The Indigenous peoples of South America or South American Indigenous peoples, are the pre-Colombian peoples of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

and their descendants. These peoples contrast with South Americans of European ancestry and those of African descent. In Spanish, Indigenous people are often referred to as ''indígenas'' or ''pueblos indígenas'' (lit. Indigenous peoples). They may also be called ''pueblos nativos'' or ''nativos'' (lit. Native peoples). The term ''aborigen'' (lit. aborigine) is used in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

and ''pueblos aborígenes'' (lit. aboriginal peoples) is commonly used in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

. The English term "Amerindian" (short for "Indians of the Americas") is often used in

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France ...

. Latin Americans of mixed European and Indigenous descent are usually referred to as

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...

s (Spanish) and mestiços (Portuguese). While those of mixed African and Indigenous ancestry are referred to as zambos. It is believed that the first human populations of South America either arrived from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

into

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

via the Bering Land Bridge and migrated southwards or alternatively from

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

across the Pacific. The earliest generally accepted archaeological evidence for human habitation in South America dates to 14,000 years ago, the Monte Verde site in Southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. The descendants of these first inhabitants would become the indigenous populations of South America. Before the

Spanish colonization of the Americas Spain began colonizing the Americas under the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded by the Spanish . The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British America, and some small regions ...

, many of the indigenous peoples of South America were

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...

s and indeed many still are, especially in the Amazonian area. Others, especially the Andean cultures, practised sophisticated

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

, utilized advanced irrigation and kept domesticated livestock, such as llamas and alpacas. In the present day, there are two South American countries where indigenous peoples constitute the largest ethnic group. These are Peru, where 45% are indigenous and Bolivia, where 62% of people identify as feeling a part of some indigenous group. South American indigenous peoples include: *

Indigenous peoples in Argentina Argentina has 35 indigenous groups (often referred to as Argentine Amerindians or Native Argentines) according to the Complementary Survey of the Indigenous Peoples of 2004, the Argentine government's first attempt in nearly 100 years to recogni ...

* Indigenous peoples in Bolivia * Indigenous peoples in Brazil * Indigenous peoples in Chile * Indigenous peoples in Colombia *

Indigenous peoples in Ecuador Indigenous peoples in Ecuador, or Native Ecuadorians, are the groups of people who were present in what became Ecuador before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term also includes their descendants from the time of the Spanish conqu ...

* Indigenous peoples in French Guiana * Indigenous peoples in Guyana *

Indigenous peoples in Paraguay Indigenous peoples in Paraguay, or Native Paraguayans, include 17 ethnic groups belonging to five language families." ...

Indigenous peoples in Peru The Indigenous peoples of Peru, or Native Peruvians, comprise a large number of ethnic groups who inhabit territory in present-day Peru. Indigenous cultures developed here for thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish in 1532. In 20 ...

* Indigenous peoples in Suriname * Indigenous peoples in Uruguay *

Indigenous peoples in Venezuela Indigenous people in Venezuela, Amerindians or Native Venezuelans, form about 2% of the total population of Venezuela,Van Cott (2003), "Andean Indigenous Movements and Constitutional Transformation: Venezuela in Comparative Perspective", ''Latin A ...

References

External links

ATLILLA – Association for Teaching and Learning Indigenous Languages of Latin America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indigenous Peoples In South America - Ethnic groups in French Guiana Indigenous peoples in French Guiana

See also

References

External links