Indigenous peoples of Tseng

The indigenous peoples of Tseng (Chinese: 曾島原住民 or 曾國原住民), also referred to as Aboriginal Tsengians, Indigenous Tsengians, Native Tsengians, or Yuanzhumin, are the indigenous peoples of the Tseng Republic. They are numbered at about 3.2% of the population of Tseng, or 972,294 people. However, this number adds up including those with mixed ancestry, and as much as 55% of Tsengians have aboriginal ancestors.

The origins of the indigenous people are varied. There is evidence of Austronesian peoples sailing up to what is now Sanjiao Island of Sandao from Taiwan by around 1000 BC, and there is also evidence that the Yayoi peoples sailed to Tseng from the Japanese archipelago at 800 BC. However, the Austronesians make up the majority of the genetic makeup of Tsengian aboriginals.

Pre-modern and origins
Indigenous Tsengians are the first peoples that inhabited what is now the islands of the Tseng Republic. They are mainly Austronesian, with a few (about 5-10%) having evidence of Yayoi ancestry. These Austronesians originated from the island of Taiwan, and at around 2200 BCE, they began to migrate to Southeast Asia. A few started to sail to the northwest, towards the area of Tseng via the Northern Marianas, and began to settle at Sanjiao at around 1000 BCE, moving towards the Tsengian mainland by 900-850 BCE.

The first indigenous were a hunter-gatherer society, however, by the 700s BCE, agricultural practices such as rice irrigation started to be introduced.

Contact with the Han and Europeans
The Han began to migrate and arrive at Tseng in the 7th century BC, bringing their customs and systems of government. They drove off most of the indigenous from their lands, forcing them to move to the northern and eastern parts of the island. However, some indigenous women were kept as consorts for the monarchs of the Han kingdoms that were popping up.

During the Five Kingdoms Era, the indigenous peoples were ostracized and banned from general society, although in the Yan Kingdom, the Razai people worked as collaborators, and were treated as equal as their Han counterparts.

The established their rule over Tseng in 1405. They saw the resource potential for Tseng and began to increase large-scale Han immigration to the island. The dynasty introduced the terms of Western Aboriginals and Eastern Aboriginals over. Western Aboriginals were indigenous that lived in western Tseng, assimilated to mainstream society, and paid taxes. They were treated much better than Eastern Aboriginals, who lived in the isolated mountainous eastern region, were "uncouth" and "devil-like".

Although indigenous people resented the Han, they were even more resentful to the Europeans. In 1597, Englishman Charles Sterling attempted to found a settlement known as Fort Elizabeth in what is now Bei'ao District of Tseng City, but failed to due a native uprising. The English eventually returned in 1605, establishing Port Elizabeth, and the Western Aboriginals and Han living in the area were enslaved. The French and Dutch arrived in Tseng in 1616 and 1635 respectively, also enslaving the local peoples, with the exception of the Razai, who collaborated with the French. The colonizers also brought diseases from the flu to smallpox, making the death rate of indigenous at the time exceptionally high.

Isolation
By 1700, with the exception of Dutch Tseng, all but eastern Tseng was occupied by the Europeans and the Han. There were native uprisings in 1715 (Arangna Uprising) and 1788 (Sanhoven riots), but they resulted in brutal suppression and hatred towards the indigenous even more. There were also increasingly more conflicts among indigenous over land claims, which did not break even after the French and Dutch briefly left in the 1790s.

Recognized groups
"Main article: List of indigenous ethnic groups of Tseng"As of 2024, the Tsengian government recognizes 23 indigenous groups based on the qualifications drawn up by the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. Most of the groups are located in eastern Tseng, under the Eastern Aboriginal classification, with only 3 groups located in western Tseng, under the Western Aboriginal classification. Some Western Aboriginal groups campaign to be recognized by the government, and to introduce cultural revival.


 * Recognized: Apariq, Arangna, Bangka, Bomao, Fu'lang, Hazaki, Hukar, Jaseiq, Jiavalang, Jingwu, Kalagaray, Kanding, Kiras, Lua'air, Migara, Payako-Kawas, Razai, Sabrouga, Si'tanpo, Tanan, Tisaya, Xiongshan, Yusavan