November 15, 2024 | Kaddy Gibson

The Nomole Tribe's Struggle For Survival


The Nomole

The Amazon Forest of Peru is home to 15 indigenous groups who have chosen to remain uncontacted from the rest of the world. But in recent years, one tribe has chosen to make themselves known to outsiders: The Nomole. This is what we know about their fascinating story.

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Making Contact With An Isolated Tribe

We still don’t know much about the Nomole tribe, and what we do know is steeped in tragedy. As companies have encroached on their land over the last decades and even centuries, there have been several encounters with these mysterious people—and not all of them have been peaceful. 

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Their History

The Nomole people have called Peru home for centuries, with archeological evidence suggesting they’d been living in the Amazon rainforest long before contact with Europeans.

File:The Liberal steamboat belonging to the Peruvian Amazon Company, embarking rubber.jpgPhotograph provided by Sidney G. Paternoster on Wikimedia

A Changing Landscape

The Peruvian rubber boom, which lasted from 1870 to 1918, saw an influx of Europeans to the Amazon Forest. While the rubber boom was a means to riches for these colonial explorers, it was a death sentence for the tribe.

File:Racionale standing above his indigenous workers at Entre Rios, a rubber plantation of the Peruvian Amazon Company.jpgPhotograph taken by Silvino Santos, published by Carlos Rey de Castro on Wikimedia

A Massacre For Money 

In 1894, a private militia belonging to rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald massacred nearly all of the Nomole tribe. Those who survived somehow had it worse, however, as they were enslaved. Except, that is, for a lucky few.

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Running For Their Lives

The remaining Nomole people who were not killed or taken escaped deeper into their forest. Understandably, they then cut themselves off from the rest of the world. 

They remained completely uncontacted after that until the late 1990s. When they finally were found, it was for an awful reason.

mashco-piro tribeThe Guardian

Rediscovered In The 20th Century

It was only when oil companies and illegal loggers ventured further into the remote corners of the Amazon rainforest, looking for fresh wood and money, that they found the Nomole again.

File:Amazonia - floresta amazônica - igapós - jungle - amazon rain forest (Iranduba, Amazonas, Brasil). (281626183).jpgDouglas Fernandes from Belo Horizonte, Brasil. on Wikimedia

Their Population

At that time in the 1990s, it was estimated that there were up to 250 members of the tribe. Since then, the tribe has grown, with new estimates suggesting there may be anywhere from 600 to 800 Nomole living in Peru.

File:Coffee plantations in Peru.jpgKızıldeniz on Wikimedia

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Their Environment

The Nomole live deep within in Manu National Park, which is in Peru's Madre de Dios region. 

File:Manu National Park Peru (109758147).jpegHenry Vagrant on Wikimedia

Their Culture

The Nomole are nomadic hunter-gatherers, which has allowed them to survive in the most isolated regions of the Amazon rainforest. 

mashco-piro tribeNational Geographic

Their Daily Life

Not much is known about their daily life, but from the few encounters they’ve had with the outside world, we know that they are very good at climbing trees. 

File:Brazil, the Amazons and the coast (1879) (14596648860).jpgInternet Archive Book Images on Wikimedia

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Where They Live

From temporary shelters that have been left along river banks, we know that Nomole huts are usually made of palm leaves and raised on stilts to protect them from flooding. 

mashco-prio tribeHabitatio BME

What They Eat

Since most of these huts have been found along rivers, scientists believe the tribe uses them for fishing during Peru’s dry season, while they return to the depths of the forest during the wet season.

mashco-piro tribeNational Geographic

What They Do

The Nomole also make a special kind of booze by fermenting fruits in bamboo pods, and we’ve learned they often name themselves after the flowers and plants in the forest.

File:Levandulové víno Marcinčák (patented), při sušení na květech levandule lékařské.jpgQexx on Wikimedia

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Their Language

The Nomole speak a dialect of the Piro language, which is a group of languages that are spoken in the Peruvian Amazon. 

mashco-piro tribeNational Geographic

An Oral Tradition 

Scientists have not been able to find evidence of a written form of their language, which has made it difficult to improve our ability to understand or communicate with the tribe. 

File:Spain final-guerra-civil.jpgFrancisco Franco on Wikimedia

Different Names

The Nomole people are also called the Cujareño people or the Mascho-Piro. However the Nomole tribe would never use the word "Mascho" to describe themselves, at it means something deeply offensive. 

mashco-piro tribeNational Geographic

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What Not To Call Them

The term "Mascho" first came about from colonists to describe the Harakmbut people, a different Indigenous tribe of Peru. More than that, it also means "Savages" in the Piro language.

File:The scale that determines if the rubber quota is met.jpgSidney G. Paternoster credited as the source on Wikimedia

What They Call Themselves

After sporadic encounters with outsiders over the years, and a few cases of the tribe settling in non-native villages, some locals have been able to learn a little bit of their language. This is how we know that they call themselves “Nomole,” and that it means "relative". 

File:“Embarking the rubber”.pngSidney G. Paternoster on Wikimedia

Inner Communities

The Nomole's Piro language is similar enough to the Yine language that they can communicate with the nearby Yine. In fact, Yine villagers will sometimes plant a garden on their edges so that the Nomole can use them. 

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Encounters With Outsiders

While the Peruvian government maintains a strong policy of no contact with isolated tribes, the Nomole have been slowly reaching out to the rest of the world. There have been several cases of Nomole leaving the forest to ask for food and supplies from Peruvian villagers. 

Often, these encounters are peaceful and brief—but it’s easy for things to take a deadly turn.

File:Peruvian rubber station in the upper Amazon.pngEuclides Da Cunha (1866 – 1909) on Wikimedia

Violence With Outsiders

In 2010, a villager named Nikolas "Shaco" Flores befriended the Nomole. For a year, he gave them tools, bananas, and machetes. But when he stopped supplying the tribe with goods, their relationship took a dark turn

File:Manu National Park-71.jpgCorey Spruit on Wikimedia

Violence With Outsiders: The Aftermath

In November 2011, for reasons that are still not completely clear, the Nomole appeared to begin targeting Shaco. Eventually, authorities found Shaco's body with a (likely Nomole) bamboo-tipped arrow in his heart.

File:Negrito (Aeta) arrows 02.pngAlexander Schadenberg on Wikimedia

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Raids On Villages

Another dangerous encounter with the tribe took place in December 2015, when 200 Nomole warriors stormed the village of Monte Salvado. 

File:Peru - Lares Trek 008 - looking back down on the pueblo of Cancha Cancha (7584220954).jpgMcKay Savage from London, UK on Wikimedia

Raids On Villages: The Aftermath

Although the Nomole shot arrows at the villagers, no one was injured, and the men left after taking food, blankets, rope, and machetes. But there may have been a more disturbing reason for this violence.

File:ISS043-E-101699 - View of Peru.jpgEarth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center on Wikimedia

How They Protect Themselves

While this last encounter was more volatile than many previous ones, the government believed it was motivated by a need for supplies, since much of the traditional Nomole hunting grounds have been destroyed by illegal loggers. As it turns out, this is a very dire situation.

File:Bois exploitation P1010627mod.jpgJYB Devot on Wikimedia

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Their Struggle To Survive

As oil companies and illegal loggers continue to expand into the Amazon rainforest and encroach on the Nomole's traditional lands, there are concerns about how the tribe will survive in the coming years. Illegal logging is the biggest threat to the tribe, as the deforestation that it causes destroys the ecosystem that is vital to their survival. 

With less food to hunt and fewer raw materials to make crucial supplies for survival, instances of the Nomole reaching out for aid are likely to increase. And they have other troubles to worry about, too. 

File:Galbalcyrhynchus purusianus -Manu National Park, Peru-8.jpgBill Bouton from San Luis Obispo, CA, USA on Wikimedia

Battling Diseases

While many may think that the Peruvian government’s policy of no contact with the Nomole is for the protection of non-natives, it is actually meant to protect the tribe. Exposure to disease is a great concern, since the Nomole's isolation has made their immune systems weak to illnesses from the outside world.

File:Mycobacterium tuberculosis.jpgPhoto Credit: Janice Carr Content Providers(s): CDC/ Dr. Ray Butler; Janice Carr on Wikimedia

Assimilation Isn't Unheard Of

Encounters with outsiders also threaten to impact the tribe’s unique culture, especially if they begin to assimilate with non-native villagers. While encounters with the tribe are still brief, there have been three recorded cases of Nomole women leaving the tribe and settling in nearby Peruvian villages.

File:Ghost village, Huaquis, Peru.jpgBrunoLocatelli on Wikimedia

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Photo Evidence

The Peru Ministry of Environment released a video in 2011 showing some of the Nomole. Additionally, in recent years an Italian tourist to Manu National Park also managed to capture a rare image of the tribe. 

File:Índios Isolados 4.jpgGleilson Miranda/Secretaria de Comunicação do Estado do Acre on Wikimedia

Recent Sightings

Just recently, in July 2024, videos and images of dozens of as-yet uncontacted Nomole people emerged from the company Survival International. The Nomole were on the banks of a river, frighteningly near a series of logging concessions.

File:Índios isolados no Acre 3.jpgGleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre on Wikimedia

Recent Violence

As logging gets ever closer, the violence also seems to rise. In September 2024, just months ago, a group of Nomole who had never been seen or heard from before came into contact with at least two loggers. They attacked and killed the outsiders, likely believing they were encroaching on their land. 

File:Índios isolados no Acre 6.jpgGleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre on Wikimedia

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The Future Of The Nomole

As the modern world invades their isolation, the Nomole tribe finds themselves facing an uncertain future. Today’s billion-dollar corporations are as ruthless as the rubber barons of the past, and reaching out for help from the outside world presents its own unique challenges for the Nomole tribe. 

Luckily, their history is one of resilience, and this offers a glimmer of hope for the survival of this unique group of people.

File:Índios isolados no Acre 8.jpgGleilson Miranda / Governo do Acre on Wikimedia


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