15.09.09 10:58 PM

The Yanomamö̧ are a large population of native people in South America. They reside in the Amazon rainforest, among the hills that line the border between

Brazil and Venezuela. Due to the remoteness of their residence, they had remained largely uncontacted by the outside world until the beginning of the 20th century. This allowed them to retain several aspects of their culture that factors

such as population explosion and growth in material wealth have eradicated from the rest of the world. As a result, the Yanomamö have come to be one of the ̧

most widely studied groups by modern science.[citation needed]The word Yanomamö means 'human being' in their language. The word is ̧

supposed to be pronounced with thorough nasalisation. The phonetic sound 'ö' does not occur in English, and this has led to different accounts of how

Yanomamö is spelled and pronounced. Some ̧ anthropologists had published the spelling Yanomam , but because many presses and typesetters eliminate the ɨdiacritical marks, an incorrect pronunciation of 'Yanomamee' has emerged.

This article largely describes a Yanomamö way of life that existed prior to the ̧1960s. Sustained contact with missionaries, government officials, miners,

journalists, tourists, anthropologists and others has led to significant changes to this way of life. It should also be noted that large variations might exist from

village to village. There are always individuals and communities who break the rules and hence deviations from what is presented below may be observed.