Yanomamo/i Changes Prior and After influenced by the outside World

Has the Yanomami environment been dramatically affected by the influence of the outside World?

Prior to contact:

• Dense Jungle;
• Tropical Rainforest - the Amazon Rainforest;
• Stone age life - simple lifestyle;
• Forest is there enormous supermarket. Main food source;
• Work for 4 hours a day;
• Use stone tools;
• Live in large houses called Shabonos or Molacha ;
• They were 10m high and had 20-25 families living in it;
• Were hand made and had no walls;
• Every family has their area to light fires and do other things;
• Gardens were grown for food, especially bananas;
• Gardening was done by hands;
• Most of the day is spent by socializing and story telling;
• They cultivate the land with crops;
• All tools are made of stone;
• Have no machines and even the most basic one, the wheel;
•  Decorate their faces every morning with natural paint from plants and rocks;
•  Their land is full of precious metal;
• Children learn life skills by their parents and relatives eg. hunting  and fishing.

After contact with the outside World:

• Villagers were gunned down by men hunting for Gold;
• Miners brought metal knives and tools with them;
• Safety was diminished for the Yanomami people;
• People began finding Gold within the area of the Tribe;
• Miners have wounded the forest floor with water jets at high pressure which caused erosion and pollution;
• Miners used mercury, which polluted the rivers that killed the sea creatures, diminishing the food source for the Yanomami;
• They began becoming ill due to diseases, and mercury bought by the miners;
• Nearly half of the population of the Yanomamo has been wiped out;
• Miners have killed animals and polluted the water;
• Privacy was invaded and people feel threatened;
• All food source is slowly wiping out;
• Medicine from the UK and Brazil has arrived to help the Yanomami. Doctors have been bought into the Yanomami land to help them;
• The Government has made the Yanomami land a National Park, which has caused miners to leave the site;
• Increased Government Interest;



Shabono

• They are still endangered due to resources. Life with never- change- diseases, mercury- poison and pollution.

Mercury

The Yanomami tribe has been dramatically affected by the influence of the outside world due to the fact the when gold was found within their environment a gold rush began and had affected the tribe in many ways. Gold miners used mercury to find gold which has completely polluted the land with poisonous metals and fumes. Rivers were being polluted which  made the Yanomami people severely ill and nearly half of the population to died out. Mercury has polluted the rivers which has killed off all of the fish supply and also killed animals. People feel threatened and safety of the Yanomami has diminished dramatically. Children and adults are dying due to the diseases brought by the miners. They are eroding the land with a jet powered hose, used for finding buried and alluvial gold. Overall, life will never change for the Yanomami people as diseases, mercury and pollution has  intoxicated the land of the Yanomami.