‘Man of the hole’: Last member of indigenous tribe dies in Brazil's Amazon rainforest

An unidentified indigenous man, who was thought to be the last member of his tribe in the Amazon, passed away and his death has resulted in a lot of discussion among activists. A number of people who work towards the conservation of arts and languages lamented the loss of an entire line of Brazilian Amazon tribes and contemplated the impact that this loss will have on overall culture.

According to The Guardian, the indigenous man was known as Índio do Buraco, or the “Indigenous man of the hole”. He did not have any contact with the outside world and any attempt to establish contact was met with traps and arrows from the holes that he made near his residence.

“Having endured atrocious massacres and land invasions, rejecting contact with outsiders was his best chance of survival,” said Sarah Shenker, a campaigner at Survival International, said.

“He was the last of his tribe, and so that is one more tribe made extinct – not disappeared, as some people say, it’s much more active and genocidal a process than disappearing.”

The man found a lot of coverage in the local media and even featured in a number of documentaries. “He didn’t trust anyone because he had many traumatising experiences with non-Indigenous people,” said Marcelo dos Santos, a retired explorer, told The Guardian.

Right now, there are believed to be less than 300 indigenous tribes are currently there in Brazil and the number is going down slowly. 30 more groups exist but experts have no information on them.