A population that is shrugged off the list of recognized lives on the planet, Indigenous People are unique treasures of the earth. The Perishing Indigenous Tribe The Perishing Indigenous Tribe The Perishing Indigenous Tribe The Perishing Indigenous Tribe
Also known as native peoples or aboriginal peoples, Indigenous People are the original settlers of any place. The groups are called indigenous when they maintain traditions or cultures associated to a specific religion. Their lives are historically associated to a region. They can either be settlers or follow a nomadic lifestyle.
It is estimated that the total population of indigenous people ranges between 220-370 million. Despite their huge population and vast tracts of territories in natural resources and a wealth of intellectual assets and cultural property, the indigenous peoples face many problems including poverty, discrimination, and violence and are prone to fatal health issues.
To recognize tribal people and their right to survival and self-determination, UN has declared August 9, 2019 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Moken tribe
The Moken tribe are semi-nomadic Austronesian people, who live in the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands in the Andaman Sea that is claimed both by Burma and Thailand.
Thought to have migrated to Thailand, Burma and Malaysia from Southern China approximately 4,000 years ago, the Moken have traditionally lived on hand-built wooden boats called kabang for most of the year, migrating in flotillas between islands according to factors such as subsistence needs, wind patterns, security concerns and disease. They have historically shunned material possessions and rejected outside technology.
| The Moken ‘sea gypsies’ of the Andaman Sea have developed the unique ability to focus under water, in order to dive for food. The eyesight of Moken children is 50% more powerful than that of European children. |
Awa
The Awá, or Guajá, are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the eastern Amazon rainforest. There are approximately 350 members, and 100 of them have no contact with the outside world. They are considered highly endangered because of conflicts with logging interests in their territory. They speak Guajá, a Tupi–Guaraní language. Originally living in settlements, they adopted a nomadic lifestyle around 1800 to escape incursions by Europeans. During the 19th century, they came under increasing attack by settlers in the region, who cleared most of the forests from their land.
Bushmen
The Bushmen are the indigenous tribe that are the native of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola. They have lived there for tens of thousands of years. In the middle of Botswana lies the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, a reserve created to protect the traditional territory of the 5,000 Gana, Gwi and Tsila Bushmen (and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi), and the game they depend on. Although the Bushmen are Botswana’s poorest citizens, the case became the longest and most expensive in the country’s history.
| Bushmen peoples of Southern Africa might have lived there for 70,000 years or more. Recent studies suggest that the Bushman tribes are genetically closer to the ancestors of all of us than anyone else. |
Gonds tribe
The Gonds tribes are the natives of Central India in the district of Madhya Pradesh. They can also be found in Bastar district of Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The Gond tribes have a good command over Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Parsi and many other languages.
Warli Tribes
The Warli or Varli tribes are the Indigenous tribes from Maharashtra and Gujarat. They display a unique form of art and painting which reflects the mural paintings of 500–10,000 BC carved in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. Their form of art follows a technique with mixture of earth and cow dung, branches, red ochre, rice paste, bamboo stick and more. A grand festival, Warli Folk Art Dancing People Festival, is held during the month of March every year to celebrate this indigenous culture. They perform their unique folk dance, Tarpa, during the harvest season.
Bakaya tribe
The Bakaya tribe are the natives of Southwest Rainforests, Central Africa. The Bakaya also known as the Aya live by the ‘Jengi’ which is supposed to be the spirit of the forest. They have a wide knowledge of herbal medicine. The Aya tribe is one of the several tribes of the remote area of Africa and their population is around half a million people. They have distinctive hunting skills and language. Many pygmy communities have lost their traditional livelihoods and had to give up their lands to conservation projects and logging. The elders of the tribe say that they cannot teach the traditional skills as they can no longer go deep into the forest.
Kazakh Golden Eagle hunters
The Kazakh Golden Eagle hunters are found in the Bayan-olgii proving of Mangolia. They derive the name from their tradition of hunting foxes, marmots and wolves. They wear the furs of their prey. Boys start hunting at the age of 13 when they can prove that they can carry the weight of the Golden Eagle. These tribes follow a semi-nomadic livelihood and have been observed to be moving around the Altai Mountains since the 19th century. Their population comes around 1,00,000 people. Unfortunately their tradition is lost as around 250 eagle hunters are left. Young men are being drawn away which is making women take a lead in this male-dominated custom to keep it going.
| The Kazakh eagle hunters of Western Mongolia have such a strong bond with their eagles that they sleep beside them at night and hand-feed them for a month when young. |
Himba herders
Natives of Namibia, the Himba Hunters are a semi-nomadic tribe of Africa. They are scattered around northwest Namibia southern Angola. The Himba tribe keep their ancestral fire burning 24 hours in a day as homage to their God Mukuru. When stationary, they live in structures that look like tipis made of dung and mud. Their diet is mainly based on goat and wealth is measured in cattle. Their population is about 20,000-30,000 but are in a constant threat due to development. Despite this, most of the members in the tribe follow the traditional lifestyle.
| Both men and women wear large numbers of jewellery, made from ostrich eggshell beads, grass, cloth and copper, weighing as much as 40 kg! Adult women wear beaded anklets to protect their legs from venomous animal bites. |
Nenet
The Nenets are the natives of Yamal Peninsula, Siberia. This group consists of about 10,000 people. They follow a nomadic lifestyle and move 3,00,000 reindeers on a migration of 1,100 kilometres around the area that is almost one and a half times the size of France. They travel in temperatures nearing minus 50 degrees Celsius. Their sledges are smeared with freshly slaughtered reindeer blood and the trails stretch up to 8 kilometres. Despite discovering oil and gas reserves in the 1970s, they are adapting well to their increasing contact with the outside world. Resisting the trend of gradual diminishing in size of the nomadic tribes, they are adapting to the political, environmental and social changes around them.
