Indigenous peoples

Indigenous people are the original people who lived in a region, before immigrants. Indigenous people are also called aborigines, native people, first people, first nations, and autochthonous.

The United Nations likes to use the phrase Indigenous peoples because other phrases may sound bad (this is called a pejorative).

Many indigenous people were oppressed in colonial times. They were treated very poorly. Colonial settlers often robbed the indigenous treasures and took their lands. Sometimes indigenous people were made slaves, or killed by colonial settlers.

Colonialism often wanted indigenous people to believe that they were lower social class than the new settlers. That is propaganda. Indigenous people can grow up believing that they are lower social class, or less important. Indigenous people sometimes have to fight for their own land, their own history, human rights and equality.