Indigenous Peoples' Rights

Indigenous peoples are the original or ancestral inhabitants of a geographic area. While their lands have often been colonized or conquered by other groups, Indigenous peoples maintain a distinct culture, separate from the larger post-colonial society. Sometimes referred to as First Nations, Aboriginal peoples, or autochthonous peoples, communities of Indigenous people exist in nearly every country, comprising over 6 percent of the world's population. Indigenous people have often been subjected to discrimination, violence, assimilation policies, and the gradual erosion of their cultures and traditions.

Beginning in the fifteenth century, several European countries led overseas expeditions in search of trade, natural resources, and opportunities for territory expansion and religious conversion. Historians sometimes refer to this period, which lasted into the seventeenth...