Over 300 years ago the first European colonists set foot in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean where they founded permanent outposts of the great empires. This migration continued until after World War II when these tropical outposts became independent nations, and the white colonials were forced, or chose, to return home. Some of their descendants, however, had become social outcasts in the colonial society. Ignored and unable to afford the long journey home, they stayed and live now in remote valleys and hills, "lost white tribes" living with the proud myth of their colonial ancestors. Forced to marry within the tribe to retain their fair-skinned 'purity', they are torn between the memory of past privileges and the present need to integrate into the surrounding society. The tribes investigated are the Blancs Matignon of Guadeloupe; the Burghers of Sri Lanka; the Poles of Haiti; the Basters of Namibia; the Germans of Seaford Town, Jamaica and the Confederados of Brazil. Many are on the verge of extinction.

Riccardo Orizio is a distinguished foreign correspondent for Il Corriere della Sera.