Buryat

The Selengyin Buryats, (c. 1900)
Total population
~500,000
Regions with significant populations
Russia 440,000  Mongolia 45,087 [1]  Uzbekistan 900  Kazakhstan 600  Ukraine 400  United States 100
Languages
Buryat, Russian
Religion
Tibetan Buddhism ("Lamaism"), Shamanism.
Related ethnic groups
Barga, Mongols, Alaskan Natives, Quileute people, Tuvans, Khakas people, Siberian Yupik people, Altay people, Aleut.

The Buryats or Buriyads (Buryat: Буряад, Buryaad), numbering approximately 500,000, are the largest indigenous (aboriginal) group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols .^[2]

Buryats share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. Today, the majority of Buryats live in and around Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic, although many live more traditionally in the countryside. They speak in a dialect of Mongol language called Buryat.^[3]

History[link]

The Buryat people are descended from various SIberian and Mongolic peoples that inhabited the Lake Baikal Region. Then in the 13th century the Mongolians came up and enslaved the various Buryat tribes around Lake Baikal. The name "Buriyad" is mentioned as one of the forest people for the first time in The Secret History of the Mongols (possibly 1240).^[4] It says Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, marched north to subjugate the Buryats in 1207.^[5] The Buryats lived along the Angara River and its tributaries at this time. Meanwhile, their component, Barga, appeared both west of Baikal and in northern Buryatia's Barguzin valley. Linked also to the Bargas were the Khori-Tumed along the Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and the Angara.^[6] A Tumad rebellion broke out in 1217, when Genghis Khan allowed his viceroy to seize 30 Tumad maidens. Genghis Khan's commander Dorbei the Fierce of the Dörbeds smashed them in response. The Buryats joined the Oirats challenging the imperial rule of the Eastern Mongols during the Northern Yuan period in the late 14th century.^[7]

Historically, the territories around lake Baikal belonged to Khalkha and the local people, Buryats were subject to Khalkha Tusheet Khan and Setsen Khan. When the Russians expanded into Transbaikalia (eastern Siberia) in 1609, the Cossacks found only a small core of tribal groups speaking a Mongol dialect called Buryat and paying tribute to the Khalkhas.^[8] However, they were powerful enough to compel the Ket and Samoyed peoples on the Kan and the Evenks on the lower Angara to pay tribute. The ancestors of most modern Buryats were speaking a variety of Turkic-Tungusic dialects at that time.^[9] In addition to genuine Buryat-Mongol tribes (Bul(a)gad, Khori, Ekhired, Khongoodor) that merged with the Buryats, the Buryats also assimilated other groups, including some Oirats, the Khalkha, Tungus (Evenks) and others. The Khori-Barga had migrated out of the Barguzin eastward to the lands between the Greater Khingan and the Argun. Around 1594 most of them fled back to the Aga and Nerchinsk in order to escape subjection by the Daurs. The territory and people were formally annexed to the Russian state by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the territories on both the sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia. Consolidation of modern Buryat tribes and groups took place under the conditions of the Russian state. From the middle of the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the Buryat population increased from 27,700 to 300,000.^[10]

Traditional Buryat dress

Another estimate of the rapid growth in people referring to themselves as Buryat is based on the clan list names paying tribute in the form of a sable-skin tax. This indicates a population of about 25,000 in 1640 rising to 157,000 in 1823 and more than a million by 1950.^[11]

The historical roots of the Buryat culture are related to the Mongolic peoples. After Buryatia was incorporated into Russia, it was exposed to two traditions – Buddhist and Christian. Buryats west of Lake Baikal and Olkhon (Irkut Buryats), are more "russified", and they soon abandoned nomadism for agriculture, whereas the eastern (Transbaikal) Buryats are closer to the Khalkha, may live in yurts and are mostly Buddhists. In 1741, the Tibetan branch of Buddhism was recognized as one of the official religions in Russia, and the first Buryat datsan (Buddhist monastery) was built.

The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was a time of growth for the Buryat Buddhist church (48 datsans in Buryatia in 1914). Buddhism became an important factor in the cultural development of Buryatia. Because of their skills in horsemanship and mounted combat, many were enlisted into the Amur Cossacks host. During the Russian Civil War most of the Buryats sided with the White forces of Baron Ungern-Sternberg and Ataman Semenov. They formed a sizable portion of Ungern's forces and often received favorable treatment when compared with other ethnic groups in the Baron's army. After the Revolution, most of the lamas were loyal to the Soviet power. In 1925, a battle against religion and church in Buryatia began. Datsans were gradually closed down and the activity of the church was curtailed. Consequently, in the late 1930s the Buddhist church ceased to exist and thousands of cultural treasures were destroyed. Attempts to revive the Buddhist Church started during World War II, and it was officially re-established in 1946. A genuine revival of Buddhism has taken place since the late 1980s as an important factor in the national consolidation and spiritual rebirth.

In 1923, the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed and included Baikal province (Pribaykalskaya guberniya) with Russian population. The Buryats rebelled against the communist rule and collectivization of their herds in 1929. The rebellion was quickly crushed by the Red Army with loss of 35,000 Buryats.^[12] The Buryat refugees fled to Mongolia and resettled, however, only a few of them joined the Shambala rebellion there. In 1937, in an effort to disperse Buryats, Stalin's government separated a number of counties (raions) from the Buryat-Mongol ASSR and formed Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug and Aga Buryat Autonomous Okrug; at the same time, some raions with Buryat populations were left out. Fearing Buryat nationalism, Joseph Stalin had more than 10,000 Buryats killed.^[13] Moreover, Stalinist purge of Buryats spread into Mongolia, known as the incident of Lhumbee. In 1958, the name "Mongol" was removed from the name of the republic (Buryat ASSR). BASSR declared its sovereignty in 1990 and adopted the name Republic of Buryatia in 1992. The constitution of the Republic was adopted by the People's Khural in 1994, and a bilateral treaty with the Russian Federation was signed in 1995.

Buryats[link]

Traditional wooden hut of Buryatia

• Valéry Inkijinoff – French actor
• Balzhinima Tsyrempilov – Russian archer
• Yuriy Yekhanurov – Prime Minister of Ukraine
• Agvan Dorjiev – Buddhist monk, tutor of the 13th Dalai Lama.
• Also see (Russian) List of Buryats in Russian Wikipedia for more articles.

See also[link]

Russia portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Buryat people

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Buriats.

• Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug
• Agin-Buryat Okrug
• List of indigenous peoples of Russia
• Far Eastern Republic
• Buddhism in Russia

Footnotes[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Republic of Buryatia
• Ethnic groups — Buryats
• J.G. Gruelin, Siberia.
• Pierre Simon Pallas, Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten über die mongolischen Volkerschaften (St Petersburg, 1776–1802).
• M.A. Castrén, Versuch einer buriatischen Sprachlehre (1857).
• Sir H.H. Howorth, History of the Mongols (1876–1888).
• Movie A Pearl in the Forest (МОЙЛХОН) illustrates the heavy price paid by the Buryats in the 1930s during the Stalinian purges.
• Murphy, Dervla (2007) "Silverland: A Winter Journey Beyond the Urals", London, John Murray
• Natalia Zhukovskaia (Ed.) Buryaty. Moskva: Nauka, 2004 (a classic general description).
• Buryat Supermodel identifies herself as Siberian Eskimo
• Read this article about how 4 Native American Halo-groups and 4 Asian Halo-groups are found in Buryats

Buryat (or Buriat; Buryat Cyrillic: буряад хэлэн buryaad khelen) is a variety of Mongolic spoken by the Buryats that is classified either as a language or as a major dialect group of Mongolian. The majority of Buryat speakers live in Russia along the northern border of Mongolia where it is an official language in the Buryat Republic, Ust-Orda Buryatia and Aga Buryatia.^[1] In the Russian census of 2002, 353,113 people out of an ethnic population of 445,175 could speak Buryat (72.3%). Some other 15,694 can also speak Buryat, mostly ethnic Russians.^[2] There are at least 100,000 ethnic Buryats in Mongolia and the People's Republic of China as well.^[3] Buryats in Russia have a separate literary standard, written in a Cyrillic alphabet.^[4]

Dialects[link]

The delimitation of Buryat mostly concerns its relationship to its immediate neighbors, Mongolian proper and Khamnigan. While Khamnigan is sometimes regarded as a dialect of Buryat, this is not supported by isoglosses. The same holds for Tsongol and Sartul dialects, which rather group with Khalkha Mongolian to which they historically belong. Buryat dialects are:

• Khori group east of Lake Baikal comprising Khori, Aga, Tugnui, and North Selenga dialects. Khori is also spoken by most Buryats in Mongolia and a few speakers in Hulunbuir.
• Lower Uda (Nizhneudinsk) dialect, the dialect situated furthest to the west and which shows the strongest influence by Turkic
• Alar–Tunka group comprising Alar, Tunka–Oka, Zakamna, and Unga in the southwest of Lake Baikal in the case of Tunka also in Mongolia.
• Ekhirit–Bulagat group in the Ust’-Orda National District comprising Ekhirit–Bulagat, Bokhan, Ol’khon, Barguzin, and Baikal–Kudara
• Bargut group in Hulunbuir (which is historically known as Barga), comprising Old Bargut and New Bargut^[5]

Based on loan vocabulary, a division might be drawn between Russia Buriat, Mongolia Buriat and China Buriat.^[6] However, as the influence of Russian is much stronger in the dialects traditionally spoken west of Lake Baikal, a division might rather be drawn between the Khori and Bargut group on the one hand and the other three groups on the other hand.^[7]

Phonology[link]

Buryat has the vowel phonemes /i, ə, e, a, u, ʊ, o, ɔ/ (plus a few diphthongs),^[8] short /e/ being realized as [ɯ], and the consonant phonemes /b, g, d, th, m, n, x, l, r/ (each with a corresponding palatalized phoneme) and /s, ʃ, h, j/.^[9] These vowels are restricted in their occurrence according to vowel harmony.^[10] The basic syllable structure is (C)V(C) in careful articulation, but word-final CC clusters may occur in more rapid speech if short vowels of non-initial syllables get lost.^[11]

Stress[link]

Lexical stress (word accent) falls on the last heavy nonfinal syllable when one exists. Otherwise, it falls on the word-final heavy syllable when one exists. If there are no heavy syllables, then the initial syllable is stressed. Heavy syllables without primary stress receive secondary stress:^[12]

ˌHˈHL	[ˌøːɡˈʃøːxe]	"to act encouragingly"
LˌHˈHL	[naˌmaːˈtuːlxa]	"to cause to be covered with leaves"
ˌHLˌHˈHL	[ˌbuːzaˌnuːˈdiːje]	"steamed dumplings (accusative)"
ˌHˈHLLL	[ˌtaːˈruːlaɡdaxa]	"to be adapted to"
ˈHˌH	[ˈboːˌsoː]	"bet"
LˈHˌH	[daˈlaiˌɡaːr]	"by sea"
LˈHLˌH	[xuˈdaːliŋɡˌdaː]	"to the husband's parents"
LˌHˈHˌH	[daˌlaiˈɡaːˌraː]	"by one's own sea"
ˌHLˈHˌH	[ˌxyːxenˈɡeːˌreː]	"by one's own girl"
LˈH	[xaˈdaːr]	"through the mountain"
ˈLL	[ˈxada]	"mountain"[13]

Secondary stress may also occur on word-initial light syllables without primary stress, but further research is required. The stress pattern is the same as in Khalkha Mongolian.^[14]

Grammar[link]

Buryat is an SOV language, and makes extensive use of vowel harmony. Instead of using prepositions, Buryat uses postpositions. Buryat is equipped with eight grammatical cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, instrumental, ablative, indefinite, comitative and the dative-locative.^[15]

Numerals[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Gordon, Raymond G. Jr. (ed.) (2005): Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• Poppe, Nicholas (1960): Buriat grammar. Uralic and Altaic series (No. 2). Bloomington: Indiana University.
• Skribnik, Elena (2003): Buryat. In: Juha Janhunen (ed.): The Mongolic languages. London: Routledge: 102-128.
• Svantesson, Jan-Olof, Anna Tsendina, Anastasia Karlsson, Vivan Franzén (2005): The Phonology of Mongolian. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Walker, Rachel (1997): Mongolian stress, licensing, and factorial typology. (Online on the Rutgers Optimality Archive website: roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?id=184.)

Further reading[link]

• Санжеев Г. Д. (1962). "Грамматика бурятского языка. Фонетика и морфология [Sanzheev, G.D. Grammar of Buryat. Phonetics and morphology]" (in Russian) (PDF, 23 Mb). http://altaica.ru/LIBRARY/mong/BuriatGrammar.pdf. 

External links[link]

	Russia portal
	Languages portal
	Asia portal

• Russian-Buryat On-Line Dictionary
• Buryat textbook (Russian)

Russian Buryat edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2010)

Roswell Rudd
Background information
Birth name	Roswell Hopkins Rudd, Jr.
Born	(1935-11-17) 17 November 1935 (age 76) Sharon, Connecticut United States
Genres	Jazz, Dixieland, Free jazz, avant-garde jazz.
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, Professor
Instruments	Trombone,
Years active	1957–present
Labels	Columbia, Sunnyside, Universal, DIW, Verve
Associated acts	Eli's Chosen Six, New York Art Quartet, Archie Shepp, Thelonious Monk

Roswell Rudd (born Roswell Hopkins Rudd, Jr. in Sharon, Connecticut, on November 17, 1935) is a Grammy Award-nominated American jazz trombonist and composer.^[1]

Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including dixieland, which he performed while in college) and other genres of music, he is known primarily for his work in free and avant-garde jazz. Since 1962 Rudd has worked extensively with saxophonist Archie Shepp.^[2]

Biography[link]

Rudd graduated from Yale University where he had played with Eli's Chosen Six, a dixieland band of Yale students that Rudd joined in the mid-'50s. The sextet played the boisterous trad jazz style of the day and recorded two albums, including one for Columbia. His landmark collaborations with Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai and Steve Lacy grew out of the lessons learned while playing rags and stomps for drunken college kids in Connecticut.^[3]

Rudd later taught ethnomusicology at Bard College and the University of Maine.^[4] On and off for a period of three decades, Roswell Rudd assisted Alan Lomax with his world music song style (Cantometrics)^[5] and Global Jukebox projects^[6], and the wealth of information on the music of this planet that he absorbed inspired him to collaborate beyond the periphery of jazz or even of western music.

In the 1960s, Rudd participated in key free jazz recordings. Highlights include work with the New York Art Quartet; on the soundtrack recording for Michael Snow's 1964 film New York Eye and Ear Control; Michael Mantler & Carla Bley's 1968 Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Communications featuring Cecil Taylor; and collaborations with Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Larry Coryell and Gato Barbieri. A major factor in Rudd's career has been his lifelong friendships with saxophonists Archie Shepp and Steve Lacy -- and his numerous recordings and performances of the music of Thelonious Monk with Lacy.^[7]

Rudd has been a frequent visitor to the African nation of Mali, performing and recording with Malian musicians. His 2001 CD MALIcool, a cross-cultural collaboration with kora player Toumani Diabaté^[8] and other Malian musicians, represented the first time the trombone had been featured in a recording of Malian traditional music.^[9]

In 2004 he brought his Trombone Shout Band to perform at the 4th Festival au Désert in Essakane, Tombouctou Region, Mali.

In 2005 he extended his reach even further, recording a CD with the Mongolian Buryat Band, a traditional music group of musicians from Mongolia and Buryatia, entitled Blue Mongol.^[10]

More recently he has recorded with Latino musicians from New York City.

Rudd conducts master classes and workshops both in the United States and around the world.^[11]

He co-leads an ensemble with Archie Shepp, as well as touring with MALIcool, the Mongolian Buryat Band, as well as being a featured guest with a myriad of musicians, not always "jazz" musicians.

Awards and honors[link]

• In 2000 Rudd was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition.^[12]
• In 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010. he was voted Trombonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association^[13][14][15], ^[16][17].
• His 1999 album Monk's Dream was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance Male, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
• 2010 Down Beat Magazine Critic's Poll – #1 Trombonist (46 years after the same forum voted him most likely to succeed, in 1964)^[18]
• One of the 10 best of 2003 – Chris Porter, Washington City Paper
• THE CODA TOP TEN OF 2002 - Selected by Duck Baker

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• 1965: Roswell Rudd (America)
• 1966: Everywhere (also released as part of Mixed)
• 1973: Numatik Swing Band
• 1974: Flexible Flyer (Freedom Records)
• 1976: Blown Bone (Emanem Records)
• 1976: Inside Job with Enrico Rava, Dave Burrell, Stafford James, Harold White (Arista/ Freedom)
• 1978: The Definitive Roswell Rudd (Horo Records)
• 1982: Regeneration with Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg, Kent Carter, Han Bennink (Soul Note)
• 1996: The Unheard Herbie Nichols-VOL 1 & 2 with John Bacon, Jr and Greg Miller (CIMP)
• 1999: New York Art Quartet: 35 Reunion (DIW)
• 1999: Monk's Dream Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd (Universal/Verve Records)
• 2000: Broad Strokes (Knitting Media)
• 2001: The Charlie Kohlhase Quintet plays the Music of Roswell Rudd: Eventuality (NADA)
• 2001: Roswell Rudd and Archie Shepp Live in New York (Universal)
• 2002: MALIcool (UNIVERSAL/Sunnyside)
• 2005: Blue Mongol (Sunnyside)
• 2006: El Espiritu Jibaro (Sunnyside)
• 2007: Keep Your Heart Right (Sunnyside)
• 2008: El Encuentro (Mojito Records)

As sideman[link]

• 2008 - Concertos – Michael Mantler (ECM Records)
• 2006 - "Dry Bones" - with Sonic Youth, The Harry Smith Project CD 1 (Shout! Factory)
• 2003 - Sex Mob - Dime Grind Palace (Ropeadope Records)
• 2002 - Seize the Time – Nexus Orchestra (Splasch Records)
• 1997 - Newsense with Elton Dean (Slam Records)
• 1996 - Bladik Keith Tippett et al. (Cuneiform)
• 1996 - Terrible NRBQ & Terry Adams (New World)
• 1996 - Rumors of an Incident with Elton Dean (Slam Records)
• 1995 - Wozzek's Death with Allen Lowe (Enja)
• 1995 - Wild Weekend NRBQ & Terry Adams Virgin
• 1994 - Dark Was the Night with Allen Lowe
• 1992 - Darn it with Paul Haines AMERICAN CLAVE
• 1984 - That's the Way I Feel Now Produced by Hal Wilner - Monk Compositions
• 1981 - Interpretations of Monk Barry Harris, Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Charlie Rouse, Mal Waldron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ed Blackwell, Ben Riley, Richard Davis, Anthony Davis
• 1979 - Divine Song - with Sangeeta Michael Berardi, Rashied Ali, Eddie Gomez, Archie Shepp
• 1979 - Sharing - Giorgio Gaslini Discgidella Quercia
• 1979 - Musique Mecanique with Carla Bley Watt
• 1978 - Enrico Rava Quartet Enrico Rava, J.F. Jenny-Clarke & Aldo Romano ECM
• 1977 - European Tour 1977 with Carla Bley Watt
• 1976 - Dinner Music with Carla Bley Watt
• 1976 - Maine BVHAAST
• 1975 - Trickles Steve Lacy, Beaver Harris, Kent Carter Soul Note
• 1974 - Village on the Left Marcello Melis & Don Moye Soul Note
• 1972 - The Third World with Gato Barbieri IMPULSE
• 1972 - Roswell Rudd ( New York Art Quartet) AMERICA
• 1971 - Escalator over the Hill by Carla Bley JCOA
• 1971 - Liberation Music Orchestra Charlie Haden Impulse
• 1968 - Communications with Michael Mantler and JCOA WATT
• 1967 - Live At Donaueschingen SABA
• 1966 - Mama Too Tight with Archie Shepp Impulse
• 1966 - Until with Robin Kenyatta (Atlantic)
• 1966 - New York Eye and Ear Control Don Cherry, Albert Ayler, John Tchicai and Gary Peacock (ESP)
• 1966 - Archie Shepp Live in San Francisco with Archie Shepp (Impulse)
• 1964 - New York Art Quartet John Tchicai, Milford Graves (ESP)
• 1964 - Four for Trane with Archie Shepp (Impulse)
• 1963 - School Days Steve Lacy, Dennis Charles, Henry Grimes (HAT HUT)
• 1962 - Into the Hot Gil Evans / Cecil Taylor (Impulse)
• 1961 - New York City R&B Buell Neidlinger, Cecil Taylor (Mosaic)
• 1957 - Eli's Chosen 6 Yale University Dixieland Band (Columbia)

References[link]

External links[link]

• NY Times feature on Roswell Rudd and Verna Gillis
• Interview with Roswell Rudd, 2002
• Discography
• "In Conversation with Roswell Rudd" by Tomas Peña (Jazz.com)

Raoni Metuktire, Kaye, Kadjor and Panara, leaders of the Indigenous Kayapo tribe, Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Sven-Roald Nystø, Aili Keskitalo and Ole Henrik Magga, the three first presidents of the Norwegian Sami Parliament.

The New Zealand delegation endorses the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in April 2010.

Baka dancers in the East Province of Cameroon

Inuit people on a traditional qamutik (dog sled), Cape Dorset, Canada

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as "indigenous" according to one of the various definitions of the term, though there is no universally accepted definition.^[1]

In the late twentieth century, the term began to be used primarily to refer to ethnic groups that have historical ties to groups that existed in a territory prior to colonization or formation of a nation state, and which normally preserve a degree of cultural and political separation from the mainstream culture and political system of the nation state within the border of which the indigenous group is located.^[2] The political sense of the term defines these groups as particularly vulnerable to exploitation and oppression by nation states. As a result, a special set of political rights in accordance with international law have been set forth by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank.^[3] The United Nations have issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to protect the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and natural resources. Depending on which precise definition of "indigenous people" used, and on the census, estimates of a world total population of Indigenous people range from 220 million Indigenous peoples in 1997^[4] to 350 million in 2004.^[2]

Definitions[link]

Ati woman, the Philippines, 2007.^[5] The Negritos were the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia.^[6]

The adjective indigenous has the common meaning of "from" or "of the original origin". Therefore, according to its meaning in common usage in English, any given people, ethnic group or community may be described as being indigenous in reference to some particular region or location. However during the late twentieth century the term Indigenous peoples evolved into a legal category that refers to culturally distinct groups that had been affected by the processes of colonization. These are usually collectives that have preserved some degree of cultural and political separation from the mainstream culture and political system that has grown to surround or dominate them economically, politically, culturally, or geographically.

The status of the indigenous group in this relationship can be characterized in most instances as an effectively marginalized, isolated or minoritised one, in comparison to other groups or the nation-state as a whole. Their ability to influence and participate in the external policies that may exercise jurisdiction over their traditional lands and practices is very frequently limited. This situation can persist even in the case where the indigenous population outnumbers that of the other inhabitants of the region or state; the defining notion here is one of separation from decision and regulatory processes that have some, at least titular, influence over aspects of their community and lands.

The presence of external laws, claims and cultural mores either potentially or actually act to variously constrain the practices and observances of an indigenous society. These constraints can be observed even when the indigenous society is regulated largely by its own tradition and custom. They may be purposefully imposed, or arise as unintended consequence of trans-cultural interaction; and have a measurable effect even where countered by other external influences and actions deemed to be beneficial or which serve to promote indigenous rights and interests within the wider community.

A definition of "indigenous people" has criteria which includes cultural groups (and their continuity or association with a given region, or parts of a region, and who formerly or currently inhabit the region) either:

• before or its subsequent colonization or annexation, or
• alongside other cultural groups during the formation or reign of a colony or nation-state, or
• independently or largely isolated from the influence of the claimed governance by a nation-state,

and who:

• have maintained at least in part their distinct cultural, social/organizational, or linguistic characteristics, and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the surrounding populations and dominant culture of the nation-state, and
• are self-identified as indigenous, or those recognized as such by other groups.

Another defining characteristic for an indigenous group is that it has preserved traditional ways of living, such as present or historical reliance upon subsistence-based production (based on pastoral, horticultural and/or hunting and gathering techniques), and a predominantly non-urbanized society. Not all indigenous groups share these characteristics. Indigenous societies may be either settled in a given locale/region or exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, but are generally historically associated with a specific territory on which they are dependent. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate zone and continent of the world.^[3][7]

There are various formulations of these defining characteristics in existence. Most are commonly drawn from a few widely-acknowledged authorities, in particular the Martínez Cobo – WGIP statement. These several definitions are recognised and employed by international and rights-based non-governmental organizations, as well as among national/sub-national governments themselves. The degree to which indigenous peoples' rights and issues are accepted and recognised in practical instruments such as treaties and other binding and non-binding agreements varies, sometimes considerably.

Many organizations advocating for indigenous rights, and the indigenous communities themselves, seek to particularly and explicitly identify peoples in this position as indigenous. This identification may also be made or acknowledged by the surrounding communities and nation-state, although there are some instances where the identity claim is the subject of some dispute, particularly with regard to recognizing assertions made over territorial rights. Even if all the above criteria are fulfilled, some people may either not consider themselves as indigenous or may not be considered as indigenous by governments, organizations or scholars.

United Nations[link]

Veddha chief Uruwarige Wannila Aththo, leader of the indigenous people Sri Lanka.

Orang Asli near Cameron Highlands , Malaysia playing a nose flute.

In 1972 the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP) accepted as a preliminary definition a formulation put forward by Mr. José Martínez Cobo, Special Rapporteur on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations:

Indigenous populations are composed of the existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world, overcame them, by conquest, settlement or other means, reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial condition; who today live more in conformity with their particular social, economic and cultural customs and traditions than with the institutions of the country of which they now form part, under a state structure which incorporates mainly national, social and cultural characteristics of other segments of the population which are predominant.

This definition has some limitations which were subsequently noted by the organization. The definition applies mainly to pre-colonial populations, and would likely exclude other isolated or marginal societies. In 1983 the WGIP enlarged this definition (FICN. 41Sub.211983121 Adds. para. 3 79) to include the following criteria:

• (a) they are the descendants of groups, which were in the territory at the time when other groups of different cultures or ethnic origin arrived there;
• (b) precisely because of their isolation from other segments of the country's population they have almost preserved intact the customs and traditions of their ancestors which are similar to those characterised as indigenous;
• (c) they are, even if only formally, placed under a state structure which incorporates national, social and cultural characteristics alien to their own.

In 1986 it was further added that any individual who identified himself or herself as indigenous and was accepted by the group or the community as one of its members was to be regarded as an indigenous person (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1986/7/Add.4. para.381).

The draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples prepared by the DWIG does not provide a specific definition of indigenous peoples or populations. According to the Chairperson, Ms. Erica Irene Daes, Rapporteur of the Working Group, this was because "historically, indigenous peoples have suffered, from definitions imposed by others" (E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1995/3, page 3).

International Labour Organisation[link]

A definition as used by the International Labour Organisation (Convention No. 169, concerning the working rights of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, 1989) applies to:

both tribal peoples whose social, cultural and economic conditions distinguish them from other sections of the national community and whose status is regulated wholly or partially by their own customs or traditions or by special laws or regulations, and to peoples who are regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabit the country at the time of conquest or colonisation.

World Bank[link]

A description of Indigenous Peoples given by the World Bank (operational directive 4.20, 1991) reads as follows:

Indigenous Peoples can be identified in particular geographical areas by the presence in varying degrees of the following characteristics:

a) close attachment to ancestral territories and to the natural resources in these areas;

b) self-identification and identification by others as members of a distinct cultural group;

c) an indigenous language, often different from the national language;

d) presence of customary social and political institutions;

and e) primarily subsistence-oriented production.

The World Bank's policy for indigenous people states:

Because of the varied and changing contexts in which Indigenous Peoples live and because there is no universally accepted definition of “Indigenous Peoples,” this policy does not define the term. Indigenous Peoples may be referred to in different countries by such terms as "indigenous ethnic minorities," "aboriginals," "hill tribes," "minority nationalities," "scheduled tribes," or "tribal groups."^[8]

Philippine Definition[link]

Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines (Tagalog: Katutubong Tao sa Pilipinas; Cebuano: Lumad or Tumandok; Ilocano: Umili a Tattao iti Filipinas) refers to a group of people or homogenous societies, identified by self-ascription and ascription by others, who have continuously lived as an organized community on communally bounded and defined territory, and who have, under claims of ownership since time immemorial, occupied, possessed and used such territories, sharing common bonds of language, customs, traditions and other distinctive cultural traits, or who have, through inroads of colonization, non-indigenous religions, and cultures, become historically differentiated from the majority of the Filipinos.^[9]

The indigenous peoples also include peoples who are regarded as indigenous based on their descent from the populations which inhabited the country at the time of inroads of non-indigenous religions and cultures or the establishment of present state boundaries, who retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains.

Individual states[link]

Different states designate the groups within their boundaries that are recognized as indigenous peoples according to international legislation by different terms. These include, for example "Native Americans" and "Pacific Islander" in the United States; "Aboriginals (Inuit", "Métis" and "First Nations)" in Canada;^[10] Aborigines in Australia; Hill tribes in Southeast Asia; indigenous ethnic minorities, scheduled tribes or Adivasi in India; tribal groups, or autochthonous groups.^[8]

Population and distribution[link]

Indigenous societies range from those who have been significantly exposed to the colonizing or expansionary activities of other societies (such as the Maya peoples of Mexico and Central America) through to those who as yet remain in comparative isolation from any external influence (such as the Sentinelese and Jarawa of the Andaman Islands).

Precise estimates for the total population of the world's Indigenous peoples are very difficult to compile, given the difficulties in identification and the variances and inadequacies of available census data. Recent source estimates range from 300 million^[11] to 350 million^[12] as of the start of the 21st century. This would equate to just fewer than 6% of the total world population. This includes at least 5000 distinct peoples^[12] in over 72 countries.

Contemporary distinct indigenous groups survive in populations ranging from only a few dozen to hundreds of thousands and more. Many indigenous populations have undergone a dramatic decline and even extinction, and remain threatened in many parts of the world. Some have also been assimilated by other populations or have undergone many other changes. In other cases, indigenous populations are undergoing a recovery or expansion in numbers.

Certain indigenous societies survive even though they may no longer inhabit their "traditional" lands, owing to migration, relocation, forced resettlement or having been supplanted by other cultural groups. In many other respects, the transformation of culture of indigenous groups is ongoing, and includes permanent loss of language, loss of lands, encroachment on traditional territories, and disruption in traditional lifeways due to contamination and pollution of waters and lands.

Historical cultures[link]

An Adivasi woman from the Kutia Kondh tribal group in Orissa, India.

The migration, expansion and settlement of societies throughout different territories is a universal, almost defining thread which runs through the entire course of human history. Many of the cross-cultural interactions which arose as a result of these historical encounters involved societies which might properly be considered as indigenous, either from their own viewpoint or that of external societies.

Alonso Fernández de Lugo presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella.

Most often, these past encounters between indigenous and "non-indigenous" groups lack contemporary account or description. Any assessment or understanding of impact, result and relation can at best only be surmised, using archaeological, linguistic or other reconstructive means. Where accounts do exist, they frequently originate from the viewpoint of the colonizing, expansionary or nascent state or from rather scarce and fragmented ethnographic sources compiled by those more congenial with indigenous communities and/or representatives thereof.

Classical antiquity[link]

Greek sources of the Classical period acknowledge the prior existence of indigenous people(s), whom they referred to as "Pelasgians". These peoples inhabited lands surrounding the Aegean Sea before the subsequent migrations of the Hellenic ancestors claimed by these authors. The disposition and precise identity of this former group is elusive, and sources such as Homer, Hesiod and Herodotus give varying, partially mythological accounts. However, it is clear that cultures existed whose indigenous characteristics were distinguished by the subsequent Hellenic cultures (and distinct from non-Greek speaking "foreigners", termed "barbarians" by the historical Greeks). Greco-Roman society flourished between 250 BC and 480 AD and commanded successive waves of conquests that gripped more than half of the globe. But because already existent populations within other parts of Europe at the time of classical antiquity had more in common culturally speaking with the Greco-Roman world, the intricacies involved in expansion across the European frontier were not so contentious relative to indigenous issues. But when it came to expansion in other parts of the world, namely Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, then totally new cultural dynamics had entered into the equation, so to speak, and one sees here of what was to take the Americas, South East Asia, and the Pacific by storm a few hundred years later. The idea that peoples who possessed cultural customs and racial appearances strikingly different to that of the colonizing power is no new idea borne out of the Medieval period or the Enlightenment.

European expansion and colonialism[link]

The rapid and extensive spread of the various European powers from the early 15th century onwards had a profound impact upon many of the indigenous cultures with whom they came into contact. The exploratory and colonial ventures in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Pacific often resulted in territorial and cultural conflict, and the intentional or unintentional displacement and devastation of the indigenous populations.

The Canary Islands had an indigenous population called the Guanches whose origin is still the subject of discussion among historians and linguists.^[13]

Indigenous peoples by region[link]

Indigenous populations are distributed in regions throughout the globe. The numbers, condition and experience of indigenous groups may vary widely within a given region. A comprehensive survey is further complicated by sometimes contentious membership and identification.

Africa[link]

Tuareg nomads in southern Algeria.

A San man from Namibia.

In the post-colonial period, the concept of specific indigenous peoples within the African continent has gained wider acceptance, although not without controversy. The highly diverse and numerous ethnic groups which comprise most modern, independent African states contain within them various peoples whose situation, cultures and pastoralist or hunter-gatherer lifestyles are generally marginalized and set apart from the dominant political and economic structures of the nation. Since the late 20th century these peoples have increasingly sought recognition of their rights as distinct indigenous peoples, in both national and international contexts.

Batwa Pygmy with traditional bow and arrow.

Although the vast majority of African peoples can be considered to be indigenous in the sense that they have originated from that continent and middle and south east Asia, in practice identity as an "indigenous people" as per the term's modern application is more restrictive, and certainly not every African ethnic group claims identification under these terms. Groups and communities who do claim this recognition are those who by a variety of historical and environmental circumstances have been placed outside of the dominant state systems, and whose traditional practices and land claims often come into conflict with the objectives and policies promulgated by governments, companies and surrounding dominant societies. Given the extensive and complicated history of human migration within Africa, being the "first peoples in a land" is not a necessary precondition for acceptance as an indigenous people. Rather, indigenous identity relates more to a set of characteristics and practices than priority of arrival. For example, several populations of nomadic peoples such as the Tuareg of the Sahara and Sahel regions now inhabit areas in which they arrived comparatively recently; their claim to indigenous status (endorsed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights) is based on their marginalization as nomadic peoples in states and territories dominated by sedentary agricultural peoples. The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) is one of the main trans-national network organizations recognized as a representative of African indigenous peoples in dialogues with governments and bodies such as the UN. IPACC identifies several key characteristics associated with indigenous claims in Africa:

• political and economic marginalization rooted in colonialism;
• de facto discrimination based often on the dominance of agricultural peoples in the State system (e.g. lack of access to education and health care by hunters and herders);
• the particularities of culture, identity, economy and territoriality that link hunting and herding peoples to their home environments in deserts and forests (e.g. nomadism, diet, knowledge systems);
• some indigenous peoples, such as the San and Pygmy peoples are physically distinct, which makes them subject to specific forms of discrimination.

With respect to concerns expressed that identifying some groups and not others as indigenous is in itself discriminatory, IPACC states that it:

• "...recognises that all Africans should enjoy equal rights and respect. All of Africa's diversity is to be valued. Particular communities, due to historical and environmental circumstances, have found themselves outside the state-system and underrepresented in governance...This is not to deny other Africans their status; it is to emphasise that affirmative recognition is necessary for hunter-gatherers and herding peoples to ensure their survival."

At an African inter-governmental level, the examination of indigenous rights and concerns is pursued by a sub-commission established under the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), sponsored by the African Union (AU) (successor body to the Organization of African Unity (OAU)). In late 2003 the 53 signatory states of the ACHPR adopted the Report of the African Commission's Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities and its recommendations. This report says in part (p. 62):

• ...certain marginalized groups are discriminated in particular ways because of their particular culture, mode of production and marginalized position within the state[; a] form of discrimination that other groups within the state do not suffer from. The call of these marginalized groups to protection of their rights is a legitimate call to alleviate this particular form of discrimination.

The adoption of this report at least notionally subscribed the signatories to the concepts and aims of furthering the identity and rights of African Indigenous peoples. The extent to which individual states are mobilizing to put these recommendations into practice varies enormously, however, and most Indigenous groups continue to agitate for improvements in the areas of land rights, use of natural resources, protection of environment and culture, political recognition and freedom from discrimination.

Peruvian Quechua people reading.

Americas[link]

A Nahua man, ploughing his cornfield in Morelos, Mexico.

Indigenous peoples of the American continents are broadly recognized as being those groups and their descendants who inhabited the region before the arrival of European colonizers and settlers (i.e., Pre-Columbian). Indigenous peoples who maintain, or seek to maintain, traditional ways of life are found from the high Arctic north to the southern extremities of Tierra del Fuego.

A Navajo boy on horseback in Monument valley, Arizona.

The impact of European colonization of the Americas on the indigenous communities has been in general quite severe, with many authorities estimating ranges of significant population decline due to the ravages of various genocide campaigns, epidemic diseases (smallpox, measles, etc.), displacement, conflict, compulsory boarding schools, massacres and exploitation. The extent of this impact is the subject of much continuing debate. Several peoples shortly thereafter became extinct, or very nearly so.

All nations in North and South America have populations of indigenous peoples within their borders. In some countries (particularly Latin American), indigenous peoples form a sizable component of the overall national population—in Bolivia they account for an estimated 56%–70% of the total nation, and at least half of the population in Guatemala and the Andean and Amazonian nations of Peru. In English, indigenous peoples are collectively referred to by several different terms which vary by region and include such ethnonyms as Native Americans, Amerindians, and Indians. In Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries one finds the use of terms such as pueblos indígenas, amerindios, povos nativos, povos indígenas, and in Peru, Comunidades Nativas, particularly among Amazonian societies like the Urarina^[14] and Matsés.

In Brazil, the term índio (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈĩdʒi.u] or ˈĩdʒju) is used by most of the population, the media, the indigenous peoples themselves and even the government (FUNAI is acronym for Fundação Nacional do Índio), although its Hispanic equivalent indio is widely not considered politically correct and falling into desuse. Nevertheless, Portuguese for Amerindian and amerindio, ameríndio (ameˈɾĩdʒi.u or ameˈɾĩdʒju in the standard South American dialects) is gaining some popularity, still, it seems odd for many.^{[citation needed]} The widespread completely politically correct term of which Brazilians are used to is indígena ĩˈdʒiʒenɐ (although its literal translation is "indigenous person or peoples from anywhere", it is colloquially intended as synonym for Amerindian, without need for specifications in reference to the indigenous peoples of what continent). It has more ethnic meanings than racial ones, and a "Westerner" in Brazil can be an acculturated ameríndio/índio but not an indígena, which officially means indigenous in the narrow sense.

Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations,^[15] Inuit^[16] and Métis.^[17] The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" are falling into disuse in Canada.^[18][19] There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 ²⁰⁰⁶ peoples spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.^[20][21][22] National Aboriginal Day recognises the cultures and contributions of Aboriginals to the history of Canada