Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Taiwanese indigenous peoples (formerly Taiwanese aborigines), Formosan people, Austronesian Taiwanese,[2][3] Yuanzhumin or Gaoshan people,[4] are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, who number about 569,000 or 2.38% of the island's population. This total is increased to more than 800,000 people if the indigenous peoples of the plains in Taiwan are included, pending future official recognition. Recent research suggests their ancestors have been living on Taiwan for approximately 6,500 years. A wide body of evidence suggests Taiwan's indigenous people maintained regular trade networks with regional cultures before major Han (Chinese) immigration from continental Asia began in the 17th century.[5][6]

Taiwanese indigenous peoples are Austronesian peoples, with linguistic and cultural ties, as well as some genetic drift to other Austronesian peoples.[7] Taiwan is the origin of the oceanic Austronesian expansion whose descendant groups today include the majority of the ethnic groups of the Philippines, Micronesia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, Madagascar, and Polynesia.

For centuries, Taiwan's indigenous inhabitants experienced economic competition and military conflict with a series of colonizing newcomers. Centralized government policies designed to foster language shift and cultural assimilation, as well as continued contact with the colonizers through trade, inter-marriage and other intercultural processes, have resulted in varying degrees of language death and loss of original cultural identity. For example, of the approximately 26 known languages of the Taiwanese indigenous peoples (collectively referred to as the Formosan languages), at least ten are now extinct, five are moribund[8] and several are to some degree endangered. These languages are of unique historical significance since most historical linguists consider Taiwan to be the original homeland of the Austronesian language family.[5]

Taiwan's Austronesian speakers were formerly distributed over much of the Taiwan archipelago, including the Central Mountain Range villages along the alluvial plains, as well as Orchid Island, Green Island, and Liuqiu Island. The bulk of contemporary Taiwanese indigenous peoples currently reside both in their traditional mountain villages as well as Taiwan's urban areas.

Statistically, the indigenous peoples of Taiwan have experienced economic and social inequality, including a high unemployment rate and substandard education. Since the early 1980s, many indigenous groups have been actively seeking a higher degree of political self-determination and economic development.[9] The revival of ethnic pride is expressed in many ways by the indigenous peoples, including the incorporation of elements of their culture into cultural commodities such as ethnic tourism, pop music and sports. Efforts are under way in indigenous communities to revive traditional cultural practices and preserve their traditional languages. The Austronesian Cultural Festival in Taitung City is one means by which community members promote indigenous culture. In addition, several indigenous communities have become extensively involved in the tourism and ecotourism industries with the goal of achieving increased economic self-reliance and maintaining cultural integration.