As many of us in the West become ever more preoccupied with technology, it’s easy to forget the many traditional cultures that live in far more simple ways, in closer contact with nature. Indigenous peoples inhabit every climatic zone, on every continent except Antarctica.

At the turn of the 21st century, these tribal groups were estimated to number around 325 million people, or about 5 per cent of the world’s population. Incredibly diverse, they belong to about 5000 distinct tribes. Many are found in tropical rainforests, while others have adapted to the extreme conditions of the Arctic (such as the Sami of Scandinavia and the Inuit of North America) and deserts (the Bedouin of the Middle East and the Australian Aborigines).

Often pursuing a subsistence lifestyle, some of these people are hunter-gatherers whose diet involves a mix of animals and edible plants. Others live as nomads, including the Khamseh in Iran and the Bhils in India. These migratory groups travel with the seasons to follow wild plants and game or to prevent their grazing animals from over-consuming the grass in a particular locality.

Shamanism, a spiritual path that predates all religions, is held in common by many tribes. Typically, this involves a spiritually significant figure such as a medicine man who, often with the aid of potent consciousness-altering substances, undertakes trance journeys to the spirit world to intervene on behalf of the community. Sometimes, this spiritual intercessor will ask for abundant harvests, or may treat illness, which is often considered to be caused by evil spirits.

The Yanomami

This tribe lives deep in the jungles of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. As hunter-gatherers, work is divided according to the sexes. Men hunt tapir, deer and monkey using a poisonous plant extract called curare, while women tend gardens and collect nuts. They fulfil all their material needs working less than four hours a day, with the rest of the time devoted to leisure and social activities.

Traditionally, minimal clothing was worn by the Yanomami and body painting is still commonly practised. Men wear multi-coloured bracelets made from bird feathers and pierce their noses with thin bamboo sticks. Both sexes decorate their ears with adornments made from feathers, flowers and leaves.

Villages are designed with an open-air central plaza that is surrounded by large circular communal houses known as shabonos. As they are polygamous, a family is made up of several sub-families headed by women. Living without chiefs, they make their decisions by consensus.

Since the 1980s, when gold was found on their land, the Yanomami’s way of life has been threatened by intruders. They are currently facing challenges from both gold miners and ranchers.