Indigenous People

Indigenous People

Indigenous people are those that are native to an area. Throughout the world, there are many groups or tribes of people that have been taken over by the Europeans in their early conquests throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by immigrating groups of individuals, and by greedy corporate businesses trying to take their land. The people indigenous to Australia, Brazil and South America, and Hawaii are currently fighting for their rights as people: the rights to own land, to be free from prejudice, and to have their lands protected from society.

Indigenous People of Brazil and South America

The people indigenous to Brazil and South America are an extremely noteworthy group. The Brazilian population originally derives from four ethnic sources. From the beginning, the country has been a mixture of many "races" of people. Of these, are the native Indians, the colonizing Portuguese, the enslaved African blacks, and the various immigrant groups from Europe and Asia. Many of the indigenous tribes are quarreling with Brazil's officials and businesses. Rainforests are depleting at a rapid rate and, as they are a home to many indigenous tribes, is causing great turmoil. Although the Constitution of 1988 claims to recognize the indians' "original land rights to the lands they traditionally occupy" and promise that these lands will be "demarcated" and "protected", the Government Agency Funai is charged with the demarcation of of nearly fifty percent of the lands(PeaceNet). The report claims that, "in reality, most most indian lands whether demarcated or not are coveted for some form of development." This claim is substantiated by the fact that "mineral concessions have been made on fifty-eight percent of all demarcated indian lands, while thirteen percent are affected by hydroelectric projects," (PeaceNet) The link between global environmental change and the rights of indigenous populations results from the close relationship between indigenous people's cultural and economic situations and their environmental settings. Therefore, if the environment of the native Indians of Brazil continues to be changed and removed, the people born on these lands will be exterminated out of existence. Additionally, many societal views of the indigenous people is killing them. The Amnesty International report, as commented upon by PeaceNet cites one occasion in which a thirty-five year old Macuxi Indian by the name of Damiao Mendes was found lying face down on a muddy riverbank, shot in the neck. Nearby lay his nineteen year-old nephew, murdered by the same means.