Cannibalism a History

Cannibalism in the past wascommon among humans in many parts of the world, it continued into the 19thcentury in some remote South Pacific cultures, and presently in partsof tropical Africa. In a few cases local flesh-markets existed. Fiji onceknown as the Cannibal Isles has been documented as being cannibals. Cannibalismwas found in Fiji, the Amazon Basin, the Congo and New Zealand.The Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism.

Cannibalism has been both carriedout in several wars, commonly in Liberia and Congo. Today, very fewtribes still believed to eat human flesh as a cultural practice. It isalso practiced as a ritual and in war in Melanesian tribes. People who eathuman flesh are usually charged with crimes such as murder or desecration of abody.

Cannibalism has been frequentlypracticed as a last resort by people suffering from famine. Occasionallyit has occurred in modern times. A famous example is the crash of an AirForce Flight crash after which some survivors ate the bodies of deadpassengers. Also, some mentally ill individuals obsess about eating human bodyparts.

The theme of cannibalism has beenfeatured in religion, mythology, fairy stories and in works of art. Cannibalismfeatures is most often attributed to evil characters or as extreme revenge forsome wrong.  Greek mythology involves cannibalism, especially offamily members, Cronos or Saturn in the Roman mythology devoured hissons. The story of Tantalus also illustrates this. These mythologiesinspired Shakespeare's works. 

Many instances of cannibalism bynecessity were recorded during World War II.  Reports of cannibalism began to appear in thewinter of 1941–1942, after all birds, rats and pets were eaten by survivors.  Withthe Soviet victory was found that some German soldiers in the besieged city,cut off from supplies, resorted to cannibalism.

German soldiers were taken prisonerof war. Most of them were sent to POW camps where being underfed by their captors,many had no other alternative resorted to cannibalism.

In some cases the flesh was cutfrom living people.

It is recorded that Japanese soldierskilled and consumed American pilots. Cannibalism in World War II of Allied prisonersby their Japanese captors included ritual cannibalization of the livers offreshly killed prisoners.

Cannibalism whether out of necessityor as a cultural ritual was and frequently found in all ages of the world.  The speculation of why does not make thispractice humane or acceptable to society. Cannibalism is now considered repulsive to most but exists even to thepresent time.