The 55,000-year-old tribe, still living in the Stone Age, may disappear

In the Indian Ocean on the Andaman Islands, between India and Myanmar, deep in the jungle lives the ancient tribe of the Jarawa, which has been around for about 55,000 years. Until 1998, these people from the Stone Age managed to remain isolated and untouched by modern civilization, and now there are about 400 of them left.

Jarawas migrated to the Andaman Islands from Africa and still live here, forming nomadic groups of 50 people. They get food by fishing in the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean, hunt animals in the jungle with bows and arrows, and also collect fruit and honey.

In the 1990s, the Indian government offered the people of Jarawa more modern living conditions, but they refused. Nevertheless, acquaintance with civilization did not pass without a trace for them. The lifestyle of an ancient tribe, formed over millennia, began to undergo significant changes. Tourists began to invade their reservation, who perceive Aborigines, like animals in safari parks. People feed good-natured natives running out onto the road, and some even make them dance for food. Despite the fact that it is prohibited by law to contact representatives of the tribe and even more so to remove them, this can not stop the illegal flow of tourists who do not even realize all the harm that they do to a unique tribe.

Poachers have become no less a misfortune for recluses. They began to hunt in their forests, thereby reducing the number of game and animals needed by the natives to survive.

At present, the Jarawa population is about 400, but there are significant concerns that if the Indian authorities do not take any measures, over the next decade an amazing tribe that has managed to survive 55,000 years may be completely destroyed.