Indigenous artwork, Ngaruwanajirri Art Centre, Wurrumiyanga, Bathurst Island, Australia

© Robert Wyatt/Alam

Celebrating Indigenous peoples. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

Earth is home to an estimated 476 million Indigenous people, a term meaning 'sprung from the land' or native, which refers to the descendants of an area's first-known inhabitants. They represent about 6% of the global population but speak more than half of the world's estimated 7,000 languages. Our homepage today showcases the art of the Tiwi people of Australia, who speak a unique language unlinked to another other known language, in their community of only 2,000 people. Colonization has long impacted Indigenous people, contributing to high rates of poverty and loss of language and traditional lands. The UN first held the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples in 1994, and every August 9 they bring attention to the fight to preserve the rights, dignity, and existence of the world's oldest cultures.