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There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples,[lower-alpha 1][1][2][3] although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territory, and an experience of subjugation and discrimination under a dominant cultural model.[4]
Estimates of the population of Indigenous peoples range from 250 million to 600 million.[5] There are some 5,000 distinct Indigenous peoples spread across every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world except Antarctica.[6][7] Most Indigenous peoples are in a minority in the state or traditional territory they inhabit and have experienced domination by other groups, especially non-Indigenous peoples.[8][9] Although many Indigenous peoples have experienced colonization by settlers from European nations,[10] Indigenous identity is not determined by Western colonization.[4]
The rights of Indigenous peoples are outlined in national legislation, treaties and international law. The 1989 International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples protects Indigenous peoples from discrimination and specifies their rights to development, customary laws, lands, territories and resources, employment, education and health.[11] In 2007, the United Nations (UN) adopted a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples including their rights to self-determination and to protect their cultures, identities, languages, ceremonies, and access to employment, health, education and natural resources.[12]
Indigenous peoples continue to face threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being, languages, cultural heritage, and access to the resources on which their cultures depend.[13] In the 21st century, Indigenous groups and advocates for Indigenous peoples have highlighted numerous apparent violations of the rights of Indigenous peoples.Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations are those which have a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, and may consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories, or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.[14]
This historical continuity may consist of the continuation, for an extended period reaching into the present of one or more of the following factors:
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Over 40 distinct peoples, each with their own language and culture in the Asiatic part of Russia (Siberia/North Asia).
Some sources describe the Sámi as the only recognized indigenous peoples in Europe,[104][105][106] with others describing them as the only indigenous people in the European Union.[107][108][109][110] Other groups, particularly in Central, Western and Southern Europe, that might be considered to fit the description of indigenous peoples in the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, such as the Sorbs, are generally categorized as national minorities instead.[111]
The Americas consist of the supercontinent comprising North and South America, and associated islands.
List of peoples by geographical and ethnolinguistic grouping:
North America includes all of the continent and islands east of the Bering Strait and north of the Isthmus of Panama; it includes Greenland, Canada, United States, Mexico, Central American and Caribbean countries. However a distinction can be made between a broader North America and a narrower Northern America and Middle America due to ethnic and cultural characteristics.
Central America is generally defined as a subregion in North America located between the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Darién Gap.
South America generally includes all of the continent and islands south of the Isthmus of Panama.
The West Indies, or the Caribbean, generally includes the island chains of the Caribbean Sea, namely the Lucayan Archipelago, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles.
Oceania includes most islands of the Pacific Ocean, New Guinea, New Zealand and the continent of Australia.
List of peoples by geographical and ethnolinguistic grouping:
Indigenous Australians include Aboriginal Australians on the mainland and Tiwi Islands as well as Torres Strait Islander peoples from the Torres Strait Islands.
Melanesia generally includes New Guinea and other (far-)western Pacific islands from the Arafura Sea out to Fiji. The region is mostly inhabited by the Melanesian peoples.
Micronesia generally includes the various small island chains of the western and central Pacific. The region is mostly inhabited by the Micronesian peoples.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2021) |
Polynesia includes New Zealand and the islands of Oceania, and has various Indigenous populations.[118]
Circumpolar peoples is an umbrella term for the various Indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
List of peoples by ethnolinguistic grouping:
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