9781422277041

CHAPTER 1

The Tribes TRIBES OF ACRE (BRAZILIAN AMAZON REGION)

The first tribe we will study is located in the westernmost Brazilian state of Acre. According to Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), the agency in Brazil responsible for indigenous affairs, there are between twenty-seven and eighty separate indig- enous groups who live in extreme remoteness in the vast region of the Amazon. This region is so large and wild that it has the greatest number of tribes that have never been contacted existing in the world today. An unauthorized flight in March 2014 took pictures of a group, first spotted in 2008 shooting arrows at an airplane after it also illegally flew over their territory. Brazilian authorities were angry that the flight occurred since the government is trying to protect the tribes in Acre from interference from the mainstream world. There are accounts, however, that some of these uncontacted tribes are raiding other communities that have been contacted by the modern world and are stealing industrial items like machetes, axes, clothing, and aluminum pots from the contacted villagers.

Chapter 1: The Tribes 11

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