Last of the Tanarus is dead – ‘Hole Indian’ lived in voluntary isolation for three decades

A man who lived in voluntary isolation for nearly three decades in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest and was believed to be the last member of an extinct indigenous community has been found dead, authorities said. The man, known simply as “the Tanaru Indian”, was found dead on August 23 in a hut on the lands of the Tanaru indigenous tribe, FUNAI, the public agency in charge of indigenous affairs in the country, said at the weekend. Brazil.

He was also known as Indio do buraco (“the American Indian of the hole”), because of his habit of digging deep burrows in the huts where he lived.

According to the NGO Survival, the lands of the Tanaru indigenous people, in the state of Chodonia, on the border with Bolivia, are part of the jungle that is gradually being destroyed, as vast cattle ranches are created. It is one of the most dangerous areas in Brazil, especially due to illegal mining and deforestation.

Authorities did not say what the man’s age was, nor did they reveal the exact cause of his death, however they assured that there was “no sign of violence or conflict”.

“Everything indicates that the death was due to natural causes,” FUNAI said in a press release, clarifying that no other people were found at the site, according to Agence France-Presse.

Authorities believe the man spent 26 years alone, wandering the jungle, after members of his already small tribe slowly disappeared in the 1990s as loggers and ranchers encroached on more and more land in their area.

“With his death, the genocide of this aboriginal tribe comes to an end,” said Fiona Watson, director of research at Survival, who visited Tanaru lands in 2004.

“This was true genocide, the deliberate extermination of an entire people by pastoralists with an insatiable thirst for land and wealth,” he complained.

According to FUNAI, the presence in Brazil of isolated indigenous people, who have no contact with the rest of the world, is found in 114 separate locations. However, the assessment varies from exhibition to exhibition.

In the 2010 census, over 800,000 people declared themselves indigenous in Brazil, the largest country in all of Latin America with 212 million inhabitants.

More than half live in its rainforest Amazon and consequently many are threatened by the large-scale illegal exploitation of the natural reimgs on which they depend for their survival.