今日拉丁美洲有將近四千萬原住民，超過四百支不同的原住民族群居分布在二十個國家。其中有些是總人口數只剩下不到千人的族群，像是Akuliyo、Beico de pau、Canela、Kumiai、Mura，也有數十萬人口規模的族群，像是Cakchi-quel、Coyas、Guajiro、Mapuches、Mazatecos、Pipil、Zapoteco；同時也有超過百萬人口的大族群，像是Aymara、Nahuatl、Quechua 和Quiche 等。其中將近百分之九十的印地安原住民主要分布在南美的安地斯山地區和中美洲這兩個地區。這些區域也是前西班牙殖民時期印加（Inca）、奇布洽（Chibchas）、馬雅（Maya）和阿茲蒂克（Azteca）等主要農業文明中心的所在地，從過去到現在，這些居住其上的原住民族依舊以務農維生。其他百分之十的原住民族散布在亞馬遜河流域、恰克谷地、奧利諾科盆地、巴塔哥尼亞高原等地區，在雨林、叢林和沙漠地區以漁獵採集伴隨小規模的農業活動。從西班牙殖民時期、獨立到建國後兩百年，本文檢視前西班牙殖民美洲國家原住民主權的發展歷程，從中理解歐洲殖民的影響、獨立後的遭遇，進而檢視今日美洲原住民主權發展面對的結構性問題。

There are nearly forty million indigenous people live in Latin America today, they are divided into more than four hundred ethnics distribute in twenty countries. Some of them are less than one thousand persons, but others are over millions. Ninety percent Latin American indigenous people live in South America's Andean region and Central America region, the same place where those pre-colonial civilizations lived. From the past to the present, their everyday life depends on the agriculture which is their main core of life. However, they are threatening to lose their land, which is the ethnic base for agriculture. Facing the crisis, this study examines the sovereignty of Hispanic America aborigines from the colonial period, through the independence of nation till right now, over the five hundred years, considering of the impact of European colonization, viewing the structural problems of their sovereignty developing.