native peoples
Original land inhabitants
Native peoples are the original inhabitants of a region, present before colonization or settlement by outsiders.
The phrase typically refers to indigenous communities collectively: Native peoples of the Americas, the land rights of native peoples.
It emphasizes group identity and continuity rather than individual membership, and is generally preferred over dated terms like "natives" when discussing indigenous populations respectfully.
- ancestral knowledgeUnderstanding inherited from forebears
- elder wisdomInsight from long experience
- colonizationForeign territorial takeover
- ceremonial dancesFormalized group movements for occasions
- pow wowInformal group discussion
sacred fire · oral traditions · mother tongue · cultural genocide · forced migration · tribal customs · spirit animal · tribal sovereignty · land rights · reservation life · treaty obligations · self-determination · Māori · indigenous languages · resistance movements · settler colonialism · treaties · historical trauma
- anthropologyanthropology, fieldwork, ethnography, social anthropology, cultural anthropology
- Indigenous cultureancestors, ancestry, ancestral lands, ancestral lineage, animal totems
- Colonialcolonist, colony, settler, plantation, fort
- Indigenous MexicoAztec, Maya, Zapotec, Olmec, Toltec
- multiculturalismmulticultural, multiethnic, ethnic diversity, diverse, pluralism
- indigenous rightsindigenous sovereignty, traditional territories, aboriginal rights, land title, land back
native peoplessettlers
Those who establish homes
immigrants · colonists · newcomers · migrants · arrivals
native peoplescolonizers
Those who establish foreign control
colonists · colonial powers · invaders · conquerors · imperial forces
people, native, nation, national, population, nationalism, peoples, nationality, nationwide