• What are indigenous peoples?
• Characteristics of indigenous peoples
• International day of indigenous peoples
• Examples of indigenous peoples in the world
• Indigenous peoples of Mexico

We explain what indigenous peoples are and what their general characteristics are. Also, examples in Mexico and the world.

Many indigenous peoples around the world have suffered from colonization.

What are indigenous peoples?

In our continent, is called indigenous peoples, native peoples, Native Americans or Aboriginal Americans, which were formerly called Indians or Amerindians, that is, the peoples descended from the original settlers of America. Their cultures they are preserved more or less intact, despite centuries of European colonization.

However, there is no single criterion to define who are or are not Native Americans. For example, some classifications include Eskimos and Na-Dené language peoples and some do not.

Broadly speaking, American Indian peoples are the heirs and practitioners of different cultures, languages, and religions that existed in the American continent before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to its coasts and the beginning of the violent colonization of their lands that continued, both in the north and in the center and south.

The vast majority of them, therefore, disappeared or was lost throughout the weather, merging in the best of cases with the dominant culture coming from Europe. Some others, despite everything, survive.

However, the term “indigenous peoples” can also be used for other geographic regions where a local culture has survived colonization and domination by foreign forces. Despite coming from a context totally different, they share with our indigenous peoples many of their problems and their struggle to claim their rights.

Despite surviving in disadvantageous situations with respect to the dominant culture, the different indigenous peoples of the world are possessors of an irreplaceable cultural heritage, originating from the different cradles of human civilization that existed.

Therefore, in its protection and defense, the United Nations promulgated the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) on September 13, 2007, to take the necessary steps towards a legislation special that allows indigenous peoples to insert themselves in the best possible way in the modern world.

Characteristics of indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples represent 5% of the world's population.

Indigenous peoples, in general, are characterized by:

• Belong to a tradition cultural survivor of the worldwide expansion of Western European cultures (or other great cultures). Therefore, they tend to belong to a different social tradition and alien to the modern state.
• They usually constitute a minority sector within their nations, although in many they can reach considerable numbers, when not majority, but this does not necessarily guarantee them control of the Condition, nor its integration into modern society.
• Their narrative, religious, linguistic, economic, political and social traditions are often marginal within the organization of their countries, and are often rejected, discriminated against or violated.
• Its members have the same ethnic origin, whether they remain faithful to the aboriginal cultural tradition or have more or less integrated into the modern state.
• It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 different indigenous groups, distributed in 90 different countries. Its 350 million persons (5% of the population around the world) have a total of about 7,000 different languages, yet they are among the 15% of the poorest populations in the world. planet.

International day of indigenous peoples

The International Day of Indigenous Peoples, created by the United Nations, is celebrated on August 9 of each year.

In this way, the aim is to make visible the effort necessary to recognize and defend the rights of the different indigenous peoples of the world. It also commemorates the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which took place in Geneva in 1982.

Examples of indigenous peoples in the world

The Nenets were dominated by the Russian Empire, but they managed to stay isolated.

Some examples of indigenous peoples throughout the planet are:

• The Maori. Ethnic group of Polynesian origin that populated New Zealand when European settlers reached its shores. Its unique and original culture was due to the isolated conditions in which its civilization developed since its arrival in New Zealand between the years 800 and 1300.
• The gaoshan. Aboriginal peoples of the mountainous regions of Taiwan, descendants of some Chinese tribe that migrated during the Stone age and undertook a separate destiny. They are made up of 14 different towns.
• The ainos. An indigenous ethnic group from the northern part of Japan and the Kuril Islands, as well as the Sakhalin Island of Russia. They are also known as Ezo or Yezo or Utari, the latter being the name they currently prefer. Currently about 15,000 Japanese have a father or mother from this ethnic group.
• The nenets. Also called Nenezos, Yuracus, Samoyeds, Saamod or Saamid, they are indigenous inhabitants of Siberia, in Russia, whose population in 2002 reached 41,302 people. They were dominated by the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 16th century, but they always tried to maintain an isolation from the rest of the world, something that has recently become more complex due to the telecommunications.
• The Yanomami. The Yanomami nation inhabits the Amazon region of southern Venezuela, as well as the Brazilian states of Roraima and Amazonas, and is made up of three different peoples: Sanumá, Yanomam and Yanam, who speak different languages, but manage to understand each other. Some of them live scattered around the rain forest, although many communities prefer to settle near the Orinoco River, the Mavaca River or the Sierra Parima.

Indigenous peoples of Mexico

The Nahuas are descendants of the ancient Aztecs.

The Mexican nation has an important aboriginal cultural heritage, represented by the different indigenous peoples that still live in their territory. They are found mainly in the regions of the Sierra Madre del Sur, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the arid zones of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental.

These are not very numerous towns, due to the process of miscegenation and hybridization suffered since colonial times, but even so, a good part of the mestizo population keeps their indigenous roots more or less alive.

The main indigenous peoples of Mexico are:

• The Zapotec. Located in the southern state of Oaxaca and its neighbors, its inhabitants number 800,000, mostly bilingual (Spanish and Zapotec).
• The mayan. With that name the descendants of the Mayan peoples who inhabited the region call themselves mesoamerican, and which are now mostly concentrated in the Yucatan Peninsula, and in neighboring regions of Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
• The Purépecha. Located mainly in the state of Michoacán, forming the so-called “Purépecha region”. There they dedicate themselves to farming, pottery, fishing and crafts.
• The Yaqui. An indigenous town of the state of Sonora, its name comes from its initial settlement region, along the Yaqui River. Its current population reaches 32,000 individuals, greatly reduced by the wars independentists who have liberated for years, and there is an enclave in Arizona, United States, of 8,000 inhabitants.
• The Kikapú. Inhabitants of both the United States and Mexico are located in the latter country in the states of Coahuila, Sonora and Durango. They are a people jealous of their beliefs and traditions, chaired by a Leader political and religious, who directs the ceremonies and acts as judge and authority. They are essentially a hunting people.
• The Otomi. Located in central Mexico, its population in 2015 totaled about 667,038 people, mostly concentrated in the states of Hidalgo, Mexico and Querétaro, although with a presence in the northern states. More than one hundred Ottoman languages ​​survive today.
• The mixtecos. The Mixtec people are the fourth indigenous minority in Mexico, whose historical region is La Mixteca, a mountainous group between the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla, where they have been present for thousands of years, from approximately 5,000 BC. Its population in Mexico reaches 726,601 inhabitants.
• The Nahuas. The Nahuas are the Mexica people, that is, the descendants of the ancients aztecs who fought the Spanish conquerors. Its former area of ​​influence covered the territories of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, where part of its culture and language currently survives, being the main Mexican aboriginal people in number of individuals: 2,690,089 according to the 2005 census.