10 Beautiful Indigenous Peoples from Around the World You Never Knew Existed

A few years ago I was home alone and suddenly I felt like I was directly connected to my Embera ancestors (an indigenous people from Colombia) and I could feel all the suffering and struggle they had encountered throughout the ages. which made me very sad.

But after a while I also realized their strength and accomplishments: They never gave up to fight for the right to be who they are and to follow their own way of life without giving in to the global mainstream culture.

Indigenous cultures from around the world are the keepers of knowledge that is of importance to all of humankind: how to live in balance with nature, how to heal in a holistic way and how to communicate with the spirit world.

So here I want to show you 10 pictures of ten people belonging to ten indigenous tribes from around the world. Please take a moment to honor these peoples who have preserved so much knowledge for all of us.

Papuan man from Papua New Guinea (photo by Eric Lafforgue)

Karo bride from Ethiopia (photo by Helga)

Embera woman from Colombia (photo by Anselmo Mantovani)

Kuna Women from Panama (photo by Rita Willaert)

Sami people from Finland (photo by Helga)

Koori Men from Australia (photo by Wayne Quilliam)

Nuba man from Sudan (photo by Rita Willaert)

Massai women from Tanzania (photo by Mayalika)

Ainu woman from Japan (photo by Todd Stradford)

Samburu Warrior from Kenia (photo by Helga)

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm. It is filed under Inspired and tagged with Indigenous, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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Kimber Scott says:

June 25, 2009 at 7:10 pm

Wow. Beautiful, strong people. What a great post. I often sit and wonder about the lives of my ancestors. Their triumphs and struggles. The fact they were here and are gone, just as we will be one day. I enjoy pondering history, but with these photos history stares me the face!

Adirec Torytski says:

July 10, 2009 at 2:51 am

There is also a group in New Zealand called the Maori, they have traditional clothing and tattooing of the face “moko” it is called in Maori. None of the choices you have shown are similar. I wish I had a picture for you, but perhaps it might be worth adding to the list??

Regards

Adirec
Adirec Torytski´s last blog ..

Yamile Yemoonyah says:

July 10, 2009 at 9:42 am

Adirec,thanks for taking the time to comment.I know about the Maori and their amazing culture and would love to go to New Zealand one day to learn more. I have not included them here because I wanted to highlight some indigenous peoples that are more unknown to people in our western culture like the Samburu and the Nuba peoples.

Houseonahillorg says:

August 23, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Beautiful.Thank you.

zynzelay says:

October 9, 2009 at 5:36 am

Powerful beauty. Common threads. Thank you for sharing.

Anselmo Mantovani says:

December 19, 2009 at 10:57 pm

One of the photographs in this collection,was taken during the visit to Panama of president Evo Morales from Bolivia. I have some others that will interest you Yamile, please contact me we can help each other…Anselmo Mantovani.
My email: pupi3000@yahoo.com