Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 0 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Hub AI
Uncontacted peoples AI simulator
(@Uncontacted peoples_simulator)
Hub AI
Uncontacted peoples AI simulator
(@Uncontacted peoples_simulator)
Uncontacted peoples
Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the nonprofit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals total. In 2025, Survival International published the first comprehensive report on uncontacted peoples worldwide. It found robust evidence of 196 uncontacted peoples living in ten countries across south America, Asia and the Pacific. A majority of uncontacted peoples live in South America, particularly Brazil, where Survival has found evidence of 124 groups.
Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring Indigenous communities and aerial footage.
Uncontacted peoples generally refers to Indigenous peoples who have remained largely isolated to the present day, maintaining their traditional lifestyles and functioning mostly independently from any political or governmental entities. However, European exploration and colonization during the early modern period brought Indigenous peoples worldwide into contact with colonial settlers and explorers. As such, most Indigenous groups have had some form of contact with other peoples. The term uncontacted therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-Indigenous society at present.
In their 2025 report, Survival International define uncontacted peoples as those who "reject contact with outsiders as an active and ongoing choice .... they resist intrusion, and thrive when their rights are respected".
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights refers to uncontacted peoples as "Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation." These groups are defined by their general rejection of contact with anyone outside of their own people. This definition also includes groups who have previously had sustained contact with the majority non-Indigenous society but have chosen to return to isolation and no longer maintain contact. As such, uncontacted peoples are understood not as living in an anachronistic state of nature but rather as contemporaries of modernity.
A 2009 United Nations report also classified "peoples in initial contact" as sharing the same characteristics but beginning to regularly communicate with and integrate into mainstream society.
To highlight their agency in staying uncontacted or isolated, international organizations emphasize calling them "Indigenous peoples in isolation" or "in voluntary isolation". Otherwise, they have also been called "hidden peoples" or "uncontacted tribes".
Historically, European colonial ideas of uncontacted peoples, and their colonial claims over them, were informed by the imagination of and search for Prester John, king of a wealthy Christian realm in isolation, as well as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, identifying uncontacted peoples as "lost tribes".
Uncontacted peoples
Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the nonprofit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals total. In 2025, Survival International published the first comprehensive report on uncontacted peoples worldwide. It found robust evidence of 196 uncontacted peoples living in ten countries across south America, Asia and the Pacific. A majority of uncontacted peoples live in South America, particularly Brazil, where Survival has found evidence of 124 groups.
Knowledge of uncontacted peoples comes mostly from encounters with neighbouring Indigenous communities and aerial footage.
Uncontacted peoples generally refers to Indigenous peoples who have remained largely isolated to the present day, maintaining their traditional lifestyles and functioning mostly independently from any political or governmental entities. However, European exploration and colonization during the early modern period brought Indigenous peoples worldwide into contact with colonial settlers and explorers. As such, most Indigenous groups have had some form of contact with other peoples. The term uncontacted therefore refers to a lack of sustained contact with the majority of non-Indigenous society at present.
In their 2025 report, Survival International define uncontacted peoples as those who "reject contact with outsiders as an active and ongoing choice .... they resist intrusion, and thrive when their rights are respected".
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights refers to uncontacted peoples as "Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation." These groups are defined by their general rejection of contact with anyone outside of their own people. This definition also includes groups who have previously had sustained contact with the majority non-Indigenous society but have chosen to return to isolation and no longer maintain contact. As such, uncontacted peoples are understood not as living in an anachronistic state of nature but rather as contemporaries of modernity.
A 2009 United Nations report also classified "peoples in initial contact" as sharing the same characteristics but beginning to regularly communicate with and integrate into mainstream society.
To highlight their agency in staying uncontacted or isolated, international organizations emphasize calling them "Indigenous peoples in isolation" or "in voluntary isolation". Otherwise, they have also been called "hidden peoples" or "uncontacted tribes".
Historically, European colonial ideas of uncontacted peoples, and their colonial claims over them, were informed by the imagination of and search for Prester John, king of a wealthy Christian realm in isolation, as well as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, identifying uncontacted peoples as "lost tribes".