MovieChat Forums > Windtalkers (2002) Discussion > The Navajo

The Navajo

posted 16 years ago by david-chewie
6 replies | jump to latest

And other native americans, I've been wondering for quite a while why they are called Indians. When I think of Indians I think of... India.

Could someone enlighten me with a little history lesson or just explain it for me, please :/

[–] thegreatb-1 16 years ago

As far as I know the reason is that Columbus was looking for a new sea route to India when he stumbled upon America. He thought it was India so the inhabitants were named Indians. Why nobody has corrected this since 1492 is beyond me.

[–] david-chewie 16 years ago

Ahh, that sounds about right.

Thanks !

[–] astimoli 10 years ago

I thought they had corrected it, hence why they are called native Americans.

[–] Circle_of_the_Moon2101 10 years ago

Actually, I've heard of an alternate origin to referring to the Native Americans as Indians.

The word Indian comes from a Spanish or Italian phrase "In Deos", which means "Into God", because of how spiritually devout the American Indians were.

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

No, that's not it. When Magellan was looking for an alternate route to spices in the East, he came upon the Philippines. He too thought he was in India and for more than 300 years, the Spaniards called Filipinos Indians or Indios. Even when they knew that they weren't in India and the inhabitants weren't Indians. Same thing.

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[–] Kurt (189) 6 years ago

I guess this is very old and from the IMBD board, but anyway:
At the time, in 1492, Europeans knew very little about east Asia and southeast Asia, and how far it extended. Indies was the name of all of the southern parts of Asia (named after Indus) and at the time there was no country called India. So when the Spaniards met the Indigenous people of the Antilles, they called it the West Indies, they thought they were Southeast Asian people, similar to Filipinos and Malay. Even though Indus is in Pakistan, the naming of the indigenous peoples of the Americas as "Indians" had nothing to do with the country now called India.