The words native and indigenous are often interchangeable, though there are some distinctions. The word native comes from the Latin word nativus which means “born”, and the word indigenous comes from the Latin word indigena which means “born in”.
Both of these words can be used to describe people and plants that originate from a particular region or country. Both can come under assault from invaders and invasives, and these refer to people or plants that do not originate from the region or country.
Some will say that nothing in this world is permanently placed and survival of a species often requires movement from place to place. Some say that survival of the fittest should be the law of the land. However, survival of the fittest is often confused with survival of the richest. In any case, even with a heirarchy there should be room for all of us if our society values this. Unfortunately, society often sides with what is fun and comfortable, and not with what is fair and just.
We all should know by now that Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover America. He was written into our school history books, and he still retains this credit. I don’t want to wipe away the history of his important armada. What I want is for the history books to write the truth, and not leave out the fact that America had a population of indigenous tribes of people who lived here before Columbus. These indigenous people were invaded upon by the richer and more powerful Europeans, and the European goal was often to wipe out the poorer natives whom they often viewed with unjustified distain because they were different.
Indigenous and native plants come under attack by invasive plants, and this is a whole different story since plants do not scheme and connive like people. The movement of people often brings about the movement of plants. People bring plants with them for physical and emotional sustenance. Wind and birds also play a part in the movement of plants. Survival of the fittest is really at play here since plants do not value or trade in money and power. They merely follow the laws of survival written into their code. Of course we cannot forget, that people do trade in plants for money.
Conservation of indigenous people and plants is often a sad afterthought. We need to change this in our society. There exists precedent within our laws which carries great weight within our courts, and yet in the natural world of living and exploring, people often toss out the precedent of land claims held by prior generations of people, animals, and plants. History is not just about what is written down by the conquerors.
We need to value the conservation of diversity.
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