Downfall and Government Interference

     In the late 1940s, colonial government officials reached deep into Fore territory. The officials strived to help the Fore people by introducing the importance of hygiene and road construction. The officials stressed the Fore people to give up their village welfare, sorcery, and cannibalism. Although these officials did not intend any direct physical harm, their entrance allowed for more people to enter the Fore territory. About a decade later in 1951, a police post was set up at Okapa (then known as Mole) in the North Fore region. Soon, in 1953, missionaries and traders began to travel to the Fore region. Contact with these missionaries and traders influenced the Fore culture; soon enough the Fore people began to trade with outsiders, grow coffee, and began to use a money-based economical system. All of these sound like rather positive points, but, they eventually led to the downfall of the Fore culture as a whole. In addition, the new arrival of traders and missionaries may have led to the introduction of the Kuru disease in Fore territory. The Kuru disease began to spread in the Fore area around 1953 to 1959. The disease was characterized by a general sense of weakness, inability to stand, and uncontrollable laughter. The last person to die of the Kuru disease in the Fore region passed away in 2005.





By: Atul Rahman

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