The Yanomami , also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama , are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil .
82-546: Fierce people may be: a description formerly associated with the Yanomami people of the Amazon Fierce People (film) , a 2005 film Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Fierce People . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
164-442: A loincloth . The menstrual cycle of Yanomami women does not occur frequently due to constant nursing or child-birthing, and is treated as a very significant occurrence only at this time. Yanomaman languages comprise four main varieties: Ninam , Sanumá , Waiká , and Yanomamö . Many local variations and dialects also exist, such that people from different villages cannot always understand each other. Many linguists consider
246-472: A Brazilian woman kidnapped by Yanomami warriors in the 1930s, witnessed a Karawetari raid on her tribe: They killed so many. I was weeping for fear and for pity but there was nothing I could do. They snatched the children from their mothers to kill them, while the others held the mothers tightly by the arms and wrists as they stood up in a line. All the women wept... The men began to kill the children; little ones, bigger ones, they killed many of them. Following
328-529: A dead person except on the annual "day of remembrance", when the ashes of the dead are consumed and people recall the lives of their deceased relatives. This tradition is meant to strengthen the Yanomami people and keep the spirit of that individual alive. Infanticide is also noted amongst the Yanomami for reasons of disability, adultery, and rape. The women are responsible for many domestic duties and chores, excluding hunting and killing game for food. Although
410-551: A general buoyant feeling of a "free-for-all" in income mobility , in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly, as expressed in the California Dream . Gold rushes helped spur waves of immigration that often led to the permanent settlement of new regions. Activities propelled by gold rushes define significant aspects of the culture of the Australian and North American frontiers . At
492-456: A gold-bearing vein may be oxidized, so that the gold occurs as native gold, and the ore needs only to be crushed and washed (free milling ore). The first miners may at first build a simple arrastra to crush their ore; later, they may build stamp mills to crush ore at greater speed. As the miners venture downwards, they may find that the deeper part of vein contains gold locked in sulfide or telluride minerals , which will require smelting . If
574-480: A good harvest with a big feast to which nearby villages are invited. The Yanomami village members gather large amounts of food, which helps to maintain good relations with their neighbors. They also decorate their bodies with feathers and flowers. During the feast, the Yanomami eat a lot, and the women dance and sing late into the night. Hallucinogens or entheogens , known as yakoana or ebene , are used by Yanomami shamans as part of healing rituals for members of
656-531: A response to specific historical situations. Writing in 1985, anthropologist Jacques Lizot , who had lived among the Yanomami for more than twenty years, stated: I would like my book to help revise the exaggerated representation that has been given of Yanomami violence. The Yanomami are warriors; they can be brutal and cruel, but they can also be delicate, sensitive, and loving. Violence is only sporadic; it never dominates social life for any length of time, and long peaceful moments can separate two explosions. When one
738-809: A simple pan or equipment that may be built on the spot, and only simple organisation. The low investment, the high value per unit weight of gold, and the ability of gold dust and gold nuggets to serve as a medium of exchange, allow placer gold rushes to occur even in remote locations. After the sluice-box stage, placer mining may become increasingly large scale, requiring larger organisations and higher capital expenditures. Small claims owned and mined by individuals may need to be merged into larger tracts. Difficult-to-reach placer deposits may be mined by tunnels. Water may be diverted by dams and canals to placer mine active river beds or to deliver water needed to wash dry placers. The more advanced techniques of ground sluicing , hydraulic mining and dredging may be used. Typically
820-460: A time when the world's money supply was based on gold , the newly-mined gold provided economic stimulus far beyond the goldfields, feeding into local and wider economic booms . The Gold Rush was a topic that inspired many TV shows and books considering it was a very important topic at the time. During the time, many books were published including The Call of the Wild , which had much success during
902-472: A word, everyone in Yanomamo society is called by some kinship term that can be translated into what we would call blood relatives.” The Yanomami are known as hunters, fishers, and horticulturists. The women cultivate cooking plantains and cassava in gardens as their main crops. Men do the heavy work of clearing areas of forest for the gardens. Another food source for the Yanomami is grubs . Often
SECTION 10
#1732771928888984-528: Is a discovery of gold —sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals —that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia , Greece , New Zealand , Brazil , Chile , South Africa , the United States , and Canada while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere. In the 19th century, the wealth that resulted
1066-400: Is absent, but because it is present, and present in certain specific forms. All Yanomami warfare that we know about occurs within what Neil Whitehead and I call a "tribal zone", an extensive area beyond state administrative control, inhabited by nonstate people who must react to the far-flung effects of the state presence. Ferguson stresses the idea that contrary to Chagnon's description of
1148-665: Is acquainted with the societies of the North American plains or the societies of the Chaco in South America, one cannot say that Yanomami culture is organized around warfare as Chagnon does. Anthropologists working in the ecologist tradition, such as Marvin Harris , argued that a culture of violence had evolved among the Yanomami through competition resulting from a lack of nutritional resources in their territory. However,
1230-494: Is one of the leading causes of Yanomami death. Up to half of all Yanomami males die violent deaths in the constant conflict between neighboring communities over local resources. Often these confrontations lead to Yanomami leaving their villages in search of new ones. Women are often victims of physical abuse and anger. Inter-village warfare is common, but is less often fatal to women. When Yanomami tribes fight and raid nearby tribes, women are often raped , beaten, and brought back to
1312-418: Is usually required for action that involves the community, but individuals are not required to take part. Local descent groups also play important roles in regulating marriages and settling disputes within villages. Groups of Yanomami live in villages usually consisting of their children and extended families. Villages vary in size, but usually contain between 50 and 400 people. In this largely communal system,
1394-690: The Cariboo district and other parts of British Columbia, in Nevada , in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado , Idaho , Montana , eastern Oregon , and western New Mexico Territory and along the lower Colorado River . There was a gold rush in Nova Scotia (1861–1876) which produced nearly 210,000 ounces of gold. Resurrection Creek , near Hope, Alaska was the site of Alaska's first gold rush in
1476-522: The Orinoco river and moved to the highlands of Brazil and Venezuela, the location the Yanomami currently occupy. Mature men hold most political and religious authority. A tuxawa (headman) acts as the leader of each village, but no single leader presides over the whole of those classified as Yanomami. Headmen gain political power by demonstrating skill in settling disputes both within the village and with neighboring communities. A consensus of mature males
1558-493: The Orinoco to its headwaters; he replied yes, and that he had gone to make war against the Guaharibo [Yanomami] Indians, who were very brave ... and who will not be friends with any kind of Indian. From approximately 1630 to 1720, the other river-based indigenous societies who lived in the same region were wiped out or reduced as a result of slave-hunting expeditions by the conquistadors and bandeirantes . How this affected
1640-424: The hekura , spirits that are believed to govern many aspects of the physical world. Women do not engage in this practice, known as shapuri . The Yanomami people practice ritual endocannibalism , in which they consume the bones of deceased kinsmen. The body is wrapped in leaves and placed in the forest some distance from the shabono; then after insects have consumed the soft tissue (usually about 30 to 45 days),
1722-480: The shabono to be adopted into the captor's community. Wives may be beaten frequently, so as to keep them docile and faithful to their husbands. Sexual jealousy causes much of the violence. Women are beaten with clubs, sticks, machetes , and other blunt or sharp objects. Burning with a branding stick occurs often, and symbolizes a male's strength or dominance over his wife. Yanomami men have been known to kill children while raiding enemy villages. Helena Valero ,
SECTION 20
#17327719288881804-413: The 1995 study "Yanomami Warfare", by R. Brian Ferguson , examined all documented cases of warfare among the Yanomami and concluded: Although some Yanomami really have been engaged in intensive warfare and other kinds of bloody conflict, this violence is not an expression of Yanomami culture itself. It is, rather, a product of specific historical situations: The Yanomami make war not because Western culture
1886-703: The Brazilian border by constructing roads and military bases near Yanomami communities, led to a campaign to defend the rights of the Yanomami to live in a protected area. In 1978 the Pro-Yanomami Commission (CCPY) was established. Originally named the Commission for the Creation of a Yanomami Park, it is a Brazilian non-governmental nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense of the territorial, cultural, and civil and political rights of
1968-542: The Tribe . Illegal gold mining has significantly harmed the Yanomami people’s health and environment. According to a 2023 report, mercury pollution from mining has contaminated rivers, leading to widespread malnutrition and increased disease rates, including malaria. From 1987 to 1990, the Yanomami population was severely affected by malaria , mercury poisoning , malnutrition, and violence due to an influx of garimpeiros searching for gold in their territory. Malaria, which
2050-513: The UAE with the exports affirmed by the African states. According to Africa's industrial mining firms, they have not exported any amount of gold to the UAE – confirming that the imports come from other, illegal sources. As per customs data, the UAE imported gold worth $ 15.1 billion from Africa in 2016, with a total weight of 446 tons, in variable degrees of purity. Much of the exports were not recorded in
2132-828: The United States was in Cabarrus County, North Carolina (east of Charlotte), in 1799 at today's Reed's Gold Mine . Thirty years later, in 1829, the Georgia Gold Rush in the southern Appalachians occurred. It was followed by the California Gold Rush of 1848–55 in the Sierra Nevada , which captured the popular imagination. The California Gold Rush led to an influx of gold miners and newfound gold wealth, which led to California's rapid industrialization, as businesses sprung up to serve
2214-636: The Yanomaman family to be a language isolate , unrelated to other South American indigenous languages, while others believe the language of the Yanomami to be part of the Macro-Jê group. The origins of the language are obscure. In early anthropological studies the Yanomami culture was described as being permeated with violence. The Yanomami people have a history of acting violently not only towards other tribes, but towards one another. An influential ethnography by anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon described
2296-447: The Yanomami as living in "a state of chronic warfare". Chagnon's account and similar descriptions of the Yanomami portrayed them as aggressive and warlike, sparking controversy amongst anthropologists and creating an enormous interest in the Yanomami. The debate centered around the degree of violence in Yanomami society, and the question of whether violence and warfare were best explained as an inherent part of Yanomami culture, or rather as
2378-604: The Yanomami as unaffected by Western culture, the Yanomami experienced the effects of colonization long before their territory became accessible to Westerners in the 1950s, and that they had acquired many influences and materials from Western culture through trade networks much earlier. Lawrence Keeley questioned Ferguson's analysis, writing that the character and speed of changes caused by contact with civilization are not well understood, and that diseases, trade items, weapons, and population movements likely all existed as possible contributors to warfare before civilization. Violence
2460-534: The Yanomami is unknown. Sustained contact with the outside world began in the 1950s with the arrival of members of the New Tribes Mission as well as Catholic missionaries from the Society of Jesus and Salesians of Don Bosco . In Roraima , the 1970s saw the implementation of development projects within the framework of the "National Integration Plan" launched by the Brazilian military governments of
2542-663: The Yanomami people whom they had studied in the 1960s. This began a heated debate. The book's claims were found to be largely fabricated by Tierney, and the American Anthropological Association in the end voted 846 to 338 in 2005 to rescind a 2002 report on the allegations of misconduct by scholars studying the Yanomami people. In 2010, Brazilian director José Padilha revisited the Darkness in El Dorado controversy in his documentary Secrets of
Fierce People - Misplaced Pages Continue
2624-400: The Yanomami tribe in conflict over land. In addition, mining techniques by the garimpeiros led to environmental degradation . Despite the existence of FUNAI , the federal agency representing the rights and interests of indigenous populations, the Yanomami have received little protection from the government against these intrusive forces. In some cases the government can be cited as supporting
2706-425: The Yanomami will cut down palms in order to facilitate the growth of grubs. The traditional Yanomami diet is very low in edible salt. Their blood pressure is characteristically among the lowest of any demographic group. For this reason, the Yanomami have been the subject of studies seeking to link hypertension to sodium consumption. Rituals are a very important part of Yanomami culture. The Yanomami celebrate
2788-407: The Yanomami. CCPY devoted itself to a long national and international campaign to inform and sensitize public opinion and put pressure on the Brazilian government to demarcate an area suited to the needs of the Yanomami. After 13 years the Yanomami indigenous land was officially demarcated in 1991 and approved and registered in 1992, thus ensuring that indigenous people had the constitutional right to
2870-451: The age of menstruation, they are sought out by males as potential wives . Puberty is not seen as an important time period for male Yanomami children, as it is for females. After menstruating for the first time, the girls are expected to leave childhood, enter adulthood, and take on the responsibilities of a grown Yanomami woman. After a young girl gets her period, she is forbidden from showing her genitalia and must keep herself covered with
2952-435: The approximately fifty documented societies that openly accept polyandry , though polygyny among Amazonian tribes has also been observed. Many unions are monogamous. Polygamous families consist of a large patrifocal family unit based on one man, and smaller matrifocal subfamilies: each woman's family unit, composed of the woman and her children. Life in the village is centered around the small, matrilocal family unit, whereas
3034-490: The beginning of womanhood . Girls typically start menstruation around the ages of 12 to 13. Girls are often betrothed before menarche and the marriage may be consummated only once the girl starts menstruating, though the taboo is often violated, and many girls become sexually active before then. The Yanomami word for menstruation ( roo ) translates literally as "squatting" in English, as they use no pads or cloths to absorb
3116-553: The blood. Due to the belief that menstrual blood is poisonous and dangerous, girls are kept hidden away in a small tent-like screen of leaves. A deep hole is built in the structure over which girls squat, to "rid themselves" of their blood. These structures are regarded as isolation screens. The mother is notified immediately, and she, along with the elder female friends of the girl, are responsible for disposing of her old cotton garments and replacing them with new ones that symbolize her womanhood and availability for marriage. During
3198-422: The bones are collected and cremated . The ashes are then mixed with a kind of soup made from bananas, which is consumed by the entire community. The ashes may be preserved in a gourd and the ritual repeated annually until the ashes are gone. All of the dead person's personal belongings are also burned, because it is believed that they may harbor some evil spirits. In daily conversation, no reference may be made to
3280-401: The calories in the Yanomami diet. Protein is supplied by wild resources obtained through gathering, hunting, and fishing. When the soil becomes exhausted, Yanomami frequently move to avoid areas that have become overused, a practice known as shifting cultivation . Children stay close to their mothers when young; most of the childrearing is done by women. Yanomami groups are a famous example of
3362-421: The community who are ill. Yakoana also refers to the tree from which it is derived, Virola elongata . Yopo , derived from a different plant with hallucinogenic effects ( Anadenanthera peregrina ), is usually cultivated in the garden by the shaman. The Xamatari also mix the powdered bark of Virola elongata with the powdered seeds of yopo to create the drug ebene . The drugs facilitate communication with
Fierce People - Misplaced Pages Continue
3444-488: The concentration of mineral deposits. In 1990, more than 40,000 garimpeiros had entered the Yanomami land. In 1992, the government of Brazil, led by Fernando Collor de Mello , demarcated an indigenous Yanomami area on the recommendations of Brazilian anthropologists and Survival International , a campaign that started in the early 1970s. Non-Yanomami people continue to enter the land; the Brazilian and Venezuelan governments do not have adequate enforcement programs to prevent
3526-507: The day. The women also prepare cassava , shredding the roots and expressing the toxic juice , then roasting the flour to make flat cakes (known in Spanish as casabe ), which they cook over a small pile of coals. Yanomami women are expected to take responsibility for the children, who are expected to help their mothers with domestic chores from a very young age, and mothers rely very much on help from their daughters. Boys typically become
3608-578: The economic venture of the garimpeiros over the land rights of the Yanomami. Alcida Rita Ramos, an anthropologist who worked closely with the Yanomami, says this three-year period "led to charges against Brazil for genocide." The Haximu massacre, also known as the Yanomami massacre, was an armed conflict in 1993, just outside Haximu, Brazil, close to the border with Venezuela. A group of garimpeiros killed approximately 16 Yanomami. In turn, Yanomami warriors killed at least two garimpeiros and wounded two more. Gold rush A gold rush or gold fever
3690-455: The entire village lives under a common roof called the shabono . Shabonos have a characteristic oval shape, with open grounds in the center measuring an average of 100 yards (91 m). The shabono shelter constitutes the perimeter of the village, if it has not been fortified with palisades . Under the roof, divisions exist marked only by support posts, partitioning individual houses and spaces. Shabonos are built from raw materials from
3772-437: The entry of outsiders. Ethical controversy has arisen about Yanomami blood taken for study by scientists such as Napoleon Chagnon and his associate James Neel . Although Yanomami religious tradition prohibits the keeping of any bodily matter after the death of that person, the donors were not warned that blood samples would be kept indefinitely for experimentation. Several prominent Yanomami delegations have sent letters to
3854-539: The exclusive use of almost 96,650 square kilometres (37,320 sq mi) located in the States of Roraima and Amazonas . The Alto Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve was created in 1993 with the objective of preserving the traditional territory and lifestyle of the Yanomami and Ye'kuana peoples. However, while the constitution of Venezuela recognizes indigenous peoples’ rights to their ancestral domains , few have received official title to their territories and
3936-479: The focus may change progressively from gold to silver to base metals. In this way, Leadville, Colorado started as a placer gold discovery, achieved fame as a silver-mining district, then relied on lead and zinc in its later days. Butte, Montana began mining placer gold, then became a silver-mining district, then became for a time the world's largest copper producer. Various gold rushes occurred in Australia over
4018-459: The gold may be washed from the sand and gravel by individual miners with little training, using a gold pan or similar simple instrument. Once it is clear that the volume of gold-bearing sediment is larger than a few cubic metres, the placer miners will build rockers or sluice boxes, with which a small group can wash gold from the sediment many times faster than using gold pans. Winning the gold in this manner requires almost no capital investment, only
4100-520: The government has announced it will open up large parts of the Amazon rainforest to legal mining. The Yanomami do not recognize themselves as a united group, but rather as individuals associated with their politically autonomous villages. Yanomami communities are grouped together because they have similar ages and kinship, and militaristic coalitions interweave communities together. The Yanomami have common historical ties to Carib speakers who resided near
4182-437: The heyday of a placer gold rush would last only a few years. The free gold supply in stream beds would become depleted somewhat quickly, and the initial phase would be followed by prospecting for veins of lode gold that were the original source of the placer gold. Hard rock mining, like placer mining, may evolve from low capital investment and simple technology to progressively higher capital and technology. The surface outcrop of
SECTION 50
#17327719288884264-553: The increase in threats and attacks against the uncontacted Yanomami, member of parliament Joenia Wapichana , Dario Kopenawa Yanomami and some other Brazilian indigenous leaders met with Michelle Bachelet , United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , to assess the inability of the government to protect their constitutional rights. On September 13, 2021, in her report to the United Nations Human Rights Council , Michelle Bachelet declared that she
4346-540: The increased population and financial and political institutions to handle the increased wealth. One of these political institutions was statehood; the need for new laws in a sparsely-governed land led to the state's rapid entry into the Union in 1850. The gold rush in 1849 also stimulated worldwide interest in prospecting for gold, leading to further rushes in Australia, South Africa, Wales and Scotland. Successive gold rushes occurred in western North America: Fraser Canyon ,
4428-400: The infiltration of mining companies into Yanomami lands. In 1978, the militarized government, under pressure from anthropologists and the international community, enacted a plan that demarcated land for the Yanomami. These reserves, however, were small "island" tracts of land lacking consideration for Yanomami lifestyle, trading networks, and trails, with boundaries that were determined solely by
4510-406: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fierce_People&oldid=998927551 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Yanomami The ethnonym Yanomami was produced by anthropologists on the basis of
4592-625: The larger patrilocal unit has more political importance beyond the village. Men of the Yanomami are said to commit significant intervals of bride service living with their in-laws, and levirate or sororate marriage might be practiced in the event of the death of a spouse. Kin groups tend to be localized in villages and their genealogical depth is rather shallow. Kinship is critical in the arrangement of marriage and very strong bonds develop between kin groups who exchange women. Their kinship system can be described in terms of Iroquois classificatory pattern . To quote anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon , “In
4674-584: The major tributaries of the Branco River between 1987 and 1990. The number of gold miners in the Yanomami area of Roraima was then estimated at 30 to 40 thousand, about five times the indigenous population resident there. Although the intensity of this gold rush has subsided greatly since 1990, gold prospecting continues today in the Yanomami land, spreading violence and serious health and social problems. Increasing pressure from farmers, cattle ranchers, and gold miners, as well as those interested in securing
4756-694: The mid–1890s. Other notable Alaska Gold Rushes were Nome , Fairbanks , and the Fortymile River . One of the last "great gold rushes" was the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon Territory (1896–99). This gold rush is featured in the novels of Jack London , and Charlie Chaplin 's film The Gold Rush . Robert William Service depicted in his poetries the Gold Rush, especially in the book The Trail of '98 . The main goldfield
4838-409: The mornings, while the men are off hunting, the women and young children go off in search of termite nests and other grubs, which will later be roasted at the family hearths. The women also pursue frogs , terrestrial crabs , or caterpillars , or even look for vines that can be woven into baskets. While some women gather these small sources of food, other women go off and fish for several hours during
4920-683: The new arrivals who came looking for gold. While some found their fortune, those who did not often remained in the colonies and took advantage of extremely liberal land laws to take up farming. Gold rushes happened at or around: In New Zealand the Otago gold rush from 1861 attracted prospectors from the California gold rush and the Victorian gold rush and many moved on to the West Coast gold rush from 1864. The first significant gold rush in
5002-465: The ore is still sufficiently rich, it may be worth shipping to a distant smelter (direct shipping ore). Lower-grade ore may require on-site treatment to either recover the gold or to produce a concentrate sufficiently rich for transport to the smelter. As the district turns to lower-grade ore, the mining may change from underground mining to large open-pit mining . Many silver rushes followed upon gold rushes. As transportation and infrastructure improve,
SECTION 60
#17327719288885084-461: The period. Gold rushes occurred as early as the times of ancient Greece , whose gold mining was described by Diodarus Sicules and Pliny the Elder . Within each mining rush there is typically a transition through progressively higher capital expenditures, larger organizations, and more specialized knowledge. A rush typically begins with the discovery of placer gold made by an individual. At first
5166-668: The region. The gold deposits in this area are identified as one of the largest in the world. In South Africa, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in the Transvaal was important to that country's history, leading to the founding of Johannesburg and tensions between the Boers and British settlers as well as the Chinese miners. South African gold production went from zero in 1886 to 23% of the total world output in 1896. At
5248-518: The responsibility of the male members of the community after about age 8. Using small strings of bark and roots , Yanomami women weave and decorate baskets. They use these baskets to carry plants, crops, and food to bring back to the shabono . They use a red berry known as onoto or urucu to dye the baskets, as well as to paint their bodies and dye their loin cloths. After the baskets are painted, they are further decorated with masticated charcoal pigment. The start of menstruation symbolizes
5330-532: The scientists who are studying them, demanding the return of their blood samples. As of June 2010 these samples were in the process of being removed from storage for shipping to the Amazon, pending the decision as to whom to deliver them to and how to prevent any potential health risks in doing so. In 2015 the blood samples were returned and buried by the Yanomami. In 2000 Patrick Tierney published Darkness in El Dorado , charging that anthropologists had repeatedly caused harm—and in some cases, death—to members of
5412-552: The second half of the 19th century. The most significant of these, although not the only ones, were the New South Wales gold rush and Victorian gold rush in 1851, and the Western Australian gold rushes of the 1890s. They were highly significant to their respective colonies' political and economic development as they brought many immigrants, and promoted massive government spending on infrastructure to support
5494-535: The smuggling of billions of dollars' worth of gold out of Africa through the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East , which further acts as a gateway to the markets in the United States , Europe and more. The news agency evaluated the worth and magnitude of illegal gold trade occurring in African nations like Ghana , Tanzania , and Zambia , by comparing the total gold imports recorded into
5576-550: The south of the Orinoco, [whereas] the variant Yanomawi is used to refer to communities north of the Orinoco. The term Sanumá corresponds to a dialect reserved for a cultural subgroup, much influenced by the neighboring Ye'kuana people . Other denominations applied to the Yanomami include Waika or Waica, Guiaca, Shiriana , Shirishana , Guaharibo or Guajaribo, Yanoama , Ninam , and Xamatari or Shamatari . Yanomamö and Yanomama are variant spellings. Supporters of
5658-448: The surrounding rainforest, such as leaves, vines, and tree trunks. They are susceptible to heavy damage from rains, winds, and insect infestation . As a result, new shabonos are constructed every 4 to 6 years. The Yanomami can be classified as foraging horticulturalists, depending heavily on rainforest resources; they use slash-and-burn horticulture , grow bananas , gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish. Crops compose up to 75% of
5740-561: The time of the South African rush, gold production benefited from the newly discovered techniques by Scottish chemists, the MacArthur-Forrest process , of using potassium cyanide to extract gold from low-grade ore. The gold mine at El Callao (Venezuela), started in 1871, was for a time one of the richest in the world, and the goldfields as a whole saw over a million ounces exported between 1860 and 1883. The gold mining
5822-514: The time. This meant the opening of a stretch of perimeter road (1973–76) and various colonization programs on land traditionally occupied by the Yanomami. During the same period, the Amazonian resources survey project RADAM (1975) detected important mineral deposits in the region. This triggered a progressive movement of gold prospectors, which after 1987 took the form of a real gold rush . Hundreds of clandestine runways were opened by gold miners in
5904-434: The week of that first menstrual period, the girl is fed with a stick, because she is forbidden from touching the food in any way. While on confinement, she has to whisper when speaking, and she may speak only to close kin, such as sisters or her mother, but never to a male. Until the time of menstruation, girls are treated as children , and are only responsible for assisting their mothers in household work. When they approach
5986-525: The women do not hunt, they do work in the gardens and gather fruits, tubers , nuts and other wild foodstuffs. The garden plots are sectioned off by family, and grow bananas , plantains, sugarcane , mangoes , sweet potatoes , papayas , cassava , maize , and other crops . Yanomami women cultivate until the gardens are no longer fertile, and then move their plots. Women are expected to carry 70 to 80 pounds (32 to 36 kg) of crops on their backs during harvesting, using bark straps and woven baskets . In
6068-459: The word yanõmami , which, in the expression yanõmami thëpë , signifies "human beings." This expression is opposed to the categories yaro (game animals) and yai (invisible or nameless beings), but also napë (enemy, stranger, non-Indian). According to ethnologist Jacques Lizot : Yanomami is the Indians' self-denomination ... the term refers to communities disseminated to
6150-495: The work on the tribe of anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon usually use Yanomamö , while those who oppose his work or are neutral usually use Yanomami or Yanomama . The first report of the Yanomami is from 1654, when a Spanish expedition under Apolinar Diaz de la Fuente visited some Ye'kuana people living on the Padamo River . Diaz wrote: By interlocution of an Uramanavi Indian, I asked Chief Yoni if he had navigated by
6232-594: The world, according to Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM). Approximately 100 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on small-scale mining. For example, there are 800,000 to 1.5 million artisanal miners in Democratic Republic of Congo , 350,000 to 650,000 in Sierra Leone , and 150,000 to 250,000 in Ghana , with millions more across Africa. In an exclusive report, Reuters accounted
6314-530: Was "alarmed by recent attacks against members of the Yanomami and Munduruku ," in Brazil, "by illegal miners in the Amazon." Gold was found in Yanomami territory in the early 1970s and the resulting influx of miners brought disease, alcoholism, and violence. Yanomami culture was severely endangered. In the mid-1970s, garimpeiros (small independent gold-diggers) started to enter the Yanomami country. Where these garimpeiros settled, they killed members of
6396-741: Was along the south flank of the Klondike River near its confluence with the Yukon River near what was to become Dawson City in Yukon Territory, but it also helped open up the relatively new US possession of Alaska to exploration and settlement, and promoted the discovery of other gold finds. The most successful of the North American gold rushes was the Porcupine Gold Rush in Timmins, Ontario area. This gold rush
6478-534: Was distributed widely because of reduced migration costs and low barriers to entry. While gold mining itself proved unprofitable for most diggers and mine owners, some people made large fortunes, and merchants and transportation facilities made large profits. The resulting increase in the world's gold supply stimulated global trade and investment. Historians have written extensively about the mass migration, trade, colonization, and environmental history associated with gold rushes. Gold rushes were typically marked by
6560-681: Was dominated by immigrants from the British Isles and the British West Indies, giving an appearance of almost creating an English colony on Venezuelan territory. Between 1883 and 1906 Tierra del Fuego experienced a gold rush attracting many Chileans, Argentines and Europeans to the archipelago. The gold rush began in 1884 following discovery of gold during the rescue of the French steamship Arctique near Cape Virgenes . There are about 10 to 30 million small-scale miners around
6642-478: Was first introduced to Yanomami populations by gold miners during the 1980s, is now frequent in Yanomami populations. Without the protection of the government, Yanomami populations declined when miners were allowed to enter the Yanomami territory frequently throughout this 3-year span. In 1987, FUNAI President Romero Jucá denied that the sharp increase in Yanomami deaths was due to garimpeiro invasions, and José Sarney , then president of Brazil, also supported
6724-500: Was unique compared to others by the method of extraction of the gold. Placer mining techniques were not able to be used to access the gold in the area due to it being embedded into the Canadian Shield , so larger mining operations involving significantly more expensive equipment was required. While this gold rush peaked in the 1940s and 1950s, it is still active today with over 200 million ounces of gold having been produced from
#887112