Uncontacted peoples - Wikipedia
Uncontacted peoples are communities or groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact to neighbouring communities and the world community, and includes "indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation".[1] In 2013 there were thought to be roughly 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, half of whom live in the Amazon rainforest.[2][3]
Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring indigenous communities and from aerial footage.
While sporadic contact may occur and products from outside might be acquired, uncontacted peoples sustain communities living in isolation either unintentionally, actively out of need, or voluntarily. To highlight their agency in staying uncontacted or isolated, international organizations emphasize calling them "indigenous peoples in isolation" or "in voluntary isolation".[1] Otherwise they have also been called "peoples in initial contact", "hidden peoples", "uncontacted tribes",[1] or, incorrectly, "lost tribes".[4]
Opinions differ between anthropologists, national governments and the medical community on how to handle uncontacted peoples. In an extreme case, Peruvian President Alan García claimed in 2007 that uncontacted groups were only a "fabrication of environmentalists bent on halting oil and gas exploration".[5]
