First Contact: In Search of the Ethnographic Present.
For years many anthropologists have been searching for the rare and elusive ethnographic present. This has been task that many have tried to complete but have not succeeded due to the fact of the many uninfluenced societies. Today, many civilizations have been introduced to the western ways of life, and have changed due to the influence of the new cultures. Most have even adopted some aspects of western culture as part of their own. This influence is due to the growing needs for material possessions such as gaining wealth and land for one's own country. This globalization that has occurred has many nations becoming dependent upon what the other nations provide for them. First Contact is some original footage of an intact and unaffected civilization encountering the white man for the very first time. It gives us a first-hand prospective of how much a civilization can be changed just by the introduction of a dissimilar individual.
In 1926 there was the discovery of gold along the coast of New Guinea. Many prospectors gathered on this newfound frontier in hopes of great wealth. While many men prospered, a group of brothers did not fair well at first. After some time, many of the prospectors began to head back to their homelands, but not this band of brothers. Determined to find the gold that they were searching for, the brothers set out on a journey that none of the other gold miners even considered. They set off on a journey to explore the last great untouched region of New Guinea. Due to the many rugged mountain ranges, there was little if no suspicion that beyond those mountains would be an untarnished civilization.
When the brothers and their crew finally did reach the top of the mountains, not only did they find fetal land, but they also found a thriving community in the valley below. However, the brothers weren't the only ones astounded by this discovery.