Group of cannibal Indians dismembering and cooking captive. Human 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. Cannibalism was practiced by humans in Prehistoric Europe, Mesoamerica, South America, among Iroquoian peoples in North America, Maori in New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, parts of West Africa and Central Africa, some of the islands of Polynesia, New Guinea, Sumatra, and Fiji once known as the Cannibal Isles. Engraving by Theodore de Bry, 1591. (cropped and cleaned)