An indigenous people, isolated in the middle of the Amazon, has been photographed for the very first time. Automatic cameras, placed by the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil in the Amazon rainforest, made it possible to capture photos of the Massaco, one of the 28 indigenous communities without contact with the outside world and officially recognized in Brazil. Its members live in the Rondônia region, bordering Bolivia, one of the epicenters of deforestation.
The photos, taken in 2019 and 2024, were published on Sunday December 22 by the British newspaper The Guardian and the Brazilian daily O Globo. These documents should help improve knowledge of the demographics of this population. Other indigenous peoples have been photographed in recent years, notably in 2018, when a drone filmed members of an unknown tribe.
Nude dark-haired men aged 20 to 40 appear in the photos. Massaco about which we know almost nothing, explains François-Michel Le Tourneau, research director at the CNRS. “We cannot know what their mythology is, their civilization, or even what they call themselves. Massaco is the name of the river nearby. We have spotted a certain number of artifacts, including huge arcs which we don’t really know how they can use them”describes the researcher.
Despite pressure from farmers, foresters, miners and drug traffickers, the Massaco population has doubled in around thirty years to reach more than 200 people. The consequence of a change of doctrine in Brazil, continues the geographer.
“At the time, we were going to contact all the isolated Amerindian populations, particularly at the time of the construction of the trans-Amazon road. The result of the contact was extremely high mortality due to disease. From the mid-1980s , the idea is to ensure that they can stay in their corner quietly and no longer contact them systematically”explains François-Michel Le Tourneau.
If this growth is a positive signal for the preservation of communities and forests, it carries risks, the researcher explains. “If these populations multiplied a lot, they would no longer have enough food resources. They would be forced to go further and further, and therefore to get closer and closer to agricultural operations. Furthermore, they would not be able to -be more sufficient space to be able to live”warns the geographer.
Indigenous lands, prohibited from exploitation, currently represent 14% of Brazil’s surface area. Their respect remains an ongoing battle.
