Why Columbus called them "Indians"
The majority of the following is from The Encyclopedia Britannica (1996 Edition) Why did Christopher Columbus call the people inhabiting the Carribean Islads "Indians", when there was no such country or territory named "India" at the time? Christopher Columbus coined the term "Indian" when he landed on a small island in the Carribean. - Fun Fact, Columbus never stepped foot on the land mass known presently as the continent "North America". The past 500 years have seen a myriad of terms used as referents to the people living on the Carribean Islands that Columbus invaded and enslaved, and later to all peoples of the Western Hemisphere. - Indian - American Indian - indigenous American - Native American - aboriginal American, - First Nation - Amerindian - Eskimo - Inuit, and - Native Alaskan. Some of these terms are used almost interchangeably, while others indicate relatively specific entities. The term American Indian is often used to refer...