Indigenous peoples (Americas)

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Current distribution of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (not including mestizos, zambos and pardos)
Total population
Approximately 69 million
Regions with significant populations
Mexico	25.7 million
Peru	14.4 million
Bolivia	6.8 million
Guatemala	6.0 million
Ecuador	3.4 million
United States	3–5 million
Chile	2.0 million
Canada	1.4 million
Colombia	1.4 million
Argentina	955,000
Brazil	818,000
Venezuela	524,000
Honduras	520,000
Nicaragua	444,000
Panama	450,000
Paraguay	95,000
El Salvador	70,000
Costa Rica	114,000
Guyana	60,000
Greenland	51,000
Belize	40,000 (Maya)
French Guiana	19,000
Suriname	12,000–24,000
Dominica	3,000
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2,000
Trinidad and Tobago	1,500
Languages
Indigenous languages of the Americas, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch
Religion
Inuit religion Native American religion Christianity

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas and their descendants.

Indígenas or pueblos indígenas ("indigenous peoples") is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries, and pueblos nativos or nativos (lit. "native peoples" in the sense of descendants of non-immigrants) may also be heard, while aborigen (aborigine) is used in Argentina, and pueblos aborígenes (aboriginal peoples) is common in Chile. The term "Amerindian" (short for "'Indians of the Americas") is used in Quebec, the Guianas, and the English-speaking Caribbean. In Brazil, indígenas or povos indígenas are common if formal-sounding designations, while índio is still the more often-heard term (the noun for the Indian nationality being indiano), and aborígene and nativo being rarely used in Amerindian-specific contexts (e.g. aborígene is usually understood as the ethnonym for Indigenous Australians). Indigenous peoples are commonly known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, which includes not only First Nations and Arctic Inuit, but also the minority population of First Nations-European mixed-race Métis people who identify culturally and ethnically with indigenous peoplehood. This is contrasted, for instance, to the American Indian-European mixed-race mestizos of Hispanic America (caboclos in Brazil) who, with their larger population (in most Latin American countries constituting either outright majorities, pluralities, or at the least large minorities), identify largely as a new ethnic group distinct from both Europeans and Indigenous Americans, but still considering themselves a subset of the European-derived Hispanic or Brazilian peoplehood in culture and ethnicity (cf. ladinos).