Amazon Indian Tribes

Amazon Native Tribes Photos and Videos

Amazon-Indians.org is a resource for photos and videos of native indigenous people of the Amazon Rainforest.  It is an educational resource and an introduction to the cultures of Amazon native tribes from the South American Amazon River Basin.  In addition, this website is a resource for information and geographic maps of the native indigenous tribes of the Amazon Rainforest.   Various indigenous people of the Amazon are represented, including the Matis, Matsés-Mayoruna, Huaorani, Bora, Shipibos, Yagua, Marubo, Ticuna, Kayapó, Suyá, and Xingu Amazonian native tribes.  Various ceremonies and rituals are illustrated, most importantly the Ceremony of Mariwin, Matsés-Mayoruna Poison Frog Ceremony, Dance of Queixada, Ritual of Capybara, Ticuna Indian Girl Puberty Rite of  Passage, Marubo Ceremony of Aco, and the Kuarup (Kwarup) Ceremony of the Dead.  Moreover, various Amazon native tribe legends are told, including Bari Rahua and the Discovery of the Grand Cosmos, the Amazon Indian Tribe Legend of The Pink Dolphin, and the Amazon Native Tribe Legend of The Victoria Regia.  Various aspects of the cultures of the indigenous people of the Amazon are covered, as well as hunting with blowguns and curare.  In particular, the blowguns of the Matis and Yagua native amazonian tribes are illustrated.   Amazon native tribe bilingual education is also highlighted.  Please check out our recent articles on the Huaorani Indians, the "Warriors of the Amazon" and on the Yanomami Indians, "The Fierce People."  Recently, uncontacted Amazon Indians have made headlines worldwide.  Some of these newspaper reports have been controversial and confusing, hence we have added several articles to help clarify and summarize what is known about uncontacted Amazon tribes.  Please refer to our new articles on "Uncontacted Amazon Indians in Peru," and "Uncontacted Amazon Tribe: The Cabellos Largos" to learn more about these indigenous Amazonian natives living in isolation from the rest of the world.  To learn about the most recently contacted tribe in the Amazon, please see our new essay on the Korubo Indians, also known as the "Caceteiros" or "Head-Bashers." 

In addition to articles, legends, geographic maps, photographs and three photogalleries of Amazon native tribes, five videos are offered for the Matis Amazon Indian tribe.  In the first video of the series, the technology that the Matis Indians use for hunting in the Amazon Rainforest is the primary subject.  The Matis indigenous hunters are the world's foremost experts in the use of blowguns and this video takes an in-depth view of blowguns, from  how poison darts are manufactured and the application of curare poison to how these indigenous people of the Amazon stalk and capture prey with their blowguns.  The second video illustrates the day to day life and material culture of the Matis Amazon Indian Tribe, including food and cooking, weaving with primitive looms, and the making of necklaces other ornaments.  In the third video of the series,  numerous Amazon native tribe ceremonies, dances, and rituals are shown.  The Dance of Queixada, Ritual of Capybara, and the Ceremony of Mariwin are illustrated.  Medicinal plant use by the Matis Indians is covered in the fourth video of these indigenous people of the Amazon.   The fifth video is dedicated to the Ceremony of Mariwin, but also covers how this Amazon native tribe can manually make fire and hunt with blowguns.  

Recently, the Machigenga (also called the Machiguenga or Matsiguenka) Indians from Manu National Park in Peru have been featured on television by the Travel Channel in association with the Discovery Channel.  Hidden from the television viewers is the fact that this "reality show documentary" allegedly resulted in the demise of eight members of the Machigenga tribe due to the negligence of the producer and fixer of this television show. According to a detailed report by the Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA), Matt Currington and Deborah McLauchlan (the producer and fixer, respectively of the "World’s Lost Tribes: Mark and Olly Living with the Machigenga" series) allegedly entered a restricted area without permits while ill with an upper respiratory infection, causing an epidemic among 80 people and the loss of life of eight Amazonian Indians of recently contacted Machigenga (Machiguena) Indians living in a situation of initial contact with the outside world.  The original epidemic occurred in November of 2007 after Currington and McLauchlan entered the area scouting for a tribe of Amazon Indians to feature in their “Living with the Tribe” documentary series starring Mark Anstice and Olly Steed.  Incredibly, Currington did not stop plans to start filming the Machigenga (Machiguenga) after learning about the epidemic and the loss of lives that he allegedly caused, and in February of 2008 the Federacion Nativa del Rio Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD), which is the indigenous rights association representing Amazonian natives living in Manu National Park, sought to stop Currington by publicly denouncing him and CICADA Productions who were the contractors for this Discovery Channel project. After a subsequent investigation, Currington and CICADA Productions were blacklisted by INRENA (the Peruvian equivalent of the US National Park Service) and have been prohibited from any future access to the area and the indigenous people living there.

In their quest to feature recently contacted tribes on the television, filmmakers are putting the survival of these  Amazonian Indians in jeopardy.  Recently contacted and uncontacted Amazonian Indians are extremely vulnerable, both epidemiologically and socially. Generally, they lack resistance to common western illnesses such as influenza and tuberculosis. In addition, their exploitation and manipulation by outsiders who take advantage of recently contacted Amazon Indian tribes can create social problems and internal conflicts, resulting in their cultural degradation and demise. The recent rise in popularity of “reality show documentaries” of indigenous people and extreme tourism are two new threats to the cultural survival of Amazonian Indians.

For some of the best information and photos on Amazonian tribes, please visit Amazon-Tribes.com. The images on this website are quite spectacular, and give a rare glimpse into the traditional culture of the Waorani (Huaorani) Indians of Ecuador and the Korubo Indians of Brazil.  In addition, they present these fantastic pictures in a pleasurable and well-designed format allowing one to gain an insight into the daily lives of Amazonian tribes with accurate information about their material culture and traditional beliefs.  Other excellent websites on indigenous tribes of South American include Amazonz.info and Matses.info.  For the indigenous people of Africa, African-Tribes.org is an excellent resource.