Uncontacted peoples are groups ofIndigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and theworld community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to asindigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.[1] Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from theInter-American Commission on Human Rights in theUN and the nonprofit groupSurvival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals total.[2][3][4] A majority of uncontacted peoples live in South America, particularlynorthern Brazil, where the Brazilian government andNational Geographic estimate between 77 and 84 tribes reside.[5]
Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring Indigenous communities and aerial footage.
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 andcolonization during theearly 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 termuncontacted therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-Indigenous society at present.[6]
TheInter-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.[7] As such uncontacted peoples are understood not as living in an anachronisticstate of nature but rather as contemporaries of modernity.[8]
A 2009United Nations report also classified "peoples in initial contact" as sharing the same characteristics but beginning to regularly communicate with and integrate into mainstream society.[9]
To highlight theiragency 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".[1]
Historically European colonial ideas of uncontacted peoples, and their colonial claims over them, were informed by the imagination of and search forPrester John, king of a wealthy Christian realm inisolation,[10][11] as well as theTen Lost Tribes of Israel, identifying uncontacted peoples as "lost tribes".[12]
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.[13][3][9]
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 theVale do Javari in Brazil[14] orNorth Sentinel Island in India.[15]
In 1961, British explorerRichard Mason was killed by an uncontacted Amazonian tribe, thePanará.[16] The Panará lived in relative isolation until 1973 when the government project (Cuiabá-Santarém) roadBR-163 was built through their territory. As a result, the tribe suffered newly introduced diseases andenvironmental degradation of their land. Of the more than 350 members of the Panará tribe, more than 250 perished in the first twelve months after their first contact with settlers.[17]
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.[citation needed] Their efforts were met with mixed success and criticism until, in 1987, Brazil created the Department of Isolated Indians inside theFundação Nacional do Índio (Funai), Brazil's Indian Agency. FUNAI was successful in securing protected lands which have allowed certain groups to remain relatively uncontacted until the present day.[citation needed]
A different outcome occurred in Colombia when theNukak 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 illicit drug 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.[18][14]
The dangers to isolated peoples demonstrated by contact with the Nukak tribe are generally shared across uncontacted peoples, particularly the desire of both national governments and private groups to exploit their lands for financial or social gain. This can include lumbering, ranching and farming, land speculation, oil prospecting and mining, andpoaching. For example, then Peruvian PresidentAlan García claimed in 2007 that uncontacted groups were only a "fabrication of environmentalists bent on halting oil and gas exploration".[19] 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.[20] In addition to commercial pursuits, other people such asmissionaries can cause great damage.[21]
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.[6]
Indigenous rights activists have often advocated that Indigenous peoples in isolation be left alone, saying that contact will interfere with their right toself-determination as peoples.[6] 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.[22] The Brazilian state organization 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.[19] The organization also steps in to prevent some conflicts and delivervaccinations.[13] However, FUNAI has been critical of political will in Brazil, reporting that it only received 15% of its requested budget in 2017.[19] 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 mass homicide incident against theFlecheiros tribe.[23]
Recognizing the myriad problems with contact, theUnited Nations Human Rights Council in 2009[9] and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2013[7] introduced guidelines and recommendations that included a right to choose self-isolation.[24][12]
There have been reports ofhuman safaris in India'sAndaman Islands and in thePeruvian Amazon, where tourism companies attempt to help tourists see uncontacted or recently contacted peoples. This practice is controversial.[25]
TheSentinelese people ofNorth Sentinel Island, which lies nearSouth Andaman Island in theBay of Bengal, 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.[26] They have been called by experts the most isolated people in the world,[6] and they are likely to remain so.[26]
Indian visits to the island ceased in 1997. An American,John Allen Chau, was killed in 2018 while visiting the island illegally as a Christian missionary. On March 29, 2025, aUS citizen from Arizona made an unauthorised landing on the island while also leaving a can ofDiet Coke.[27] He was subsequently arrested by theIndian Police Service with a view to prosecution. Indigenous rights organizationSurvival International, which advocates for uncontacted peoples globally, condemned the illegal actions as "deeply disturbing", noting that uncontacted peoples like the Sentinelese are vulnerable to being wiped out by contact-induced diseases to which they have no immunity.[28]
TheShompen orShom Pen are theIndigenous people of the interior ofGreat Nicobar Island, part of theIndianunion territory ofAndaman and Nicobar Islands. In 2001, the population was estimated at approximately 300. They practice ahunter-gatherersubsistence economy.Survival International, a global NGO campaigning for indigenous rights, says that the Shompen are one of the most isolated peoples on earth, with most of them being uncontacted and refusing interactions with outsiders.
Due to the proposedGreat Nicobar Development Plan, hectares of land on Great Nicobar Island will be reclaimed to build a "Hong Kong India" with an airport, an international port, and an industrial park. This may impact 1,700 people, including many Shompens.[29] In February 2024, 39 genocide experts from 13 countries warned that the development “will be a death sentence for the Shompen, tantamount to the international crime of genocide”.[30] They said that the proposed population increase and exposure to outside populations would lead to mass deaths, because the Shompen have little to no immunity to infectious outside diseases.
TheToromona are an uncontacted people living near the upperMadidi River and theHeath Rivers in northwestern Bolivia.[20] The government has created an "exclusive, reserved, and inviolable" portion of theMadidi National Park to protect the Toromona.[31]
Among theAyoreo people of theGran Chaco are a small number of uncontactednomadichunter-gatherers in theKaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area.
Pacahuaras are believed to be living in voluntary isolation inPando Department.[32]
Until the 1970s, Brazil attempted unsuccessfully to move anyone on lands that could be commercially cultivated. In 1987, it set up the Department of Isolated Indians insideFUNAI, facilitating the work ofSydney Possuelo andJosé Carlos Meirelles, and declared theVale do Javari perpetually sealed off, encompassing an area of 85,444 square kilometres (32,990 sq mi).[14] In 2007, FUNAI reported the presence of 67 uncontactedIndigenous peoples in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005.[33]
TheAwá are people living in the easternAmazon rainforest. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. Their tribe is at risk because of conflicts with logging interests in their territory.[34]
TheKawahiva live in the north ofMato Grosso. 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.[35] In 2013, the government released video of the Kawahiva filmed in 2011, generating headlines around the world.[36] In 2024, after years of campaigning, Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered FUNAI, the Brazilian government’s Indigenous affairs department to present a timetable for demarcation of the Kawahiva do Rio Pardo territory, and in March 2025, FUNAI confirmed that the demarcation will happen by the end of 2025.[37]
TheKorubu live in the lowerVale do Javari in the westernAmazon Basin.[38]
TheFlecheiros (the "arrow people") are another people living in theVale do Javari.[39]
Other tribes may include theUru-Eu-Wau-Wau, and theHimarimã. There may be uncontacted peoples inUru-Eu-Uaw-Uaw Indigenous Territory andKampa 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 thePiripkura 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 documentaryPiripkura. Another man colloquially called the "Man of the Hole" lived alone on 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) where he dug hundreds of holes for farming and trapping.[40] He was found dead in his hammock, in a self-made dwelling, in August 2022.[41]
Since 2021, uncontacted peoples in Brazil have been threatened by illegal land grabbers, loggers, and gold miners. Additionally, the government ofJair Bolsonaro signalled its intention to develop the Amazon and reduce the size of Indigenous reservations.[42]
With the creation of gigantic tribal reserves and strict patrolling, Colombia is now regarded as one of the countries that offer maximum protection to uncontacted Indigenous people.[43]
TheNukak people are nomadic hunter-gatherers living between the Guaviare and Inírida rivers in south-east Colombia at the headwaters of the northwestAmazon basin.[44] There are groups, including theCarabayo,Yuri andPassé, inRío Puré National Park [es].[45][46][47]
Two isolatedIndigenous peoples of Ecuador live in the Amazon region: theTagaeri and theTaromenane. Both are easternHuaorani peoples living inYasuni National Park. These semi-nomadic people live in small groups, subsisting on hunting, gathering, and some crops. They are organized into extended families.[21] Since 2007 there has been a national policy which mandates untouchability, self-determination, equality, and no contact.[21] In 2013, more than 20 Taromenane were killed byWaorani, another Huaorani group.[48]
Approximately 100Ayoreo 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 inAmotocodie.[49] Threats to them include rampant illegal deforestation.[50] According toSurvival International, Brazilian company Yaguarete Porá S.A. is converting thousands of hectares of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe's ancestral territory into cattle ranching land.[51] The Union of Ayoreo Natives of Paraguay is working for their protection, with support from theIniciativa Amotocodie.[21] In 2021, the Ayoreo appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to save their land from destruction.[52]
TheNomole (derogatorily called Mashco-Piro) are nomadicArawak-speaking hunter-gatherers who inhabitManú National Park inPeru. In 1998, theInternational Work Group for Indigenous Affairs estimated their number to be around 100 to 250.[53] They speak a dialect of thePiro languages.[54] Amid incursions on their land, the tribe has made it clear they do not wish to be contacted.[55] As of 2013, all the bands seem to be surviving. In July 2024, video and images of dozens of uncontacted Nomole people, on the banks of a river a few kilometers from a series of logging concessions, were published by Survival International.[56] In September 2024, at least two loggers were killed by a group of uncontacted Nomole.[57]
Other groups include theMachiguenga,Nanti,Asháninka,Mayoruna,Isconahua,Kapanawa,Yora,Murunahua,Chitonahua,Mastanahua,Kakataibo, andPananujuri. Many of them speak dialects ofPanoan languages.[21] There are five reserves for uncontacted peoples. However, the law designed to protect those peoples does not prevent economic operations there.[21] There are about 25 uncontacted indigenous groups in Peru.[58]
InVenezuela some groups from theHoti,Yanomami, andPiaroa tribes live in relative isolation. TheMinistry of Indigenous Peoples has no policies designed to protect these people specifically.[21]
Banten is home to theBaduy or Kanekes which are divided into theTangtu (Inner Baduy),Panamping (Outer Baduy), andDangka. Inner Baduy shun all contacts with outsiders, while Outer Baduy do foster some limited contacts with the outside world.Dangka are the outermost Baduy groups which do not live in the Kanekes region and have sustained contact with the outside world.[59]
TheO’Hongana Manyawa (InnerTobelo or Togutil) are a semi-nomadic ethnic group living in the interior ofHalmahera Island. In October 2023, footage emerged of members of the group warning logging companies to stay away from their lands.[60] A 2024 report claimed that their forest was being destroyed by the nickel mining industry.[61]
Polahi are an isolatedethnic group that inhabits the interior forests ofGorontalo.[62] According to stories circulating among the people[clarification needed], the Polahi were ancient fugitive people who withdrew into the forest around the 17th century because they were afraid of theDutch and did not want to be colonized by them.[63] As a result of this, they are now an isolated ethnic group, living deep in the forests of theBoliyohuto,Paguyaman, andSuwawa.[64]
Over 40 uncontacted tribes live in theWest Papua region in Indonesia, although contact is usually established upon initial encounter. While it is difficult for journalists and organizations to enter West Papua, no government agency is dedicated to protecting isolated Indigenous groups. Human rights organizations, includingSurvival International, 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.[65]
ThePintupi Nine lived a traditional life in theGibson Desert of Australia until 1984, having earlier split off from another group ofPintupi people.
TheNew Guinea Highlands were first visited by Western explorers in the 1930s. The highland valleys were found to be inhabited by over a million people.[66]
Ishi, a member of theYahi people of Northern California, remained in voluntary isolation from the outside world until 1911 and was acclaimed as the "last wildIndian".
TheMatsés made their first permanent contact with the outside world in 1969. Before that date, they were effectively at war with the Peruvian government.[67]
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
