Why are American Indians called Indians if they are not from India?

Answer 1

Columbus realised the world was round and set off to try and find India by heading the other way. I.e. towards where *we* know America is. He found land and assumed it was India and so called the natives 'Indians'.

Answer 2

Because Christopher Columbus's mistake refuses to die. He landed on America and thought it was India because no one knew that America existed. So he called the people Indians. There is no reason Native Americans should be called anything with "Indian" in the name. They are the true Americans. Everyone else is an immigrant, technically.

Answer 3

Native American inhabitants were incorrectly called Indians by early European explorers who mistakenly believed that they had reached India. Unfortunately, the mistake persists to this day, and many people still refer to all Native Americans as Indians. Even some Native Americans call themselves Indians, but most of them prefer using their legitimate tribal names. To avoid offending, you should ask a Native American if he or she minds being called Indian.

Answer 4

Because when Columbus reached America, he thought he had reached India. Columbus was funded by the Spanish Crown to find a shorter route to India, which was a large trading center for Spain. He thought that if he headed off in the opposite direction, he would reach India (they didn't know that there was an undiscovered continent in the way). When he came aground in the Carribean (now also known as the West Indies) he incorrectly referred to the natives as Indians.

Answer 5

Actually people from India are called Indians. Indians from America are called what the name of their tribes are. Like Cherokee Indian, etc. Makes it less confusing for most people.

Answer 6

Because when Colombus discovered America he was not intended to discover America but India. He tried to discover a another route to India. When Colombus landed he thought it was India. So he called the native peoples there as Indians with a suffix Red because they were red in colour.

Answer 7

Back in the days before people knew any better explorers were searching for a shortcut from Europe to India. When they landed on a new continent and saw the people who were here they figured they must be Indians. That's what they called them because of that mistake.

Answer 8

Europeans land in the Americas.

They think they are in India, due to poor ability to measure the circumfrance of the world - and they were often trying to reach India.

So they called the locals Indians, and it stuck in the history books.

Since the Europeans destroyed every possible trace of Mayan and other aboriginal writings they could find, we have no idea what the Europeans were referred to as. It would probably hurt your ears.

Answer 9

I think the indigenous people prefer to "called" Native Americans.It was a mistake upon the European explorers who wanted to be the lucrative spice trade sown up in the "East India Co. "and other concerns.....

Answer 10

because the explorer who was looking for India thought they were in india. and the american indians fitted the description of people in india (darker skin, etc.). later on another explorer (amerigo vespucci?) straightened things up and they named america after his name.