The name Pelasgians was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all the indigenous inhabitants of the Aegean Sea region and their cultures, and British historian Peter Green comments on it as "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably indigenous people in the Greek world".
Plain of Thessaly, to the west of classical Pelasgiotis, but in the original range of the Pelasgians. The Pindus Mountains are visible in the background. The river is the Peneus.
Larisa of Argos.
Athenian Women Surprised by the Pelasgians of Lemnos, Jean Benner, c. 1876
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territory, and an experience of subjugation and discrimination under a dominant cultural model.
A Kaqchikel family in the hamlet of Patzutzun, Guatemala, 1993
Colorized photograph of an Amis couple in traditional clothing. Taken in pre-World War II Japanese-ruled Taiwan.
Guatemalan girls in their traditional clothing from the town of Santa Catarina Palopó on Lake Atitlán
Alonso Fernández de Lugo presenting the captured Guanche kings of Tenerife to Ferdinand and Isabella