This is original footage of the first contact of the Toulambi in Papua New Guinea with white people (actually a Belgian, which helpfully proves that not all Belgians kill and enslave natives). I put it here rather than in the video forum because I think it’s worth commenting on in detail, and discussing the whole subject of uncontacted peoples (very few of whom remain), and the impact of first contact. I actually found this video deeply moving. Pardon the useless modern soundtrack.
Isn’t that fantastic, amazing, and incredible! What an incredible thrill for all involved!
It looks like this guy is just right for the job; so gentle and unafraid. What a huge responsibility! Simple things like mirrors are mind blowing. I honestly don’t know what’s best in these situations. What do you think?
Look Mummy: natives! Ooh, they’re so primitive! How cute!
Can we put them into the zoo so we don’t have to walk so far to see them next time?
I hope they didn’t take anything…in the end they would propably start fighting over it:) I was waiting for that axe to come down in the beginning.
[quote=“urodacus”]Look Mummy: natives! Ooh, they’re so primitive! How cute!
Can we put them into the zoo so we don’t have to walk so far to see them next time?[/quote]The video didn’t give me that impression at all. Where are you getting that idea from? Weird.
Nice video. Thanks for posting, Forti. 
Sometimes I wish I was born among people like this… Life seems so much simpler.
I saw that on facebook this morning and was also moved. Until I commented that since the vid was shot in 1976, it would be interesting to see how this contact has affected them 35 years on, and fucking Stray Dog said all I need to do is to look at their Facebook page… and I actually tried to find the page … who says the civilized people aren’t gullible idiots?
I have to go through this rigmarole every time I travel to somewhere remote and uncivilized, like Chuang Hwa.
Seriously though, we live in times where this kind of event is likely never to happen again. How great it would have been to be an early explorer who was the first to discover new lands and new people. The age of digital technology, google maps and the world completely charted and conquered is truly a dull place to live by comparison.
On the other hand, who in the past could have foreseen that their intrepid endeavors could initiate the unstoppable onslaught of disease, famine and the inevitable slide towards a more connected global culture through war and commerce - a global culture which has eradicated, or at the very least, irreversibly changed the life and habits of all but the most steadfast of isolated peoples.
I love how it was first a few brave, well-armed men who came up to them, and very gingerly proceeded to make contact with the researcher and the cameraman… carefully reaching out and pulling back, not quite trusting, or maybe even thinking they were spirits or sorcerers. But after they touched the researchers, reassured that they were flesh-and-blood beings, and were friendly, they quickly gained confidence. Once trust was established, it was safe for the women and children to arrive on the scene and gather around.
I liked the tree-chopping demonstration, as they each showed how they cut wood, one with a machete and one with an axe. The matches and mirror would have seemed like wonders, and the tape recorder almost like witchcraft!
I’m really glad to see this has inspired some thoughtful comment. I have a few more things to say myself, but I’d like to add a few facts I’ve found.
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According to the Belgian’s website, this footage was actually taken in 1993
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Jean-Pierre Dutilleux (the Belgian), is a long time activist for the rights and protection of indigenous people, especially those in remote, recently discovered, or undiscovered tribes; he has been recognized by several indigenous leaders
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The original footage, without the annoying soundtrack (but with Dutilleux’s commentary), can be found here (part 2, part 3, part 4); it shows a lot more footage, and is far more satisfying to watch (you’ll see the process of initial meeting actually took quite a long time)
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The Toulambi were amazed at Dutillexu’s white skin (you can see them rubbing it vigorously to see if it will come off), because they had never seen white skin on anything which wasn’t a corpse; this helps explain why they would initially touch him and then pull their hand away as if burned (it’s possible they considered his skin to be dead)
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When discovered, the tribe had been almost wiped out by malaria; contact with Dutilleux resulted in them receiving anti-malarial medication which actually saved their lives, which is a refreshing change
I read their population has since decimated because of malaria.
And they will invent the warp drive.
They’ve already been to my house and warped all my door frames. And all this time I thought it was the humidity!
Here’s an interesting French-language article on the subject: terrain.revues.org/2820#tocto1n5
(I don’t know French. I was able to make out some of it using Google Translate.)
An alternative take. Whether this is fact or fable in itself, I truly don’t know - just throwing it out here. The author, Peter Kranz, seems a respected PNG commentator.
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/07/toulambi-1976-contact-fact-or-fable.html
[quote=“Nuit”]An alternative take. Whether this is fact or fable in itself, I truly don’t know - just throwing it out here. The author, Peter Kranz, seems a respected PNG commentator.
http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/07/toulambi-1976-contact-fact-or-fable.html
The author of the French-language article that I linked to seems to say that at the time of the shooting of Jean Pierre Dutilleux’s film, at least three other persons, including the article’s author himself, had already made contact with the Toulambi:
[quote]C’est ainsi qu’avant d’apparaître à l’âge de pierre dans Paris Match (Dutilleux 1994a) ils s’étaient laissé photographier par au moins trois ethnologues : J. Mimica (en 1979), moi-même (en 1985), et P. Bonnemère (en 1987). [/quote] terrain.revues.org/2820#tocto1n5
When I was a teenager I was watching some TV show or other that featured a film segment about a Brazilian (I think it was Brazilian) aboriginal community which, it was claimed, had never before been in contact with the outside world. As the camera panned to show various members of the community, I could have sworn that one of the indigenous persons was wearing sneakers. Maybe I was mistaken, but they looked very much like sneakers.
Yes, and I meant to add that my link referenced your Pierre Lemonnier link. Sounds worrisome for believers.
Such a claim (no-contact) must form part of any ethnologist’s Holy Grail.
Though perhaps it’s not impossible for such a community to invent and build pairs of sneakers. Convergent evolution and all :neutral:.
[quote=“Nuit”]Yes, and I meant to add that my link referenced your Pierre Lemonnier link. Sounds worrisome for believers.[/quote] I probably got my link from the page you linked to, or a similar page. I’m not a researcher, but I play one on the Internet.*
*an allusion to an old American joke, inspired by this commercial or a similar one: