Who Are Indigenous People?

Here’s the way I see it: the only truly indigenous people are the first homo sapiens, perhaps evolving from Australopithecus. So they were the indigenous people of somewhere in Africa, appearing from “nowhere.” They would then migrate out into the world.

From there, what would be considered indigenous people would simply be the first humans to settle in a land uninhabited by humans. The so-called indigenous people of North America--native Americans--were most likely Asian people who were able to cross over via the Bering Strait 15,000 years ago when the oceans had receded. And just like humans before and after them, whether settling in a new land or colonizing a settled land, they would drive some species to extinction, divide into tribes, establish nations, war among each other and decimate or enslave other populations.

I would suggest that those defined as indigenous have no natural claim to their settled lands and had to defend their settlements from others who also sought to inhabit and utilize the land, perhaps not even knowing if human settlement existed there. Or if they did, intended to colonize the land regardless, either by aggression or negotiation. That’s why I find it strange that in more modern, civilized or enlightened times the indigenous people somehow take on a mythical status, viz. the natives have some kind of sacred spiritual bond with the land that cannot be broken. They are cast as a people with a mysterious connection to the land and nature.

But truthfully, the natives, true to any typical human migration and settlement, run roughshod over the natural resources to meet their needs, form tribes, nations, war with each other, kill and enslave like anyone else has in most of human history. They are not special. Their defences are vulnerable to competition by other migrations of people. And in nature there are winners and losers.

If there are seemingly unlimited resources and the demand is great this dynamic is more likely to take place. If the supply can comfortably balance out the demand, perhaps more peaceful options are explored and enjoyed. When the supply shrinks as seems to be a risk on our environmentally taxed planet today, perhaps ideally we will collaborate and look to a level of science, technology and innovation we’ve never seen before to prolong human existence a happy distance into the future.

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