Indigenous people are the original inhabitants of a region that have historical continuity with pre-colonial societies as well as a strong connection to their ancestral lands as well as natural resources.
Indigenous people maintain distinct languages, social systems and cultures that also predate and differ from the dominant societies around them.
Examples are the First Nations in Canada, Maya in Mexico, Sami in Sweden, the Ainu in Japan and Guatemala.
Indigenous people have a historical connection to a territory prior to the colonization or the establishment of current state boundaries.
The indigenous people also have a strong link to their traditional territories, which is also fundamental to the indigenous peoples collective physical and culture survival.
Indigenous people also self identify as distinct from other sectors of society and are resolved to preserve their identity and they also maintain at least in part, their own economic, social and political institutions.
And indigenous people also have unique languages, cultures, knowledge systems and beliefs.
Examples of indigenous people are Americas like Native Americans, American Indians, and Alaska Natives in the United States, First Nations, Metis in Canada and Inuit.
Europe such as the Sami in Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Asia, the Ainu in Japan.
Africa, the Berbers and the San people.
And Oceania or the The Maori in New Zealand and Aboriginal Australians.