Some Examples of Uncontacted People
The Man In The HoleFirst seen in 1996The man in the hole is an indigenous man who has lived alone in the Amazon for over 20 yearsBelieved to be the last member of his tribeUnknown what happened to his tribeProbably killed by loggers or ranchersIn 2007 FUNAI made a 31 mile area around The Man In The Hole a protected areaExpanded by 11.5 miles in 2008The Man In The Hole is understandably wary of outsidersGiven tools like an axeSeen using the tools that were given to himIn 2009 The Man In The Hole was attacked by someone with a gunSurvivedCalled The Man In The Hole because he digs deep holes in every home he builds.Over 6 feet deepUsed either as traps or protectionIn 2018 FUNAI captured footage of The Man In The Hole using an axe to cut down a tree The SentineleseLive on North Sentinel Island just off the coast of eastern IndiaTechnically a part of IndiaHome to 40-500 people who have resisted contact from the outside world for yearsFirst contact was with the British in 1880Standard practice for British to kidnapFound and kidnapped an elderly couple and 4 childrenThe elderly couple diedIn 1967 the Indian government launched an expedition to make contact.The Sentinelese would flee into the jungle or be hostileEither dropped gifts in the water to wash up on shore or left gifts on the beachIn 1974 a documentary crew tried to establish contactAs soon as they were in range of the island the Sentinelese shot arrows at themLanded their boats out of range and left giftsa miniature plastic car, some coconuts, a live pig tied, a doll, and aluminum cookwareAn arrow hit the director of the documentary in the thighThe man who hit him could be seen laughing before he started lounging in the shadeThe Sentinelese only took the coconuts and aluminum cookwareMembers of other nearby indigenous tribes have been brought to the island in hope that they’d be able to communicateThese meets never work and almost always turn hostileA cargo ship crashed near the island in 1981The crew was evacuated by helicopter after being attacked by the SentineleseIn the 90s the Sentinelese seemed to be less hostile to outsidersAllowed boats to land without firing arrowsMeet unarmedMake hostile gestures to intimidateFired arrows without arrowheadsIn 1996 the Indian government ended attempts to contact the SentineleseThere had been deaths in similar programsFear of diseaseAppeared to have survived the 2004 tsunamiIn 2006 two men were fishing mudcrabs nearbyFell asleep (probably drunk)Drifted toward the islandKilled by the SentineleseAttempt to retrieve the bodies resulted in attacks on helicoptersIndian government decided that this was not a murderSentinelese are a sovereign people with the right to kill anyone who interferes with their territoryThe KorowaiLocated in Indonesia near the border with Papua New GuineaApproximately 3,000Believed that they were totally unaware of the outside world until contact was established in 1974First contact was simple. A scientific team was going through the area when they met 30 menBasic contact was made and a simple word list was establishedLate 1970s a team of Dutch missionaries started to live among the Korowai peopleThe Korowai were resistant to religious conversionSeveral documentary crews made their way to the KorowaiDiscovered that they practiced cannibalism to expel witches they call KhakuaBelieve Khakua can inhabit someone’s body and the only way to get rid of them is to kill and eat the personAn Australian team working for 60 minutes was approach by a member of the Korowai people who said his 6 year old nephew was going to be eaten because he was accused of being a witch doctor60 Minutes refused to help but a team from Seven Network sent a crewSeven Network’s crew ran into visa troubleOne BBC documentary showed footage from 1999 in which the Korowai people were terrified of seeing a “white ghost” and were convinced that it was a sign that the world was ending
