From the lost tribes of the Amazon to the unseen people of the Australian outbacks, here are the Top 10 Most Isolated Tribes.
10. The Surma Tribe – Negele, Ethiopia
The Surma Tribe, located in South Ethiopia, lies The Surma Tribe.
There is believed to be around 8,000 Surma people residing in South Ethiopia near the Sudan border. The Surma people work on a system of hierarchy and men are divided into different groups. Children (Tegacy), who start helping with cattle from about 8 years old. You then have the Junior Elders (Rora), Senior Elders (Bara) and the Komoru, who is the ritual chief.
When it’s time for a tribes-man to move to the next age range, the initiation ceremony is very violent, with the candidate being insulted by elders and being starved and whipped until they bleed. After this they are promoted.
Many Surma women wear a lip disk, which involves knocking out their middle bottom teeth. Very small lip disks are inserted at around 15 to 18 years old, and the size is slowly increased over the years. They are intended to attract a husband and the family of the wife will be given more cattle from the husbands family depending on the size of the lip disk, the world record is currently 59.5 cm in circumference.
9. Mashco-Piro People – Manú National Park
The Mashco-Piro People, live in Manu National Park, which is located in Peru.
The tribe inhabit the remotest parts of the Amazon Rain Forest and it is believed there population is around 100 to 250. They have only been spotted twice since 2011, so very little is known about them.
A Spanish archaeologist was recently killed by the tribe. The last encounter was on the Las Piedras River.
8. The Moxateteu People – The Amazon
The Moxateteu People, Located in the Amazon, lie the Moxateteu People.
This tribe is believed to be part of the Yanomami Tribe, who lost 1/5 of their population to diseases brought by miners. Very rarely ever seen, there numbers and whereabouts is largely unknown.
7. The Pintupi Tribe – Papunya, Northern Territory, Australia
Number 7, located in Papunya, Australia, The Pintupi Tribe live almost in the center of the Aussie outbacks.
The Pintupi Tribe were a small group of people who lived in the very deserted out-backs of Australia. Many left in the 1950s due to the extreme droughts, however some remained, died, and in 1984, there were 9 remaining, which were introduced to civilization after nearly 40,000 years.
6. The Lone Brazilian – Amazon
Located somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest, lies The Lone Brazilian.
Also known as the most isolated man on the planet, he is believed to be the last person in his tribe. He was last seen 15 years ago and has since been in hiding in the Amazon from logging companies and other people.
The government have now put a 30 mile-no-go perimeter around where he is expected to be living in order to let him live in peace.
5. Korowai Tribe – Mount suckling, Papua New Guinea
Located near Mount Suckling, Papua New Guinea, lies the Korowai Tribe.
The Korowai Tribe consists of around 3,000 people which live in the remotest parts of Papua New Guinea. Until around 1970, they had no idea other people existed. The Korowai people live high up in tree house canopies in the jungle.
4. The Old Believers – Nikolaevsk, Alaska
Now located in Nikolaevsk, Alaska, lies The Old Believers.
The Old Believers were part of the Russian Orthodox Church in the sixteen-hundreds.
Changes were made at the churches religion in Russia with new rules, those who did not agree or abide by the changes, would be executed.
Although the majority of The Old Believers now live in Alaska, it is believed some still live in total isolation in middle-of-nowhere Russian, still uncontacted and in hiding scared to be found unaware of changes in modern society.
3. The Sentinelese Tribe – North Sentinel Island
Located on the smallish island of the North Sentinel Island, resides The Sentinelese Tribe.
The population of these people is not known as no one can get to the island without being shot at, infact the last person to make contact with them was a stranded fisherman, who they ended up killing.
It is reckoned there are about 50 to 100 residents on the island, however this is a complete guess as the observations where made from a very long way off and aerial footage is not possible due to all the tree growth on the island.
It was not sure if the Sentinelese survived the 2004 Tsunami, but after a flight over the island and people popping out pointing arrows at the plane, it was confirmed they were better off than all their surrounding neighbours.
It is believed they have inhabited the island for the past 60,000 years and surrounding governments have decided to leave them be.
2. The Uncontacted Tribe – Jordão
Located somewhere in the Amazon, lies a tribe most well-know as The Uncontacted Tribe.
There is not really much to say about this tribe, due to them only being discovered in 2008 from aerial footage and them not being the most social of people.
Contact with these people is still ongoing.
1. The 100+ Others
No one really knows how many more uncontacted tribes are left on earth, however the Brazilian Government, who would probably be most accurate, believes there is still around 77 other uncontacted tribes in their country, and 15 in Peru. It has come up with this figure via statistical data and aerial shots.
Will we ever find all the uncontacted tribes of our planet, and if so, should we contact the uncontacted? What’s Your View?!