ABSTRACT
There are some two million indigenous people in Bangladesh, less than 1.5 percent of the total population. They belong to fortynine ethnic groups. Some groups are on the verge of extinction. The largest concentration of indigenous people is in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in the southeast of Bangladesh. The CHT covers about one-tenth of the country and borders Burma and the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura. The area is rich in oil, gas, uranium, and other mineral resources and used to be covered with thick forest. The twelve indigenous peoples in the CHT, originally comprising 98 percent of the population in the hilly area, differ distinctly from the majority Bengali population in the fertile plains. Each group has its distinct culture, language, and religion. They practice a mixed farming of plough cultivation in the fertile river valleys and swidden (jum) cultivation on the hill slopes. Because of their jum cultivation they call themselves collectively Jumma.
