Introduction

The present book contains material related to the theme of the economic development of indigenous people, these minority populations that often remain on the outskirts of society demographically, politically, and socially; yet they are so significant for the imagery, cultural significance, and historical memory of the whole of humanity. Often subjects of admiration, curiosity, and sympathy, they provoke nostalgic feelings in the heart of the western man, lamenting the disappearance of a Utopia lost; a better, simpler, more equal world. Of course this belief is somewhat exaggerated and warped. Many indigenous populations had in their history bloody wars and fights for dominance; experienced the rise and fail of their empires; and developed their own survival techniques and interpretations of reality, thus forming unique civilisations and cultures. Some of them are lost; others amalgamated with other indigenous and non-indigenous cultures, while some conserved their original lifestyle and still live in remote geographical locations. In any of these cases their uniqueness gives them a chance to adopt their own linguistic, cultural, and economic paradigms alongside the dominant westernised societal streams.