Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples, also referred to as first peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal peoples, Native peoples, or Autochthonous peoples (these terms are capitalized when referring to specific Indigenous peoples as ethnic groups, nations, and the members of these groups), are culturally distinct ethnic groups who are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region, and who to some extent maintain the language and culture of those original peoples. The term Indigenous was first, in its modern context, used by Europeans, who used it to differentiate the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the European settlers, and the African Americans who were brought to the Americas due to enslavement, or who immigrated as free people. The term may have first been used in this context by Sir Thomas Browne in 1646, who stated "and although in many parts thereof there be at present swarms of Negroes serving under the Spaniard, yet were they all transported from Africa, since the discovery of Columbus; and are not indigenous or proper natives of America.

Peoples are usually described as "Indigenous" when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with the first inhabitants of a given region. Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language. Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given region (sedentary), exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, or resettled, but they are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica. It is estimated that there are approximately five thousand Indigenous nations throughout the world.

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