American Indians
The European explorer Christopher Columbus first used the word “Indian” to identify the peoples he found living in the beautiful Caribbean Sea on his voyage to the Indies, an island chain in Asia that was important for the abundance of spices there. He was lost, of course, and had come nowhere near the Indies. The name for the indigenous people remained, however, and now we call the Indies of Columbus’ day the East Indies and an island chain in the Caribbean is now the West Indies.
The term is now used to identify the indigenous tribesmen of the continental United States, thus the term “American Indians.” There are dozens of existing distinctive tribal peoples today who use specific words to identify their tribes within the realm of the American Indian designation – Cherokee, Sioux, Chinook, etc. Other terms often used interchangeably when referring to American Indians are simply Indians, Amerindians, Amerinds, and Indigenous, Aboriginal, and Original Americans.
Anthropologists use the term “Native Americans” when referring to American Indians because it is believed to be more accurate and less offensive. Many people consider the word “Indian” to be wrong when used to identify people in the United States because the people in India are Indians. Certain American Indian activists and their followers are opposed to the term Native Americans because of their belief the term was imposed by the US government without consent from the peoples themselves. In a 1996 survey, it was determined that more American Indians preferred that term rather than the term Native Americans.
Another reason for opposition against the term “Native American” is that, when translated, the word “native” means “born in or to.” When used in this sense, anyone and everyone born in the United States of America can claim the term. To clarify the distinction between those Americans whose ancestry can be traced back before the European invasion from those Americans of any ancestry who happened to be born in the US, capitalization is the key.
The indigenous peoples of Alaska, although American, are called “Alaska Natives” and Hawaii’s indigenous peoples are referred to collectively as “Native Hawaiians.”
Please send any comments directly to the author, Joseph Paige.