Short answers, pulled from the story.
The word indigenous springs from the Latin term meaning sprung from the land or native. Sir Thomas Browne used this label in 1646 to distinguish Indigenous peoples of the Americas from enslaved Africans transported from Africa since Columbus discovered the New World.
European powers began colonizing lands populated by Indigenous peoples from the 15th century onward using rationales like spreading Christianity and bringing civilization to barbarian peoples. The Spanish enslaved some Arawak peoples of Caribbean islands starting in 1492 while forcing others to work on farms and gold mines through a system called encomienda.
The United Nations estimated in 2009 that over 370 million Indigenous people lived in more than 90 countries belonging to at least 5,000 distinct peoples. Mexico had about 11 million self-reported Indigenous people representing 9 percent of its total population in 2015 making it the country with the highest Indigenous population in North America.
The United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 affirming collective rights including self-determination and protection of cultures identities languages ceremonies and access to natural resources. At least 148 states endorsed the declaration but provisions have not been consistently implemented globally.
Indigenous land management practices were largely successful in promoting habitat heterogeneity increasing biodiversity and maintaining vegetation types while sustaining human lives for thousands of years. Recent studies indicate that deforestation rate of Indonesian rainforests has been far greater than estimated suggesting ordinary local people dependent on forests are joining distant corporations creating uninhabitable landscapes.