Even the remotest Yanomami have been using and vying for metal tools of utensils of the Western civilization for over one hundred years. The more accessible groups, those closest to waterways, have been studied continuously by anthropologist and missionaries since their "discovery" in the late part of this century. Yet, it wasn't until gold was discovered on their land in 1985, and thousands of miners illegally invaded their territory that contact with the white, western world had much of an impact on their lives or culture.
For thousands of years the Yanomami have lived in balance with their environment. Their population has grown and territory expanded. The Amazon rain forest provided them with all of their needs, shaped their culture and directed their believes. In fifteen short years the Yanomami populations has been devastated by violence and diseases they have no immunity to. Confused and disoriented by their sudden thrust into the twentieth century's culture and technology, their beliefs, cultural systems, self esteem and sense of identity have degenerated. Destruction of forests, loss of game, and growing dependency on Western medicine and manufactured goods has been drastically altered their family and social structure. Many Yanomami are no longer self-sufficient and are dependent on outsiders for their livelihood and survival. Their changing way of thinking and way they perceive the world has made a return to, or even a preservation of, traditional ways impossible. Culture has been traded for a dubious, fragmented existence.
Child mortality rates have soared while birthrates declined.
The Yanomami now fish with metal hooks instead of spears, hunt with shot guns instead of bow and arrow, cook with metal or enamel pots and griddles instead of clay ones, build their houses with mud instead of leaves, smoke cigarettes, have greater access to alcohol, and rely on imported rice and maize as much as the manioc and plantains they traditional grow themselves. Those in frequent contact with whites have become embarrassed by their nudity and now wear clothes. Imported cloth has meant that women no longer need to spin fiber taken from the jungle for whatever material they might have needed. But, cloth has to be washed and now they need soap. Salt, rejected by the Yanomami as late as 1979, is now essential in cooking.
