The Earth’s Most Unknown Region: The Amazon River Basin

It starts out as a peaceful morning. As you sip your coffee and open today’s news on your computer, you hear some loud sounds outside. Alarmed, you walk out to the front of your house, and see a space ship shooting laser beams at buildings, and instantly leveling them! You hear the sounds again and again, as building after building is leveled. As the space ships come closer, you see some of your neighbors are firing rifles at them, only to be destroyed by the laser beams. Finally, you hastily pack your family and a few belongings before driving away from the city.

This sounds like a campy science fiction movie from the 1950s, but the situation is much like what some native peoples of the Amazon River Basin are facing in 2010. Everything they rely upon, the trees, the rivers, the animals, are all being destroyed to make way for farming, the logging industry and those seeking out minerals in this virgin jungle. The tribes of the Amazon River Basin rely on their environment for all their needs. When someone comes in with “yellow pigs” as they sometimes call the earthmovers, and levels the plant life, there is nothing left for the local peoples’ survival. For those of us who live in cities, this is equivalent to having all our homes and businesses leveled by someone who wants to use the land.
Almost all web sites that deal with the Amazon River Basin focus on exploitation of the indigenous peoples. Before we judge those who are exploiting the resources of this region, we need to understand a few things.
Traditionally, the Brazilians have had a running joke about themselves. “Brazil is the nation of the future… and always will be.” Now it’s the 21st century, and that elusive future seems to be happening now. Brazilians are building up a strong economy based on the resources they have within their own national borders. Brazil has a population of over 190 million people, and many of the tribes are under 100 people. Should the entire nation remain undeveloped for the sake of a couple thousand people? After moving the indigenous peoples to reservations, the United States developed the Midwestern states in the 19th century. Why shouldn’t Brazil do the same in the 21st century? And after all, those who develop this region are providing much-needed food and other products that the world needs.
However, the cost is very heavy for the peoples of the Amazon jungles whose lives are being destroyed. Some will escape further into the jungle. Others will try to stop the intruders, but fail. With no skills for the modern world, many will wind up being beggars and prostitutes in the cities. Others will die from diseases introduced by outsiders. Is it right to sacrifice these tribes for the sake of “progress”?
If we learn from history, we know that mankind has a consistent pattern: the strong prey upon the weak. Like the Native Americans in the United States who were easily defeated by American forces in the latter part of the 19th century, the Brazilian Indians can easily be destroyed by powerful outside forces. As time goes on, these groups will be assimilated or destroyed.

Two Opposing Forces

There are two opposing forces in Brazil. One side wants to modernize and take advantage of Brazil’s abundant resources. They might be cattle ranchers, soybean farmers, oil drillers, or miners. The other side is Brazil’s National Foundation for the Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI) that is trying to keep all outsiders from having contact with the indigenous peoples. Survival International publicizes injustices against the indigenous peoples in an attempt to create international pressure against encroaching outsiders.
Despite the efforts to keep outsiders away from the indigenous peoples, this region continues to be transformed by outside forces. The reason is, perhaps, obvious. According to a May 15, 2008 article in BBC News, there are huge economic incentives to develop this region. To this day, no one can come up with a realistic economic incentive not to develop the Amazon River Basin. Even those who cut logs illegally in this region are able to become wealthy.
And thus, some of the fastest growing economies of the world today are those that border the Amazon River Basin. Brazilians, and to a lesser extent, the Peruvians are exploiting these resources for their own profit. This, of course, is to the detriment of the indigenous peoples, not to mention the entire world, since the vegetation in this region produces much of the Earth’s needed oxygen.
The Amazon River Basin is the location of most of the world’s isolated tribes. There are peoples there that are only known by the name of a nearby river, according to Dr. Dale Kietzman of Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). No one knows the exact number of people groups that fit this category, but estimates range from 67 to 400. To confuse matters further, some tribes became extinct during the 20th century. In 1900 there were 230 tribes in Brazil. Other tribes are merging. However, according to one Christian source, it is now it is up to 250, and their population is growing.

How Will They Get the Gospel?

To a follower of Christ, there are some difficult issues regarding these vulnerable tribes. Apart from issues having to do with the environment and tribal protection, Christ himself gave us the Great Commission to go into all the world and tell every people group about the saving power of Christ. Though God reveals Himself to some degree to even the most isolated groups, it will take outsiders to bring them the knowledge of Christ’s redemption. Ideally, these outsiders would be from tribes that live a similar lifestyle. There are a couple of good rules to follow when approaching these isolated tribes.
First of all, don’t contact them if anyone in your team is sick. Even the common cold could be devastating if the tribe has no immunities. Stay outside their tribal area, but be accessible to them. That would help ensure that you aren’t spreading contagious diseases. It would also allow them to live in their natural state. Secondly, use women rather than men whenever possible. Women are seldom viewed as a threat. Thirdly, it is important to adapt to their culture. Eat what they eat, and learn their language from the time you make contact. Fourthly, make yourself useful to them. This could involve giving them useful gifts like metal tools, and teaching them better farming methods and crafts. A good missionary example is Sophie Muller, who taught a tribe the Word of God. The result was that as they embraced His Word, counter-productive superstitions and lifestyles were replaced with godly living that helped them to prosper in every way.