Indigenous - Definition and Overview

The word indigenous is derived from the latin word indigena, meaning nativ, indigenous, aboriginal, and has several, related meanings:

• The native people of a place; see the article indigenous people.
• In biology, indigenous means native to a place or biota, in contrast to any one of several terms meaning not native to a place (non-native, alien, adventive, introduced) and differentiated from endemic. A species that is endemic is unique to that place, found naturally nowhere else. A species that is indigenous is native, but not unique in the sense that it is also native to other locations as well. Thus, a species that is native to California, but found naturally in Oregon and Washington as well (native to the West Coast of the United States) is indigenous to California. A species found only in the British Isles is endemic to those islands.