Ethnic groups are called indigenous people, according to their tribes, cultures, boundaries of territories and the “original inhabitants” of their territory. Indigenous people are also designated by their state according to international lawmaking bodies with variation of terms such as: “Native Americans” ,” Pacific Islander” (USA), “Inuit” Metis “First Nations” (Canada), “Aborigines (Australia), “Hill Tribes (South East Asia), indigenous ethnic minority, “Adivasi (India)”, autonomous (independent judiciary) groups and tribal groups. Madagascar is an island in the continent of Africa. The Congo River basin, south of the Sahara and west of the East African Rift are the main land in Central Africa, where indigenous Pygmy people are the inhabitants of central and western Africa. East Africa and surrounding countries are included in the “Horn of Africa regions”.
Republic of Madagascar or formerly known as Malagasy Republic, is the fourth-largest island found in Indian Ocean, coast of Africa, southeastern part. Many believed that early settlers between 300 BCE to 500 CE from Austronesian people from Borneo, in the Indonesian Archipelago, Bantu people (crossing Mozambique channels), Arabs, East African, Malays, Javanese (Indonesia),Indians, Chinese and Europeans (most are from France) which is a big influence in the Malagasy cultural way of living.
1) Merina Ethnic Group , Madagascar
Merina people, Indigenous group in Madagascar
The Merina people, a Malagasy speaking ethnic group in Madagascar, are divide society into social classes and caste system, the Andriana (nobles), Hova (freeman) and the Andevo (slaves). Rice is considered holy (masina), the Merina people and their beliefs of “eating rice” is the key to moral behavior.
Madagascar girls, traditional wedding preparation
Merina woman wearing traditional Lamba
Hira Gasy musicians of Madagascar, wearing lambas
In Madagascar, men and women wear their traditional lamba garment, made of cotton, bast or raffia for their daily wear, and silk during funeral ceremony and some functional used as to carrying their babies and tie them or for wrapping their dead relative. The Betsileo women, wore narrower and white lamba, as symbol for dignity, elegance, femininity and respect for the tradition.
Traditional Malagasy home, Madagascar
The traditional funeral way of the Malagasy, is bring their dead relative into a designated area, and just leave there until the body is decompose, but among the Bara people of the southern plains of Madagascar, they built tombs to bury their dead, and cover it with stones or Zebu bones. While the Tanala ethnic tribes, they place their dead in a coffins made from hollowed-logs and and leave in sacred grove of trees or caves and cover with wooden planks.
Betsileo Tombs, standing stone and burial site
Bara Cave Tomb, early tombs of Malagasy ethnic groups
2) Bantu Indigenous ethnic groups
Kikuyu woman in Kenya
Congolese woman in DRC
Makua mother and baby, largest indigenous people in Mozambique
Afro-Arab Swahili woman from Zanzibar, wearing Islamic dress or Abaya.
The Bantu Swahili people speak Bantu Swahili language which more Arabic word are used, and these indigenous people are located in the coastal region of East Africa. The Bantu people are mixed community in this area influenced by the Muslim Arabs and Persian migrants.
Zulu indigenous people
Zulu traditional dancer
Herero women, Bantu speaking ethnic groups
The Bantu ethnic group has various groups which means “the people or humans” and “scattered” into hundreds of individual tribes. The word Bantu appeared in many language like in Swahili (watu), Lingala (batu), Duala (Bato), Zulu and Ganda (Abantu), Shona (Vanhu) and in some Luhya dialects thy call them Vandu. Herero ethnic groups are herdsmen and pastoralist (raising livestock than farming), and majority are living in Namibia, Botswana and Angola.
Shona Indigenous people
Shona witch doctor, Zimbabwe
Shona (Vanhu) indigenous people
The Shona people has two group of indigenous people living in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern of Botswana and southern section of Mozambique.
3) Afar Indigenous People
Afar woman of indigenous Nomadic people of the Danakil desert
Afar Nomadic tribe, young girl with headdress
Afar Tribe of Ethiopia, Indigenous people of Ethiopia and Djibouti
The Afar tribe, also called Danakil, an ethnic indigenous people in the Horn of Africa. Majority resides in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, and northern of Djibouti and some lived in southern section of Eritrea.
The State of Eritrea is a country in the Horn of Africa which consists of nine tribes.The capital of Eritrea is Asmara, in the west is the border of Sudan, in the south is Ethiopia and in southwest section is Djibouti.
Tiger Tribe of Eritrea indigenous groups
Saho Tribe, indigenous group in Eritrea
Afar woman with decorative scar on the face as symbol
Eritrea woman with decorative scars
Kunama Ethnic Tribe in Eritrea
Eritrean Wedding
4) Indigenous People of Horn of Africa (East Africa)
Maasai woman, with traditional earlobe stretching and bead-work
Maasai traditional jumping dance called Adumu
The Maasai ethnic group or also called Masai, indigenous semi-nomadic people of Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Maasai or Masai people are known for distinctive custom and clothing and reside in many parks of East Africa, to allow tourist to see their heritage. Their wore clothing according to age and place, but require the young Masai to wear black clothing until the day of their circumcision. However, they favored more red clothing, and also wore blue, stripes and checkered as African multicolored designs, which they call their cloth, Matavuvale. In many passage rites, like wedding, the Masai shave their heads, and also the bride too. Only warriors wear long thinly-braided hair. After the warrior go through the Eunoto and became elders, their long braided hair is shaved.
Ngoni Ethnic People
Ngoni ethnic tribe dancing
Ngoni warrior, Tanzania
The Ngoni ethnic tribes are the indigenous people residing in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and east-central Africa.
Berta or Bertha Ethnic Groups
Beta or Bertha ethnic people, playing trumpets
The Berta or Bertha are indigenous people living in the border of Sudan and Ethiopia, and commonly speaks Arabic, because of intermarriages among the ethnic people to Arab traders. Berta people are also called watawit (local name for bat) which means “mixed of different groups”.
Borana or Borana Oromo, or Boran
Borana girl of Kenya
Borana girl of Ethiopia
Gabbra or Gabra Indigenous people
Gabbra people, performing tribal dance, Kenya
Gabbra woman, living in Chalbi desert, Northern Kenya, sharing territory with Borana
North African Indigenous People, Mediterranean border, Northern Red Sea and Atlantic Ocean, and south of Sahara Desert
Beja Indigenous People
Beja Indigenous People
Beja Indigenous People
Beja Women living in Northeast Sudan near the border
Beja people are the indigenous ethnic group living in North Africa and Horn of Africa, in Sudan, Eritrea and Egypt. Beja consist of smaller families, or group of Bisharin, Hedareb, Hadendoa, Amarar, Beni-Amer, Hallenga and Hamran and mixed of Bedouin clans in the east and Berber tribe in the west.In Roman era the Beja’s are called Blemmyes, a nomadic Nubian tribe, Buga in Aksamite Ge’ez inscriptions and Fuzzy Wuzzy or Hadendoa, a nomadic tribe and subdivided group of the Beja’s clan.
Fuzzy Wuzzy or Hadendoa ethnic Group
African Fuzzy Wuzzy or Hadendoa tribe, notable for their Tiffa hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy ethnic people
Ababda Nomad Ethnic People
Ababda nomad people of Beja Clan
Ababda man beside his house
Bedouin Nomadic ethnic tribes
Bedouin Ethnic tribes
Bedouin Ethnic Community
Bisharin Ethnic group
Bisharin of Sudan Ethnic people
Berber Ethnic Group
Berber Girl
Berber Woman
Berber Saharan women
Tuareg, Berber Nomadic People
Tuareg , Berber nomadic people living in Mali
Tuareg, Berber nomadic people from Niger
Tuareg nomadic group in south of Algeria
Egyptians are the indigenous people of Arabic ethnic groups consisting of Mediterranean people and North African clans, and Arabic speaking people.
Egyptian Women
5) Southern Africa Indigenous Tribes
Bushmen living in Kalahari Desert, Botswana / Namibia
Bushmen from Khomari San community
Bushmen modern community with traditional dwellings
Bushmen are the indigenous people of Southern Africa with territories expanded through South Africa areas, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and Angola and many of them are classified as Bushmen San, Sho, Barwa, Kung or Khwe, and most of them are living between Okavango, Botswana and Etosha, Namibia. Most of them are related to Khoisan group or the pastoral community Khoikhoi and they hunter-gatherers.
N!xau (Bushmen actor in Gods Must Be Crazy)
N!xau Toma (Gcao Tekene Coma) belong to Bushmen San tribe in Namibia, a bush farmer and actor and became famous for his character as Kalahari Bushman Xixo, in the 1980′s movie “Gods Must Be Crazy”. N!xau did not know his exact age and was not aware of the value of the paper money, and was paid for the film only for a few hundred dollars. But the next sequel of the movie, he was already aware of his earnings and was able to build a brick house for his family. N!xau died of tuberculosis on July 1, 2003.
Khoikhoi or Khoisan Ethnic groups and the former Namaqua tribe, (Nama) ethnic group and also called Hottentot ethnic group
Khoikhoi or Khoi San ethnic group
Hottentot woman, formerly known as Namaqua tribe, known for their big hips and butts
6) Indigenous People of West Africa (Includes Section from Sahara Desert to north of Gulf of Guinea to the south region part :Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Bioko Island, Sahel and Sahara, Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon and Central African Republic.
Baka or Bayaka ethnic tribes,are the Indigenous people of the rainforests of Cameroon
Bubi Ethnic group
Bubi Children with tattoo markings,are the indigenous people to Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea
Fang tribes, are the indigenous people of Gabon and Congo
7) Indigenous People of the Caribbean or West Indies that includes the Island of Hispaniola, Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guanahacabibes Peninsula
Taino Village in Cuba, indigenous people of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and Arawak clan of South America
Taino people:Ameridians are the indigenous people of the Hispaniola and Puerto Rico of Arawak descent
Arawak are the indigenous people of the West Indies that includes the Taino people, Lucayans, Nepoya and Suppoya of Trinidad, and the Igneri people and the Caribs.
Arawak , Indigenous people of the West Indies
Ciboney indigenous people of Greater Antilles in the Caribbean sea, from indigenous Taino people which also called Cave Dwellers, because most of the Ciboney indigenous tribes lived in caves. Most of the Ciboney was driven off to western Cuba and western Hispaniola (Haiti).
Ciboney indigenous people living in Western Cuba and Hispaniola
8) Indigenous People of Central America and Mexico
Cocopah cultural dancer, native American indigenous people Baja California, Sonora Mexico, Arizona and the United States
Garifuna or Garinagu, are the descendant of Carib, Arawak and West Africans and now living in Central America, along the Caribbean Coast, in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. Majority are Catholics but some follow other religions and still practice mystical rituals.
Garifuna indigenous people near Tela, Honduras
Garifuna are indigenous people with mixed native American and West African descents
Itza indigenous people of Guatemalan ethnic group of Mayan clans.
El Castillo at Chichen Itza, Mexico
Mayan Woman of Guatemala
Mayan girls in traditional clothing, Guatemala
Huichol or Waxiritari indigenous people of central Mexico residing in the Sierra Madre Occidental, and ethnic group of Native Americans. Huichol people prefer to be named Waxiritari people which means in Huichol language “the people”.
Huichol Native Indian (woman and baby) Mexican States of Nayarit, Jalisco
Mazatec are the indigenous ethnic people of known as the Sierra Mazateca in Oaxaca in the Southern Mexico and in the states of Puebla and Veracruz.
Mazatec dancers in Huautla de Jimenez, Sierra Mazateca, Oaxaca Mexico
9) North America which includes Greenland, Canada, the United States, Eastern Aleutian Islands (Alaska Peninsula to Kamchatca Peninsula)
Canadian Aboriginal People includes First Nations, , Inuit, Metis . Eskimo (Esquimaux, Inuit-Yupik for Alaska) Indigenous people inhabitants of Eastern Siberia (Russia), across Alaska (United States), Canada and Greenland. “Indians and Eskimo” are considered pejorative in Canada’s aboriginals.
Inuit woman making a Kudlik
Inuit people in traditional Qamutik or sled
Pow-wow at EEL Ground, First Nation people , Canada
Metis People in Red River Ox carts, 1860
Metis People in Red River West
Metis dance
Metis people are Aboriginal people of Canada, who traced the First Nation people as their descendants. The First Nation parentage has mixed races and with Cree, Ojibwe, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Menominee (or Mamaceqraw), Mi’kmaq o Maliseet tribe.
Ojibwe woman and baby
Mi’kmaq people
Tsuu T’ina children in traditional costume
Tsuu T’ina Annual Pow-wow celebration of First Nation in Alberta, Canada
Tsuu T’ina Nation or Tsu T’ina is the indigenous people of First Nation in Canada, and they were formerly known as Sarsi or Sarcee people, a neighboring town to the southwest city of Calgary, Alberta. Sarsi or Sarcee was believed to derived its name from the Blackfoot people, which means “stubborn ones”, but it is an offensive word for the Tssu T’ina people, and from the Athapascan group, and once part of the Daneeza or Beaver Indians.
Blackfoot gathering, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Beaver Creek Indians
10) Indigenous People of South America (Isthmus of Panama, Peru, Amazonian Rainforest (Brazil), Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Colombia.
Ache Hunter-gatherer , indigenous people of Paraguay
Ache Brazil, performs traditional beliefs and music
Indigenous Aymara people of Bolivia
Aymara women with their Llama, idigenous people of Bolivia
Indigenous Aymara Indian and Quecha Indian wearing traditional clothing
Aymara or Aimara are the indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano region of South America, and formerly conquered by Inca Empire.
Machu Pichu of Inca Empire
Embera-Wounaan indigenous people of Panama, a semi-nomadic Indians, and former name was Choco and speak the Embera and Wounaan language and they are part of the Chocoan speaking group.
Embera-Wounaan, Indigenous ethnic Indians of Panama
Bororo or Bororo- Boe are indigenous ethnic Indians in the region of Brazil, living in Mato Grosso, and tribes extended into Bolivia and Goias, a state in Brazil.The Bororo ethnic groups are notable for their population of having the same blood type: Type O.
Bororo are indigenous ethnic Indians of Brazil
Matses or Mayoruna are indigenous ethnic tribes of the Peruvian people and Brazilian Amazon, and their ancestral properties is threatened to be phased out by the illegal loggers and hunters of endangered animals. Matses is a indigenous people rights organization, working for protection and survival of the Matses (Movement in the Amazon for Tribal Subsistence and Economic Sustainability).
Matses or Mayoruna Tribe of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon
Matses Indians, also called Mayoruna indigenous Peruvian people
Korubo man, indigenous ethnic group in the Javari Valley, neighboring tribe of the Mayorunas
Nukak or Nukak-Maku, indigenous group between Guaviare and Inirida Rivers
11) Asia (Indian Subcontinent, Central Asian Republics, Middle East and Saudi Arabia)
South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Garo woman, indigenous ethnic tribe in Meghalaya, India
Garo indigenous people celebrating Wangala Festival, Bangladesh
Garo indigenous ethnic tribe in Meghalaya, India.
Khasi indigenous people state of Meghalaya, North East India and neighboring Assam, Bangladesh
Khasi indigenous ethnic tribe in Khasi Hill, Bangladesh
Assam women in Majuli
Assamese woman in Pat Silk, dancing Sattrya dance
Khasi are the indigenous ethnic tribe inhabitants of north east of the Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills heading Brahmaputra Valley. Khasi people are closer to the Garo ethnic group.
12) Central Asia or Middle Asia : Includes former Soviet Union: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyztan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekiztan, and other areas are; Afghanistan, Northern Iran, Kashmir northern Pakistan, Mongolia and sometimes Xinjiang and Tibet in western China, and southern Siberia in Russia.
Kashmir Ladakh women in traditional clothings
Kyrgystan wearing traditional Kalpak hat
Kazakhs indigenous people of Kazakhstan
Kazakhs Traditional costume
Tajik Woman and Child
Tajiks women in their national costumes
13) Arabian Peninsula includes: includes constituent countries of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and on the east is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman on southeast, Yemen on the south and Saudi Arabia in the center.
Bidouin women of Kuwait
Bedouin nomad ethnic group in the desert
Tarabin Bedouin family sharing food, living mostly in the desert
14) Central Asia : includes generally the east region of Caspian Sea, Russian Taiga on the south to the Himalayas, then eastwards to Mongolia and western of China provinces and autonomous regions.
Mongolian women, indigenous people of Mongolia
Monpa indigenous ethnic people of Tibet
Mongolian Yurt traditional dwellings
Hui indigenous Chinese Muslim, celebrating Eid ul-Fitr
Tsamgru, Turk Mongolian ethnic group
Uyghur, Ethnic Turkic people
Pashtun indigenous people of Aghanistan and Pakistan
Pashtun Girl, Pashto language speaking
Pashtun community
15) East Asia includes: People’s Republic of China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and Taiwan.
Ainu, indigenous ethnic groups in Hokkaido, Japan
Ryukyuan indigenous people of Okinawa, Japan
Taiwan aboriginal and indigenous ethnic group
Amis, indigenous aborigine of Taiwan
Paiwan girls, indigenous aborigine of Taiwan
Yami people Taiwan aborigine
Ivatan Woman. Taiwan aborigine indigenous people of Batanes Islands, Philippines
16) North Asia Includes the Russian Far East and the Northern and Eastern part of Siberia
Sakha or Yakut indigenous with traditional clothing and dance
Tuvan traditional singer , indigenous people in Siberia and Mongolia
Buryat indigenous people in Siberia
Buryat dancers, indigenous people in Siberia
Buryatia traditional wooden house
Khakas indigenous people in the Republic of Khahassia
Tungusic people includes Oroqen, Xibe, Hezhe, Manchus
17) South East Asia includes Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, Assam in India.
Akha man smoking with his pipe, indigenous people of the Hill tribes in the hills region
Akha elderly woman, indigenous people of the Hill tribes in South East Asia
Akha Village indigenous groups of Northern Thailand
Lahu elderly woman in a Thailand’s refugee camp
Lahu girls, indigenous ethnic group in Southeast Asia and China
Hani women indigenous people in Yuanyang, Yunnan, China
Hani ethnic child wearing traditional headdress in Yunnan, China
Hani indigenous group’s traditional dwelling in Vietnam
Zayein Karen women in 1920s, indigenous people of the Hill tribes
Karen or Kayin indigenous hill tribes
Kayan Lasha, indigenous ethnic people , also known as the Red Karen Hill tribes
Kayar ethnic tribe, are the Hill tribes indigenous people and member of the Red Karen family
Kayan woman or Padaung, indigenous tribe in Myanmar, Burma
Lisu indigenous ethnic tribe of Tibeto-Burman family
Lisu women, indigenous ethnic people in Thailand
H’Mong indigenous ethnic people inhabitants of China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
Hmong tribe, indigenous ethnic people inhabitants of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
H’Mong traditional wedding
Hmong typical stone house
18) South Asia includes the regions of the Indochina and Malay Archipelago
Pribumi or Native Indonesians, indigenous people of Indonesia
Chinese-Indonesiasns, indigenous people of Indonesia from Chinese descendants
Arab-Indonesians community in Indonesia
Adivasi Indigenous ethnic tribes in India
Adivasi woman, indigenous people of Kutia Kondh tribal group in Orissa
Chenchu indigenous ethnic tribes in India
Chenchu indigenous ethnic tribe in India
Koyas indigenous ethnic tribes with similarity with the Chenchu tribes
Adamanese indigenous ethnic people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India, northeast of Bengal Bay
Andamanese indigenous people of the Andaman Islands in India
Chang Naga Indigenous people of Nagaland, India, and in British India they are called Mazung.
Angami Naga indigenous ethnic hill tribe
Naga Yimchunger woman, indigenous people in Morung of Kutur Village
Ao or Machungrr of Naga indigenous group of Nagaland , India
Konyak Naga indigenous Naga family of Nagaland, India
Konyak tribal chief wearing traditional clothing
Honyak tribe ceremonial basket, decorated with two human-heads carved wood and skull of the monkey
Sumi Naga or Sema Naga
Sumi (Mochumi Naga) woman in Zunheboto
Sumi or Sema women in their traditional costume
19 Melanesia includes New Guinea to western Pacific Islands to Arafura Sea to Fiji
American-Samoa (Am-Samoa) indigenous people of Fiji Islands or Melanesia
Samoan indigenous people of Samoa
Tongan indigenous people
Tonga indigenous people
20) Micronesia includes Western and Central Pacific
Chamorro or Chamoru indigenous people of Mariana Islands, AMerican Territory of Guam
Yapese indigenous ethnic people of Yap Islands
Yapese indigenous people wearing traditional attire
Yap also called by locals as Wa’ab found in Caroline Islands of the Western Pacific Ocean and a Federate State of Micronesia, and the locals speak Yapese language.
Polynesia includes New Zealand , central and southern of the Pacific Islands
Rapa Nui indigenous people of Easter Island
Rapa Nui traditional dance
King of Tonga, George Tupou V, Nuku’aloka, Tonga
Tongan Traditional dance, Tau’olunga dance
The Kingdom of Tonga, is a state and South Pacific Ocean Archipelago, located in north south region of New Zealand to Hawaii. The Kingdom of Tonga is also known as Friendly Islands.
Maori indigenous people of Oceana Island, New Zealand
traditional dance of indigenous Maori people in New Zealand
Maori are the indigenous people of the Aotearoa (The Long White Cloud) is New Zealand‘s local name. Maori’s permanent tattoos on their body and faces called Ta moko, is a painful tattoo process by scarification using chisels (uhi) by their Tohunga (tattooist) and considered sacred or tapu. Maori tattoos stand as their symbol and ranks.