Indigenous peoples
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. No single definition exists within international law or United Nations agencies today. The Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues states that a universal definition is unnecessary because it would inevitably be either over-inclusive or under-inclusive for different societies. José Martínez Cobo developed a working definition between 1986 and 1987 describing communities with historical continuity to pre-invasion societies. This framework emphasizes self-identification as a fundamental criterion alongside cultural distinctiveness and connection to ancestral territories. James Anaya defined them in 2004 as living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants now dominated by others. Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang proposed a 2012 criterion based on creation stories rather than colonization narratives about how people came to be in a place.
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. Smallpox devastated the indigenous population of Mesoamerica during the 1520s when Spanish entered their lands searching for gold and other resources. The Inca Empire fell at Cajamarca in 1532 after being weakened by smallpox epidemics and civil war before emperor Atahualpa was captured and executed. By 1700 introduced diseases had reduced the native population of the Americas by 90 percent according to estimates. European migration and transfer of slaves from Africa further reduced the native population to a minority status globally. The Guanche of Canary Islands resisted Spanish attempts at colonization from 1402 until the islands finally came under Spanish control in 1496. Mohamed Adhikari has called this conquest of the islands a genocide. Portugal established fortified trading posts along West Africa south of Akan goldfields in the 1470s engaging in extensive trade of goods for gold and later slaves.
Estimates of Indigenous populations range from 250 million to 600 million people spread across every inhabited climate zone and continent worldwide. 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. Mirjan Hirch calculated the population at 750 million to one billion comprising six to seven thousand distinct peoples in 2007. The International Labor Organization counted 476 million Indigenous people in 58 countries using census data in 2019. 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. Bolivia accounts for an estimated 56 to 70 percent of its total nation as Indigenous while Guatemala and Andean nations like Peru have at least half their population identified as Indigenous. Brazil contains approximately 700,000 Indigenous people making up 0.4 percent of all Brazilian population though most live in Indian reservations in the North and Center-Western part of the country. New Zealand had 17 percent full or part Māori population on the 30th of June 2021 based on various factors including census data and self-identification.
The 1989 International Labour Organization Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples protects Indigenous peoples from discrimination specifying rights to development customary laws lands territories resources employment education and health. By 2013 this convention had been ratified by 22 countries mainly located in Latin 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. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues affirmed in May 2016 that Indigenous peoples are distinctive groups protected in international legislation having specific rights based on linguistic and historical ties to particular territories prior to later settlement. The World Bank recognizes tenure-secure Indigenous lands generate billions sometimes trillions of dollars worth of benefits through carbon sequestration reduced pollution clean water and other ecosystem services. However many communities find themselves on front lines of deforestation crisis with lives and livelihoods threatened despite these legal protections.
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. The Molong concept represents purely stewardship notion of resource management where communities take ownership of specific trees maintaining harvesting from them sustainably over long periods. Some environmentalist writings romanticize this practice turning landscape features into spiritual narratives about forest spirits sacred to Penan people rather than practical resource management. A typical stereotype presents Indigenous knowledge as valuable only because of hidden medicinal benefits when reality shows eastern Penan populations do not identify a medicinal stream of knowledge. The Gwich'in Indigenous people rely on caribou herds in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge where oil drilling could destroy thousands of years of culture. The Munduruku people in Amazon rainforest oppose building Tapajós dam with help from Greenpeace protecting ecosystems providing water and food sources.
Statistical data on health status of Indigenous peoples is scarce especially for those in Africa Asia and eastern Europe according to World Health Organization notes from 2003. Native Americans in United States are 600 times more likely to acquire tuberculosis and 62 percent more likely to commit suicide than non-Indian population. Suicide rates among Inuit youth in Canada reach eleven times higher than national average while infant mortality rates remain higher for Indigenous peoples everywhere globally. Higher incidence of diabetes appears in some regions of Australia alongside greater prevalence of poor sanitation and lack of safe water among Twa households in Rwanda. Tuberculosis obesity type 2 diabetes HIV/AIDS cancer malaria cardiovascular disease malnutrition parasitic infections and respiratory diseases affect indigenous peoples at much higher rates across both developed and developing countries. Many causes of Indigenous children's mortality could be prevented through addressing longstanding societal issues like extreme poverty racism intentional marginalization and dispossession by dominant populations.
Indigenous peoples have frequently been subjected to various forms of racism labeling them barbaric primitive savage or uncivilized during European colonial expansion heyday. Thomas Hobbes considered Indigenous people mere savages while literary figures popularized noble savage concepts believing duty existed to civilize and modernize the Indigenous. Survival International runs campaign stamping out media portrayals of Indigenous peoples as primitives or savages since mid-20th century when attitudes began shifting toward recognizing right to decide what happens to ancient cultures and ancestral lands. New Age and Neopagan adherents often look to Indigenous cultures seeking ancient traditional truths and spiritual practices to appropriate into lifestyles and worldviews. The Bangladeshi government stated there are no indigenous peoples in Bangladesh angering Indigenous peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts collectively known as Jumma. Indonesian government outright denied existence of Indigenous peoples within country borders despite brutal treatment of Papuan people with conservative estimate placing violent deaths at 100,000 since occupation in 1963. Vietnamese viewed Montagnards from Central Highlands as savages causing uprising against Vietnamese who seized new lands including Champa Mekong Delta and Central Highlands during Nam Tien conquests.
Common questions
What is the origin of the word indigenous and who first used it to distinguish Indigenous peoples of the Americas from enslaved Africans?
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.
When did European powers begin colonizing lands populated by Indigenous peoples and what were some early consequences of colonization?
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.
How many Indigenous people live worldwide according to United Nations estimates and which country has the highest Indigenous population in North America?
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.
What international legal frameworks protect Indigenous peoples and when was the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted?
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.
Why do Indigenous land management practices promote habitat heterogeneity and what recent threats exist to these practices?
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.