and various species of monkey using bamboo arrows with fire-hardened tips and blowguns, both enhanced with
curare Curare ( or ; or ) is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South America for hunting and for therapeutic purposes, curare only ...
poison. They cultivate rocas - temporary jungle plantations used for a few years at a time - to grow sugarcane, cotton (with which to pack blowguns), manioc, and plantains. It is not known how plantains and sugarcane, imports from South Asia, came to the Flecheiros. They forage a variety of jungle foods including caterpillars and prized
yellow-spotted river turtle The yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle (''Podocnemis unifilis''), also known commonly as the yellow-headed sideneck turtle and the yellow-spotted river turtle, and locally as the taricaya, is one of the largest South American river turtles. '' ...
eggs. Palm fruits are also consumed. They brew saliva-fermented casava beer. Meats are preserved by smoking.''The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes'', First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011, p. 229 The Flecheiros make earthenware pottery and appear to have some limited access to metal tools, likely taken from loggers and fisherman illegally encroaching on their territory.''The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes'', First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011, p. 229 They build palm-thatched huts called
malocas A maloca is an ancestral Longhouse, long house built by Indigenous people of the Amazon Basin, Amazon, notably in Colombia and Brazil. Each community has a single maloca with its distinct characteristics. Several families with Patrilineality ...
in communities of about 50-60 people and make use of sleeping hammocks like many Amazonian tribes. Smaller structures are built at temporary campsites. They make use of ceremonial bark masks and annato-based urucum dye., and make large dugout canoes propelled by poling against the riverbed. Men wear very little clothing.


History

It is not known whether the Flecheiros are a historically distinct people or whether current Flecheiro groups were thrown together in the turbulence accompanying Brazilian contact with previously isolated indigenous tribes in the 1970s (or earlier). "Uncontacted" as a label can be misleading, with some scholars and activists preferring the description "living in voluntary isolation". The Flecheiros recognize non-indigenous people and weapons. They are generally hostile to interlopers. They are likely to be immunologically naive. In the 1980s, loggers harvesting timber along the Sao Jose Creek met with repeated violent attacks by Flecheiros. The Flecheiros are the subject of a book called ''The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes'', by Scott Wallace. The 2011
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
edition details the 76-day expedition in 2002, led by famed indigenous activist
Sydney Possuelo Sydney Ferreira Possuelo (born 19 April 1940, in Santos Dumont) is a Brazilian explorer, social activist and ethnographer who is considered the leading authority on Brazil's remaining isolated Indigenous Peoples. Life and career Sydney Possuelo ...
, who attempted to find the status of the Flecheiros in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land. In September 2017, the Brazilian government investigated a reported massacre in August of about 10 members of the tribe who were gathering
yellow-spotted river turtle The yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle (''Podocnemis unifilis''), also known commonly as the yellow-headed sideneck turtle and the yellow-spotted river turtle, and locally as the taricaya, is one of the largest South American river turtles. '' ...
eggs along a river when they were killed by gold miners. The miners had bragged about "cutting up the bodies and throwing them in the river."The Last Stand of the Amazon’s Arrow People By SCOTT WALLACE SEPT. 23, 2017
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flecheiros History of Amazonas (Brazilian state) Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Uncontacted peoples in the Amazon Unattested languages of South America