Approved
Reuse rights are verified for the intended TRIBE-X use. Attribution is retained whenever required.
TRANSPARENCY
Sources & Rights
TRIBE-X WORLD is built from traceable research. Our completed Americas, Australia, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Europe and current Pacific evidence-resolution passes, together with the current Japan and Taiwan records, combine government, Indigenous, community-controlled, international, academic and open-data sources, with entry-level source records preserved wherever possible.
We research broadly. We only ingest or reproduce material when reuse rights are verified, and we write our own editorial descriptions. A source used to verify a fact is not automatically a licence to reuse its text, photographs, maps or media.
RIGHTS STANDARD
How we classify sources
Research only
The source may verify facts or lead to primary material, but its content is not reproduced until rights are clear.
Do not ingest
Rights are incompatible, restricted or unclear. The material is not copied into TRIBE-X.
THE AMERICAS
Research sources
The Americas dataset uses authoritative public records together with Indigenous and community-controlled sources. Exact evidence remains attached to each published entry.
UNITED STATES
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Tribal Leaders Directory and federal tribal information used for recognition, names, identifiers and official-site discovery.
UNITED STATES
Federal Register
Authoritative federal notices used to verify current federally recognised Tribes.
CANADA
Indigenous Services Canada
First Nations profiles and location data used for names, identifiers, geographic reference points and official-site discovery. Open datasets are used under the Open Government Licence – Canada where applicable.
MEXICO
INPI and INALI
INPI is used for Indigenous peoples and community references; INALI is preferred for language evidence where the same entity-language relationship is explicit.
CENTRAL AMERICA, CARIBBEAN & SOUTH AMERICA
National Indigenous authorities and public registries
Country-specific Indigenous affairs agencies, legal registries and public records are used to confirm current entities, names and representative organisations. The exact source is stored on each entry rather than replaced by one continental directory.
THE AMERICAS
Indigenous governments and representative organisations
Nation, Tribe, First Nation, community, council, federation and other Indigenous-controlled organisations are preferred for official websites and current community-level evidence. Scope is recorded as people-specific, regional-representative or national-umbrella.
* “GREEN” applies to the verified dataset or work, not automatically to every photograph, logo, map or third-party asset on the same website.
AUSTRALIA
Research sources
Australia uses a dedicated workflow. Language records are not treated automatically as separate peoples, and coordinates are deliberately approximate reference points rather than cultural, native-title or legal boundaries.
AUSTRALIA
AIATSIS AustLang
Primary language and approximate-location backbone. AustLang identifiers are preserved where used, spellings are deduplicated and entity identity is independently verified.
AUSTRALIA
Australian Government Data Catalogue — AustLang
Open AustLang dataset used where appropriate for language records and approximate reference coordinates, with AIATSIS attribution preserved.
AUSTRALIA
Native title and corporation records
National Native Title Tribunal material, PBC/RNTBC information, ORIC records and related registries are used to verify current representative entities and scope.
AUSTRALIA
Land Councils and Native Title Representative Bodies
Regional representative bodies are used only where they explicitly represent or include the published people, and are labelled regional-representative rather than people-specific.
AUSTRALIA
Traditional Owner and community-controlled organisations
People-specific corporations, Traditional Owner organisations and community-controlled bodies are preferred for official websites and current identity evidence when the relationship is directly confirmed.
AUSTRALIA
State and territory Indigenous affairs sources
Public authorities are used as supporting evidence for current entities, representative organisations and regional context.
TRIBE-X does not reproduce AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia polygons or convert language-map boundaries into claimed Nation, Country or native-title boundaries.
NEW ZEALAND / AOTEAROA
Research sources
New Zealand uses the 2023 Census fully coded iwi classification as the inventory backbone, with iwi identity and representative organisations checked independently. Coordinates are deliberately coarse on-land display points and are never treated as rohe, Treaty settlement or legal boundaries.
NEW ZEALAND
Stats NZ — 2023 Census iwi classification
Master inventory for the 139 fully coded iwi categories used in the New Zealand phase. Stats NZ-produced material is reused only where its stated Creative Commons licence applies, with attribution retained.
NEW ZEALAND
NZ Iwi code system
Machine-readable cross-check for the iwi codes and names used by the dataset. Statistical classification codes are preserved as identifiers rather than treated as cultural or legal boundary definitions.
NEW ZEALAND
Te Kāhui Māngai — Te Puni Kōkiri
Authoritative factual reference for iwi and recognised representative organisations. Because Te Kāhui Māngai's own copyright statement limits reproduction to personal, not-for-profit or in-house use, TRIBE-X uses it for factual verification and linking only and does not copy its prose, maps or media.
NEW ZEALAND
Iwi and representative-organisation websites
People-specific iwi and recognised representative organisations are preferred for current identity and official-site verification. Their text, photographs, logos, maps and media are not copied unless separately rights-cleared.
TRIBE-X does not reproduce Te Kāhui Māngai rohe maps or settlement-area geometry. Te Kāhui Māngai itself notes that many rohe overlap and that its national and regional maps are indicative only.
EUROPE
Research sources
Europe is handled conservatively because Indigenous status, legal recognition and self-identification vary substantially by country. TRIBE-X records the evidence used for each people and does not infer Indigenous status from ethnicity, minority status, language or historic presence alone.
SÁPMI / NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND & RUSSIA
Sámi representative institutions
The Sámi Parliaments in Norway, Sweden and Finland, together with the Saami Council, are used for current representative information, country-reference records and people-specific verification. The four map records represent one transboundary Sámi people across modern state borders.
EUROPEAN RUSSIA
Russian federal Indigenous recognition sources
Federal recognition material is used to verify peoples formally listed as Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples in European Russia. These sources establish legal classification; they are not treated as permission to reproduce unrelated text, images or maps.
EUROPEAN RUSSIA
RAIPON and people-specific cultural sources
RAIPON and direct cultural or representative institutions are used where they provide a clear relationship to a published people, such as Nenets and Veps representative organisations or the Izhora Museum. Scope is recorded explicitly and generic regional pages are not presented as people-specific official websites.
RUSSIA
Regional and municipal factual sources
Regional government, municipal and museum sources are used only for specific factual verification such as settlements, cultural institutions and documented community presence. Where a direct people-specific organisation cannot be established, the public official-website field is intentionally left blank.
UKRAINE / CRIMEA
Ukrainian Indigenous Peoples law and government sources
Official Ukrainian material is used to verify the legal recognition of Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks as Indigenous peoples formed on the Crimean Peninsula. Map points are cultural or community references only and do not define sovereignty, territory, land rights or legal boundaries.
EUROPE
IWGIA and international institutional material
IWGIA, Council of Europe and European Union material are used as secondary or contextual evidence for recognition, Indigenous-rights status and classification questions. They do not replace direct people-specific or legal sources where those are available.
TRIBE-X does not turn recognition lists, ethnographic maps or regional cultural references into claimed Indigenous territory polygons. European points remain individually verified, approximate, on-land display references.
JAPAN & TAIWAN
Research sources
Japan and Taiwan are sourced separately because recognition frameworks differ. TRIBE-X uses direct representative, government and international sources, and records disagreements over recognition explicitly rather than treating state recognition as the only criterion.
JAPAN — AINU
Ainu Association of Hokkaido
Primary people-specific representative source used for current Ainu identity, organisation details and the Sapporo reference point.
JAPAN — AINU
Cabinet Office Ainu policy
National government material used as a factual cross-check for Japan's current Ainu policy and legal framework. It is not treated as permission to reproduce unrelated text or media.
JAPAN — RYUKYU / OKINAWA
Association of the Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus
The United Nations Civil Society database identifies the Association of the Indigenous Peoples in the Ryukyus as an Indigenous Peoples Organization. TRIBE-X uses this as strong evidence of Indigenous self-identification and organisational continuity.
JAPAN — RYUKYU / OKINAWA
UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
CERD material is used as authoritative international human-rights evidence for the recognition dispute. TRIBE-X records that Japan does not currently recognise the Ryukyu/Okinawa as Indigenous peoples while also recording CERD's repeated recommendations concerning Indigenous recognition.
TAIWAN
Council of Indigenous Peoples
The Council of Indigenous Peoples is the primary official inventory and people-specific source for Taiwan's 16 currently recognised Indigenous peoples. Direct people profiles are preferred over generic pages for names, recognition and current factual references.
TAIWAN
Indigenous Peoples Basic Law
Official legal material is used to understand Taiwan's Indigenous-rights framework and recognition context. Legal sources establish status and policy context; they are not treated as a licence to reproduce unrelated site content.
Taiwan's 16 recognised peoples are published from direct Council of Indigenous Peoples profiles. Historical or newly petitioning Pingpu/Plains groups are not automatically converted into map records; recognition and current identity evidence are reviewed group by group.
PACIFIC
Research sources
Pacific coverage is built from national statistics, Indigenous and community-controlled organisations, regional government material, academic research and people-specific ethnolinguistic references. Grouped country and regional pages remain intentionally conservative where an island, language or district label does not safely identify one people.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
National Statistical Office
Primary national demographic source used for the Papua New Guinea grouped overview and provincial context, including the 2024 population census material.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Department of Foreign Affairs
Government background source used to cross-check the country's exceptional social and linguistic diversity. It is a factual reference, not a licence to reproduce unrelated content.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Historical Atlas of Ethnic and Linguistic Groups
Academic inventory source used to identify named groups while preserving the atlas's own caution that ethnic, tribal and linguistic categories can be fluid, overlapping and historically inconsistent.
BOUGAINVILLE
Autonomous Bougainville Government
Primary regional government source for Bougainville's current autonomous political context and regional identity framework. Individual people records are still verified separately.
BOUGAINVILLE
Australian National University research
Academic research is used to distinguish named Bougainville communities and to avoid treating district, island or language labels as automatic people identities.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
Solomon Islands National Statistics Office
The 2019 census and language findings provide the national and provincial inventory backbone. TRIBE-X does not equate every census language name with a distinct people without further people-specific evidence.
SOLOMON ISLANDS — KOLOMBANGARA
Kolombangara Island Biodiversity Conservation Association
Community-controlled source used to resolve the grouped Kolombangara inventory label to the Dughore people and to document Indigenous landholder involvement directly.
VANUATU
Vanuatu National Statistics Office
Primary national source for population, Indigenous vernacular use and island/provincial context. It supports the grouped inventory but does not by itself prove that every island or language label is one people.
VANUATU
Government and customary institutions
Government material on provinces and island courts is used to understand administrative and customary context while keeping chiefly domains and customary land separate from map display points.
Pacific grouped inventories have now completed their current evidence-resolution pass. Remaining REVIEW entries stay visible as research inventory items where identity, source quality or representation is not yet strong enough for a standalone GREEN map record.
CROSS-REFERENCE & DISCOVERY
Secondary research tools
Wikipedia
Used for discovery, alternate names, citations and official-website candidates. Wikipedia prose is not copied, and candidate websites must be directly identity-verified.
Wikidata
Used as a secondary discovery source for identifiers and official-website candidates; values require direct verification.
General web research
Search is used to find unresolved official websites and primary organisations. Search results are discovery only and must be opened and matched directly before publication.
MAP & PLATFORM
Technology and map credits
MapLibre GL JS
Open-source mapping library powering the interactive TRIBE-X globe.
Esri World Imagery
Satellite imagery displayed as the current globe basemap. Attribution is also displayed directly in the interactive map.
EDITORIAL STANDARD
How TRIBE-X records evidence
Every published Nation/People entry can carry source URLs, language-source URLs, official-website verification details and rights notes. Those entry-level records are the most precise evidence trail; this page documents the broader source families, licences and methodology.
Official websites are accepted only after direct identity verification. If no reliable people-specific or legitimately scoped representative site can be established, the field is left blank.
Photographs, illustrations, audio and historical maps are checked independently from factual data. Approval of a source for research or data does not automatically clear its media for reuse.