Earth is a big place with billions of people, but thanks to modern technology, people from almost anywhere on the planet can communicate with others from great distances and easily travel to visit extremely different cultures.

While most people would agree that this is a good thing, there are still some people in the world who have remained very isolated. Most governments today strictly regulate, or outright prohibit, contact with the 100 uncontacted tribes that are known to exist in the world.

Some of them have had limited contact with the outside world, but have made it clear that they don’t want to be associated with it. Others have some contact with other tribes, but even that is limited.

Protecting these tribes is important not only because of their right to self-determination, but also because they provide valuable insights into how people from dramatically different cultures live.

Researchers who study these tribes have to be very careful to avoid contact or otherwise influencing them. So, they are often limited to studying things that were left behind if a tribe moves away from an area for some reason.

The largest known tribe of uncontacted people is the Mashco Piro tribe, which is located in the Amazon Rainforest in South-East Peru. There is an estimated 750 members of the tribe. Unfortunately, while they clearly want to be left along, loggers and other people are encroaching on their land. In the past, rubber barons even took members of the tribe as slaves.

Efforts are being made to protect this tribe, but it is difficult to stop modern people from moving in on the areas where the Masco Piro live.

The Sentinelese tribe is much smaller, estimated to be around 100 people. They are very well known because they don’t just avoid contact with outsiders, but they are actively aggressive toward them.

This tribe lives on North Sentinel Island, which means they have no natural neighbors at all. Sophie Grig is a Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at Survival International, and in 2023 talked to IFLScience about this tribe, saying:

“This makes them the most isolated tribe in the world because they don’t even have neighbors. Most uncontacted tribes have neighbors that they might have some sort of trade with or bump into in the forest, but the Sentinelese really have no one. The extent of the isolation with Sentinelese is unique.”

When outsiders have tried to make contact with them in the past, the Sentinelese drew bow & arrows on them, and in one case even killed a visitor.

Grig explained:

“They are making a clear choice and a very clear statement to the world that they wish to remain uncontacted and to be left alone. No one makes that clearer than the Sentinelese.”

Fortunately, there are strict laws in place that make it illegal for anyone to visit this island.

The existence of these uncontacted tribes is an important part of ongoing human history, and it is critical that everything possible is done to protect them.

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