The Most Isolated Man on the Planet

The 'father ' of the Brazilian "hands off" policy which guarantees no contact with indigs still out there is a guy named Syndney Posuelo. The developers have tried to kill him a number of times but he survived. Nat Geo did a pretty good pice on him years ago. He is good reading and a determined fellow.

There will always be a war of economics vs rights of indigenious peoples and it is a very difficult arguement that is not so cut and dry as we would like to think. Here in the States our history is full of abuse of people, indigenious and immigrant in the name of economics. Native Americans, Appalachian peoples, Scotch/Irish and Chinese immigrants, etc., the list goes on . The abuse that happens due to developement in Brazil is easy for us to sit here and criticize but unless we can offer a viable econimc alternative to the people logging and mining it is really hard to be taken seriously when we criticize.
 
That's like a dream come true. No cells, no cars, no phones and no ppl!
 
Thanks Jeff - Great story, and pretty amazing, considering todays technology. I hope he is able to hold on/out.
 
DH1 said:
That's awesome..I wonder what the 5' deep holes are for?

Maybe it's a water filtration system...the bottom may fill with water somewhat, and anything that drains 5' through soil would be cleaner than anything on the surface. Then again, this guys (and his tribes) immunity to any disease out there would be pretty bulletproof..
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Unfortunately, natives who have no contact with outsiders do not have any immunities to outsiders' diseases. When Europeans first started making regular contact with South American natives, a LOT of the natives died from Influenza and other diseases. My thought was that the holes had some spiritual significance, but we may never know :confused: .
 
MikePerrin said:
The 'father ' of the Brazilian "hands off" policy which guarantees no contact with indigs still out there is a guy named Syndney Posuelo. The developers have tried to kill him a number of times but he survived. Nat Geo did a pretty good pice on him years ago. He is good reading and a determined fellow.

There will always be a war of economics vs rights of indigenious peoples and it is a very difficult arguement that is not so cut and dry as we would like to think. Here in the States our history is full of abuse of people, indigenious and immigrant in the name of economics. Native Americans, Appalachian peoples, Scotch/Irish and Chinese immigrants, etc., the list goes on . The abuse that happens due to developement in Brazil is easy for us to sit here and criticize but unless we can offer a viable econimc alternative to the people logging and mining it is really hard to be taken seriously when we criticize.
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Very true, it is easy to condemn the actions of the "civilized" people towards the natives, but our own history here in the US is full of taking advantage of the natives - the "Trail of Tears" etc. Give them some land of their own out of our way, until we find out there is minerals or some other desirable feature there, and try to move them again.
 
Thats a very interesting story.:thumbup: I too would like to know the reason for the 5ft holes in the ground. :confused:
 
rodloos said:
Unfortunately, natives who have no contact with outsiders do not have any immunities to outsiders' diseases. When Europeans first started making regular contact with South American natives, a LOT of the natives died from Influenza and other diseases. My thought was that the holes had some spiritual significance, but we may never know :confused: .
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Some have speculated 85-95% kill rates among the native populations from European disease.Whole civilizations were killed by germs just from contacting the first Europeans.There's a great documentary about it called "Guns,Germs and Steel"
It's nice to see that the Brazilian government is looking out for this guy.He needs all the help he can get.
 
Very cool story. That's good that the Brazilian government is letting him live his life the way him and his people did. There is no good that can come from trying to civiliz him. Or from trying to pic his brain. He is the last of his people and should be respected for that. I mean they shut down logging and construction and allot land for animals that are endangered. And on the economic v.z his rights the article said there was unused land that they have already clear cut and are not doing anything with. Ether way rights trump economics. Just my opinion of coarse.
 
I'm very surprised that, even after shooting the agent in the chest, they decided to leave him alone. Great story, thanks Jeff.
 
Another good book about the Americas before Columbus is "1491" by Charles Mann. Interesting reading about the native peoples, how they managed the land way more than folks thought and the massive kill offs due to disease.
 
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