The Amazon Teacher’s Guide
In The Jungle, The Indian Knows Everything
For thousands of years, Indians have lived in the rain forests. Some live in areas so deep and far into the forest that they have not yet been contacted by the outside world. Some live on lands that have been invaded by goldminers and others who have come to extract and destroy parts of the forest. In many ways, contact with outsiders has been devastating for rain forest Indians. Thousands have died; either from direct killing or from introduced diseases for which Indians have no natural immunity. Over 90 Indian tribes have gone extinct in Brazil alone since 1900.
We have all heard the expression "extinction is forever." This saying is usually heard in conversations about endangered animals or plants. But the extinction of unique groups of people is just as final.
In the South American country of Suriname, there is a saying, Na boesi, ingi sabe ala sani. "In the Jungle, the Indian knows everything." People from developed countries have sometimes looked upon Indians and their cultures as primitive, simple and crude. Many have tried to change the way Indians live their lives. But when it comes to living in the rain forest-the Indians usually know best.
Indians thrive in the rain forest because of their
astonishing familiarity with this environment. They know which trees make the best canoes and which ones are good for drumming or making blowguns or arrows or shelters. They know the plants that yield food, dyes, resins, oils, fibers for weaving and medicines for healing. They grow crops in the rain forest by using ancient slash-and-burn agriculture. The Indians cut the trees in a small area, allow them to dry, then clear the "slash" by burning it. At first, the ash left by the fire makes a nutrient-rich bed for crops. They grow yams, sweet potatoes, bananas,
plantains, cocoyams, cassava, and about fifty other crops. The field loses its fertility within a few years, and it is eventually abandoned and allowed to return to jungle. Because Indian populations are low, and because they let their fields lie fallow for a long time after cultivation, they can practice slash-and-burn agriculture without permanently destroying the land. Their use of the forest is sustainable.
Indians hunt and fish, but they learned long ago that if they take more from the forest than they need to live, the forest will not be able to feed them forever. The Indians recognize the forest animals long before they see them, by their footprints, their calls, even their
smells. To Indians, the forest is grocery store, drugstore, hardware store, and toy store. As one Peruvian Indian said "We respect the forest; we make it produce for us."
Ailton Krenak is the National Coordinator of the Union of Indian Nations. He comes from the small tribe of Krenak Indians of Brazil. He has said to the world:
"If we can build in the heart of the people of the city a beautiful forest made of friendship, music and celebration, then we can pacify their spirit so they can live with the people of the forest. This is our message..."
We have already benefited tremendously from the knowledge of Indians. As ACT President Dr. Mark Plotkin has said, "Virtually every useful medicinal or agricultural plant that has come to us from the rain forest was first learned from indigenous people." We have much more to learn from the forest Indians. Will the rest of the world be smart enough to learn from them?
