Cannibalism

Cannibalism, eating of human flesh by human beings. The term cannibalism is derived from Canibales, the Spanish name for the reputedly man-eating Carib people who lived in the West Indies when Christopher Columbus arrived.

The practice of cannibalism has been reported in many parts of the world and dates to prehistoric times. The Neandertals in Europe seem to have practiced cannibalism at least occasionally, based on evidence from fossil bones. The Greek historian Herodotus and other ancient writers described various cannibalistic peoples. In medieval times Venetian traveler Marco Polo reported that tribes from Tibet to Sumatra practiced cannibalism. A few Native American tribes in North America, such as the Calusa in southwestern Florida, apparently practiced ritualistic cannibalism, though the extent of this is unknown. In the Caribbean and South America, some native groups reportedly ate human flesh for survival, while others ate the flesh of captured enemies (see Native Americans of Middle and South America). Until recent times cannibalism was believed to occur in central and western Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Sumatra, New Guinea, Polynesia, and remote parts of South America.

Anthropologists and historians note that claims of cannibalism based on older written accounts from travelers or colonial conquerors should be viewed with caution. These accounts often unfairly portrayed native peoples as subhuman savages in order to rationalize their exploitation or killing.

Several motives have been proposed for the practice of cannibalism. In some cultures, it was believed that the person who ate the dead body of another would acquire the desired qualities of the person eaten, particularly of a brave enemy. In a few instances, cannibalism might have been dictated by no other motive than revenge. It was even believed that an enemy’s spirit would be utterly destroyed if the body were eaten, thus leaving nothing in which the ghost could live.

Cannibalism was sometimes part of a religious practice. The Binderwurs of central India ate their sick and aged in the belief that the act was pleasing to their goddess, Kali. In Mexico, thousands of human victims were sacrificed annually by the Aztecs to their deities. Scholars disagree over the extent of cannibalism among the Aztecs. Some have claimed, based on reports from Spanish explorers, that the priests and the populace ate the bodies of the sacrificed victims as a regular part of their diet. Other scholars acknowledge that the Aztecs probably engaged in some ritualistic cannibalism but find no reliable evidence that the practice was widespread. The Spanish accounts, they note, may have intentionally dehumanized the Aztecs to justify their massacre.

Starvation has sometimes driven humans to eat the flesh of other humans. One instance in the United States involved members of the ill-fated Donner party in the Sierra Nevada in California during the winter of 1846-1847. Another occurred in Chile in 1972, when 16 members of a Uruguayan soccer team survived for 70 days after their airliner crashed in the Andes Mountains.