wunder beta🌳 People of the Rainforest
Deep in the Amazon rainforest, the Yanomami people have made their home for thousands of years. Come and see how the trees around them give them food, a house, and even medicine — and why they take su
What you’ll learn
- A Home Made of TreesLearn who the Yanomami are and where they live.The Yanomami are an Indigenous people who have lived in the Amazon rainforest, between Brazil and Venezuela, for thousands of years. With no shops nearby, they get everything they need — food, building materials, and medicine — from the forest around them.
- Finding Food in the ForestUnderstand the two main ways the Yanomami get food, and the importance of sharing.The Yanomami grow foods like plantains and cassava in forest gardens, and also gather wild foods, hunt, and fish. When food comes in, it is shared across the whole village so everyone has enough — a central Yanomami value.
- One Big Round HouseDescribe the shabono and how it is built from forest materials.Most Yanomami villages live together in a shabono, a large ring-shaped communal house with an open central plaza and a palm-leaf roof. It is built entirely from forest materials — poles, vines, and palm leaves — and can hold a whole village.
- The Forest PharmacyUnderstand that the Yanomami use forest plants as medicine, and that this knowledge is passed down.The Yanomami treat illness with plants from the forest. Knowing which plants help is valuable knowledge, learned from elders and passed down through generations by story and by walking the forest together.
- Reading the Forest Like a BookAppreciate the deep, everyday knowledge the Yanomami have of forest plants and animals.The Yanomami know their forest intimately — its bird calls, animal tracks, and ripe fruits. This knowledge is not learned from books but built up by watching, listening, and exploring the forest alongside family.
- Taking Care of Their HomeLearn how the Yanomami care for the forest, and why the rainforest matters to everyone.The Yanomami move their villages so used areas of forest can recover, keeping the land healthy. The Amazon rainforest also helps the whole planet by cleaning the air and producing oxygen, so protecting it helps everyone.
Questions this course answers
Where do the Yanomami people live?
The Yanomami live deep in the warm, wet Amazon rainforest, where Brazil and Venezuela meet. It has been their home for thousands of years.
The Yanomami grow plantains and cassava in their gardens. Where do wild honey and Brazil nuts come from?
Honey and Brazil nuts are not planted — they are found growing wild in the forest and gathered by hand.
When a hunter brings home food, what does he do with it?
Sharing is one of the Yanomami's most important rules. Food is shared so that everyone in the village has enough to eat.
What is a shabono?
A shabono is a giant ring-shaped house made of poles and palm leaves. A whole village lives around the edge, under one roof.
When someone feels sick, where do the Yanomami look for medicine?
The Yanomami use special plants from the forest as medicine. Knowledge of which plants help is passed down through families.
How did the Yanomami learn so much about the forest?
Their knowledge comes from spending time in the forest with family, watching and listening, and having it passed down over many years.
Grounded in trusted sources
- Survival International — 'The Yanomami' (survivalinternational.org)
- Encyclopædia Britannica — 'Yanomami'
- Yanomami Foundation — 'The Yanomami' (yanomamifoundation.org)
Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.
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