Brazil’s congress votes to limit Indigenous land claims

Brazil's Congress overturned a presidential veto that had struck down the core of a bill to limit Indigenous land claims to the ancestral lands where they lived in 1988, setting up a likely clash at the Supreme Court. Indigenous groups supported the veto, while the bill had the backing of the powerful farm lobby. Indigenous leaders and advocates say protecting their lands is the best way to preserve the Amazon rainforest, which scientists say is crucial to curbing climate change.

Class discussion: Indigenous people are the earliest known inhabitants of a territory and their descendants. Do you know who the indigenous people who owned the land where you now live? What happened to those people? Is there anywhere where earlier inhabitants have not been conquered and pushed out of the way by newcomers? Can you find any historical or contemporary examples of one group of people displacing some other group? Have humans always changed their environments?