Mashco Piro

For the language, see Mashco Piro language.
Mashco Piro
Nomole
Total population
>750[1] (2024)
Regions with significant populations
Peru
Languages
Mashco Piro

The Mashco Piro, also known by the endonym Nomole, are an indigenous tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. They live in Manú National Park in the Madre de Dios Region in Peru.[2] They have actively avoided contact with non-native peoples.

Demographics

In 1998, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) estimated their number to be around 100 to 250.[3] This is an increase from the 1976 estimated population of 20 to 100.[2] In 2024, their number was believed to be above 750.[1]

The Mashco Piro tribe speaks a dialect of the Piro language.[4] Mashco (originally spelled "Maschcos") is a term which was first used by Padre Biedma in 1687 to refer to the Harakmbut people.[5][6] It is considered a derogatory term, due to its meaning of 'savages' in the Piro language; Nomole (relative) is the name the people apply to themselves.[2][7][8]

History

The Amazon rubber boom began to affect the Upper Ucayali in the early to mid 1880s and brought a wave of migrants to the region. While slavery was officially abolished in Peru in 1854, slave raids targeting indigenous peoples along the Ucayali and its tributaries became common occurrences.[9] Debt peonage was the legal excuse for the "ownership" of other peoples. The system of peonage as it was implemented in the rubber boom in Peru has been referred to as slavery by contemporary observers and anthropologist.[10][4][11] By 1891, most of the Piro people along the Urubamba were indebted to Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald.[12]

After the development of a portage route named The Isthmus of Fitzcarrald around 1893-1894, most of the Mashco Piro people in the upper Manú River area were slaughtered by Fitzcarrald's private army.[13] The portage route connected the Urubamba tributary of Mishagua to the Manú River, a tributary of Madre de Dios. This development facilitated the exploitation of indigenous people and rubber sources on the Peruvian side of the Madre de Dios River. Many Mashco and Piro people were also enslaved by Fitzcarrald's foreman Carlos Scharff between 1897 and 1909 along the Purús and Madre de Dios Rivers.[14] The survivors retreated to the remote forest areas. The sightings of the Mashco Piro tribe members increased in the 21st century. According to the anthropologist Glenn Shepard, who had an encounter with the Mashco Piro in 1999, the increased sightings of the tribe could be due to illegal logging in the area and low-flying aircraft associated with oil and gas exploration.[13]

In September 2007, a group of ecologists filmed about 20 members of the Mashco Piro tribe from a helicopter flying above the Alto Purús national park.[15] The group had established camp on the banks of the Las Piedras river near the Peruvian and Brazilian border. Scientists believe that the tribe prefers to construct palm-leaf huts on riverbanks during the dry season for fishing. During the wet season, they retreat to the rain forest. Similar huts were spotted in the 1980s.[16]

In October 2011, the Peru Ministry of Environment released a video of a few Mashco Piro, taken by some travelers.[17] Gabriella Galli, an Italian visitor to the park, also captured a photograph of the tribe members.[18]

In 2012, Survival International released some new photographs of the tribe members.[19] The archaeologist Diego Cortijo of the Spanish Geographical Society claimed to have captured photographs of a Mashco Piro family from the Manú National Park, while on an expedition along the Madre de Dios River in search of petroglyphs. However, this claim to the photograph was subsequently disputed by Jean-Paul Van Belle, who claimed to have taken these pictures three weeks earlier.[20] His local guide Nicolas "Shaco" Flores, who was found dead six days later with a bamboo-tipped arrow stuck in his chest, is believed to have been killed by members of the Mashco Piro tribe.[13]

In August 2013, the BBC reported that a group of Mashco Piro people had been seen apparently asking neighboring villagers for food.[21] The Peruvian government has banned contact with the Mashco Piro for fear that they might be infected by strangers with diseases to which the Mashco Piro have not built up immunity.[21]

The Mashco Piro language is similar to the Yine language, and members of nearby Yine communities are able to communicate with the Mashco Piro. Yine villages will often plant an extra garden near the edges of the forest, intended to be used by Mashco Piro.[22]

In July 2024, video and images of dozens of uncontacted Mashco Piro people, on the banks of a river a few kilometers from a series of logging concessions, were published by Survival International.[1][23] In September 2024, at least two loggers were killed by a group of uncontacted Mashco Piro.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "New footage shows 'uncontacted' Mashco Piro tribe in Peruvian Amazon under threat of logging". ABC News. 2024-07-17. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  2. ^ a b c "Mashco Piro." Ethnologue. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  3. ^ Vinding, Diana (1998). Indigenous women: the right to a voice. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). pp. 40–. ISBN 978-87-984110-5-5. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b García Hierro, Pedro; Hvalkof, Søren; Gray, Andrew (1 January 1998). Liberation through land rights in the Peruvian Amazon. IWGIA. pp. 200–. ISBN 978-87-90730-05-5. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  5. ^ Gray, Andrew (1997). Indigenous rights and development: self-determination in an Amazonian community. Berghahn Books. p. 140–. ISBN 978-1-57181-837-9. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  6. ^ Frawley, William (2003). International encyclopedia of linguistics. Oxford University Press. pp. 137–. ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  7. ^ Drake, Nadia (2015-10-13). "An Isolated Tribe Is Emerging From Peru's Amazonian Wilderness". National Geographic News. Archived from the original on October 14, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  8. ^ "Nomole: The Last Free People of the Amazon." Junglekeepers. 1 November 2025.
  9. ^ Hardenburg, Walter (1912). The Putumayo: The Devil's Paradise; Travels in the Peruvian Amazon Region and an Account of the Atrocities Committed Upon the Indians Therein. pp. 297–298.
  10. ^ Slavery in Peru. United States. Department of State. 1913. pp. 15–16.
  11. ^ Varese, Stefano (2004). Salt of the mountain. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-8061-3512-0.
  12. ^ Lino e Silva, Moises; Wardle, Huon (2016). Freedom in practice. Taylor & Francis. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-317-41549-7.
  13. ^ a b c Wallace, Scott (31 January 2012). "Mounting Drama for Uncontacted Tribes". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  14. ^ Hecht 2013, p. 482.
  15. ^ Carroll, Rory. "Sighting of Amazon group bolsters environmentalist case". The Guardian. 3 October 2007.
  16. ^ Wade, Terry; Aquino, Marco (28 September 2007). "Little-known Indian tribe spotted in Peru's Amazon". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  17. ^ Wallace, Scott (18 August 2011). "Peru Releases Dramatic Footage of Uncontacted Indians". National Geographic. Archived from the original on October 20, 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  18. ^ "Meet the Mascho-Piro tribe of Peru ... but do they want to meet the modern world?". The Independent. 1 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  19. ^ "Up close one year later: startling new photos of uncontacted Indians released". Survival International. 31 January 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  20. ^ Geach, Chelsea (8 August 2015). "Prof's pics plagiarised around the world". IOL news. Independent Online. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  21. ^ a b "Peru's isolated Mashco-Piro tribe 'asks for food'". BBC News. 19 August 2013.
  22. ^ "THE MASHCO PIRO". Survival International. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Uncontacted tribe seen in Peruvian Amazon where loggers are active". The Guardian. 2024-07-16. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  24. ^ "Two loggers shot dead with arrows in clash with Indigenous group in Peruvian Amazon". The Guardian. 4 September 2024.

Bibliography

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