The indigenous people of Sikkim are the Lepchas and Limbus ;[1][2] the naturalized ethnic populations of Bhutias, Kiratis, & Indian Gorkha of Nepalese descendants who have an enduring presence in shaping the history of modern Sikkim.[3] The indigeneity criteria for including all peoples of Sikkim and Darjeeling hills is a misnomer as it is clearly known that Lepchas are the first people who trace their origin and culture of their ethnogenesis to the historical and somewhat political geography of Sikkim history as is well documented by colonial and immigrant settler history. However, many tribes preceded the migration of the colonial powers and can trace their migratory background as well as ancestral heritage and a well-formed history of civilization and cultural locus that is not inherently indigenous to Sikkim.
Historically, Sikkim was a Princely State in the eastern Himalayas, a protectorate of India. Lepchas were the main inhabitants as well as the Ruler of the land until 1641.[4] Lepchas are generally considered to be the first people, indigenous to Sikkim, while the major ethnic communities are mostly communities that function as tribal entities or ethnolinguistic groups with their own historical inception surrounding Sikkim and origins beyond the former Himalayan Kingdom. Apart from the Lepcha population, ethnic Limbu and Bhutia population settled Early/Medieval Sikkim or present day political or historical Greater Sikkim and withstanding landmarks of forts and villages inhabited by the two ethnic populations in eastern, western regions of present-day Sikkim is speculated. The presence of the two populations prior to pre-monarchical Sikkim is to be further studied.