Claim: Cannibalism persisted in some separated South Pacific civilizations.

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh or internal organs of other human beings . A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal . The expression cannibalism has been extended into zoology to mean one individual of a species consuming all or part of another individual of the same species as food , including sexual cannibalism .   The Island Carib people of the Lesser Antilles , from whom the word cannibalism derives , acquired a long-standing reputation as cannibals following the recording of their legends in the 17th century . Some controversy exists over the accuracy of these legends and the prevalence of actual cannibalism in the culture . Cannibalism was widespread in the past among humans in many parts of the world , continuing into the 19th century in some isolated South Pacific cultures , and to the present day in parts of tropical Africa . Cannibalism was practiced in New Guinea and in parts of the Solomon Islands , and flesh markets existed in some parts of Melanesia . Fiji was once known as the `` Cannibal Isles '' . Cannibalism has been well documented around the world , from Fiji to the Amazon Basin to the Congo to Māori New Zealand . Neanderthals are believed to have practiced cannibalism , and Neanderthals may have been eaten by anatomically modern humans .   Cannibalism has recently been both practiced and fiercely condemned in several wars , especially in Liberia and Congo . It is still practiced in Papua New Guinea as of 2012 for cultic reasons and in ritual and in war in various Melanesian tribes . Cannibalism has been said to test the bounds of cultural relativism as it challenges anthropologists `` to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable human behavior . ''   Cannibalism has been occasionally practiced as a last resort by people suffering from famine , including in modern times . Famous examples include the ill-fated Westward expedition of the Donner Party -LRB- 1846-7 -RRB- and , more recently , the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 -LRB- 1972 -RRB- , after which some survivors ate the bodies of dead passengers . Also , some mentally ill people obsess about eating others and actually do so , such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Albert Fish . There is resistance to formally labeling cannibalism as a mental disorder .