1) Who are uncontaced tribes?

2) How many kinds of them are there

3) Where are they located?
4) Their distribution among different continents of the world
5) Description of each kind with images
6) Why are they needed?
7) Challenges faced by them
8) Organisations fighting for them

1) Who are uncontacted Tribes?

Before going into who are uncontacted tribes, we need to answer the
question what do we mean by uncontacted tribes.
Tribal peoples who have no peaceful contact with anyone in the
mainstream or dominant society are categorized as the uncontacted
tribes. These could be entire peoples or smaller groups of already
contacted tribes.
2) How many kinds of uncontacted tribes are there today?

At a rough guess, there are probably more than 100 around the world, mostly in
Amazonia and New Guinea, says Rebecca Spooner, of Survival International, a
London-based organisation that advocates for the rights of indigenous peoples.
Brazils count is likely to be the most accurate. The government there has
identified 77 uncontacted tribes through aerial surveys, and by talking to more
Westernised indigenous groups about their neighbours.
There are thought to be around 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru, a handful in other
Amazonian countries, a few dozen in the Indonesian part of the island of New
Guinea and two tribes in the Andaman Islands off the coast of India. There may
also be some in Malaysia and central Africa.

Most of these tribes have had a little contact with the outside world at least
indirectly. Theres always some contact with other isolated tribes, which have
contact with other indigenous people, which in turn have contact with the
outside world, says Spooner.

Many of the Amazon tribes choose to avoid contact with outsiders because they
have had unpleasant encounters in the past. The Mashco-Piro, for example,
abandoned their settled gardens and fled into the forests . According to Glenn
Shepard, an ethnologist at the Emilio Goeldi Museum in Belem, Brazil, this came
after rubber companies massacred tribes people at the turn of the 20th century.
For this reason, some researchers refer to such tribes as voluntarily isolated,
rather than uncontacted.
More recent incursions, especially by miners, oil workers and loggers,
may have reinforced the tribes xenophobia. In 1995, oilfields were encroaching
on the homeland of the uncontacted Huaorani people of eastern Peru. A
visiting New Scientist reporter was warned that any unclothed native should be
regarded as uncontacted and, thus, very dangerous.
In Peru, laws prohibit outsiders from initiating contact with isolated
groups in most cases. They also provide protected areas where tribes can live in
peace but there are loopholes that allow oil and mining companies into the
region. Brazil has similar laws and policies that allow contact only in life-
threatening situations.
 Anthropologists have an ethical obligation to do no harm to their
research subjects, according to the American Anthropological
Associations, statement on ethics. However, they are rarely the first people to
make contact with indigenous groups missionaries and resource developers
almost always get there first, says Kim Hill, an anthropologist at Arizona State
University who has worked with several recently contacted tribes. As a result,
there is no standard practice for initial contact, he says.

3) Where are they located? And what is their distribution among

different continents of the world?

This map shows the territories of uncontacted tribes around the world. The
territories are typically thousands of square kilometres in size, and the locations
are approximate. Few of their locations fall under the geographical boundaries of
the following countries.
1) Papa New Guinea Huli Wigmen, Chimbu Skeleton Dancers, Asaro Mud
men etc.
2) West Africa
3) Siberia - Nenet
4) Namibia- Himba Herders
5) Mangolia Kazakh Golden Eagle Hunters
6) Central African Republic
DIFFERENT KINDS OF UNCONTACTED TRIBES IN THE WORLD
The following description of uncontacted tribes is not exhaustive. These are
some of the tribes that are either currently under the danger of extinction or
have been successful in avoiding contact with the modern civilizations.
1) Huli Wigmen, Papua New Guinea

Location : Tari Highlands, Papua New Guinea

This tribes incredible hats are actually made from their own hair, with
men in this isolated 40,000-strong group harvesting their mane for their
own use or to sell to others. They combine these with yellow face paint, a
clawed axe, an apron of leaves and a belt of dangling pigtails to intimidate
rival tribes. Traditionally, they perform a classic bird dance, mimicking the
birds of paradise found on the island.

Future outlook: Successfully blending modern and traditional life, many

now wear Western-style clothing and are embracing tourism as a way to
keep their tradition alive.

2) Dogon, West Africa

Location : Mali, West Africa

Using ropes made of baobab bark, men traditionally scale the formidable
Bandiagara cliffs to collect pigeon or bat guano, which is sold as fertiliser,
and Tellem artefacts, which are sold to Western art collectors. More than
400,000 live in around 700 little villages precariously perched all the way
along the 200km cliff escarpment.
Future outlook: The tribe thrived on tourism dollars but recent
unrest has reduced visitors and poor crop harvests are making life much
harder.
3) Chimbu Skeleton Dancers, Papua New Guinea

Location: Chembu province, Papua New Guinea

It may be a look we're familiar with, but this tribes skeleton dances
originated to intimidate enemy tribes in what is a hotly-contested and
highly-territorial country. They are so remote that little is known about
their real lives, but it is understood they live in a temperate climate in
rugged mountain valleys between 1,600 and 2,400m, traditionally in male-
female segregated houses but increasingly sharing as families.
Future outlook: Slowly increasing tourism interaction means dances are
starting to be done more as shows by community-integrated people, than
by the more remote in a traditional setting.

4) Nenet, Siberia

Location : Yamal Peninsula, Siberia

This group of around 10,000 nomads are pretty hardy they move
300,000 reindeer on a 1,100km migration around an area one-and-a-half
times the size of France, in temperatures down to minus 50 degrees
Celsius. They travel on sledges anointed with freshly-slaughtered reindeer
blood, in trains that stretch up to 8km long. Despite discovery of oil and
gas reserves in the 1970s, they are adapting well to increasing contact
with the outside world.
Future outlook: Bucking the trend of dwindling global nomadic groups,
they are adapting to the social, political and natural change around them.

5) Asaro Mudmen

Location: Goroka, Papua New Guinea

These mud-covered men are not aiming for the perfect complexion, they
slap on the brown stuff because they believe it makes them look like
spirits and it terrifies the other indigenous groups in the area. One of many
groups scattered on the highland plateau for over a millennium, they are
isolated by harsh terrain and were only discovered around 75 years ago.
Future outlook: Success as a tourist attraction has enlarged the tribes
potential as a national symbol.

6) Himba Herders, Namibia

Location: Namibia, Africa

Semi-nomadic, the Himba live scattered across northwest Namibia and

southern Angola. When stationary, they live in tipi-shaped structures built
with mud and dung. Curious fact: They keep an ancestral fire burning 24
hours a day in homage to their god Mukuru. Wealth is measured in cattle,
but goat is a more regular part of the diet.
 Future outlook: There's an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 members of the
tribe left, but they're constantly threatened by new development.
Nevertheless, many maintain their traditional lifestyle.

7) Kazakh Golden Eagle Hunters

Location : Boyon- Ogli Province, Mangolia

They use eagles to hunt foxes, marmots and wolves and wear furs of the
prey they catch, with boys starting at the age of 13, when they can prove
they can carry the weight of a golden eagle. Semi-nomadic, they have
been moving around the Altai Mountains since the 19th century. They now
number around 100,000 people, but there are only around 250 eagle
hunters left.
Future outlook: Because young men are being drawn away, females are
starting to break into this masculine-dominated activity to keep it alive.

8) Bayaka, Central African Republic

Location : Southwest Rainforests, Central African Republic

Living by the Jengi, the spirit of the forest, the Aya have rich knowledge
of herbal medicine but use their own language and hunting traditions.
They are one of a number of tribes in this remote area of Africa making up
a population of half a million. However, elders now report they cannot
teach the traditional skills because they can no longer go deep into the
forest.
Future outlook: Many pygmy communities have lost their traditional
livelihoods, having to give up lands to conservation projects and logging.