Bari (Americas)

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The Bari are an indigenous people of the Americas who live in parts of Venezuela and Colombia. They have been the subject of the French ethnologist Robert Jaulin's attention, who redefined the concept of ethnocide by observing their particular fate.

Not much is known about the first western contact with the Bari people in 1650. The following contact with the Bari was people was around the beginning of the twentieth century, when they were massacred from the 1910s until 1958. Their land has been subjected to oil drilling from 1913-1926 and from 1996-2001.

The first peaceful contact that was made with the Bari was by Roberto Lizarralde in 1960. Lizarralde conducted research among the Bari for 44 years and his research was carried on by his son, Manuel Lizarralde. The focus of their research has been on the ethnobotany of the Bari, who possess a vast knowledge of the biodiversity in Amazonia and use 80% of the plants around them.

Since the initial contact in 1650, Bari land has been reduced to 7% of its original mass and the Bari have shifted their production to the gardening of cash crops in order to acquire Western goods which are becoming increasingly integrated into their culture.