Vale do Javari

Inhabitants

Vale do Javari is home to 3,000 indigenous peoples of Brazil with varying degrees of contact, including the Matis, the Matses, the Kulina, and others. These are believed to be living deep inside its reservation areas. The uncontacted tribes live in some 19 known villages identified by air. According to Fabricio Amorim from the Brazilian National Indigenous People Foundation (FUNAI), the region contains "the greatest concentration of isolated groups in the Amazon and the world".

The Brazilian government has made it illegal for non-indigenous people to enter the territory; the area (along with its inhabitants) is observed by the government from the air with rare overland treks by FUNAI officials and local guides. Non-indigenous people living in the area at the time were forcibly removed, sometimes without fair compensation.

Illegal economic activities

The region is known for being a trafficking route for cocaine. Illegal activities, such as fishing (mostly to export pirarucu and piracatinga), logging and mining, help criminal groups linked to drug trafficking to launder money and import more drugs to Brazil.

"Contacted" native tribes additionally have been reported to make illegal contact with "uncontacted" tribes to exploit their superior hunting skills.

Rubber boom

During the Amazon rubber boom, natives along the Javari River were subjected to slave raids, which were aimed at acquiring a workforce to extract rubber.

In the media

In October 2009, a plane with eleven people aboard emergency-landed in the middle of the reservation. People from the Matis tribe found the wreckage and alerted local authorities, who dispatched a rescue mission that flew nine survivors out of the reservation.

In June 2022, British freelance journalist Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on indigenous peoples of Amazonas, were murdered by poachers for helping to protect indigenous people from illegal drug traffickers, miners, loggers, and hunters.

In late 2023, Starlink devices introduced the Internet to a number of remote villages in the area, including the Marubo tribes.

References

References

1. Phillips, Tom. (22 June 2011). "Uncontacted tribe found deep in Amazon rainforest". [[The Guardian]].
2. ''The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes'', First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011
3. (2022-06-13). "Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira: 'A tragedy foretold'". [[BBC News]].
4. Anjos, Anna Beatriz. (2022-06-09). "Vale do Javari teve multa recorde por pesca ilegal de pirarucu".
5. (2022-06-19). "Brazil indigenous defender, sidelined under Bolsonaro, gave life for 'abandoned' tribes". Reuters.
6. Resende, Leandro. "Estudos mostram relação entre tráfico de drogas e pesca ilegal no Javari".
7. (2015-07-06). "Tríplice fronteira Brasil, Peru e Colômbia e as implicações com o narcotráfico". Textos e Debates.
8. (2013). "ndigenous Agency in the Amazon The Mojos in Liberal and Rubber-Boom Bolivia, 1842–1932". University of Arizona Press.
9. (1925). "The Distribution of Population in the Amazon Valley". Geographical Review.
10. (30 October 2009). "Amazon Indians find plane crash survivors".
11. (2022-07-11). "Inside the Amazon Journey That Left a Journalist and an Activist Dead". The New York Times.
12. (June 2, 2024). "The Internet's Final Frontier: Remote Amazon Tribes".