Do people from India get upset when we call Native Americans, Indians?
By Shakadoodoo
@shakadoodoo (737)
Dallas, Texas
January 26, 2007 2:08pm CST
I always wondered if people from India got upset when we call Native Americans Indians - I think I would be upset if I were from India since they do not really represent the true Indian way of life.
I also always wondered how could Columbus have thought he was in India when everyone in that region of the world knew were India was. Columbus left from Spain - somthing like Palos Spain - then went to the cannary islands and then ended up in the Americas. I am sure he knew he was not going east - you would have to go east to get to India frpm spain - but they went west - how on earth would he have thought he was in India - And if he thought the world was flat how did he think he was in India if it was behind him - They had compuses and I am sure people with the knowledge of Columbus did not think the world was flat. What do you all think?
2 people like this
6 responses
@smbilalshah (1316)
• Pakistan
26 Jan 07
well i dont think there is any reason to mind or get upset, Christopher solumbus was trying to reach the far eastern trade routes for ancient spice and silk but when he discovered the new wworld he found some red skinned native people which he subsequently called red indians, even though the term itself has been outdated today but still there is nothing offensive in it.
About the flat world question, well ofcourse he believed it to be round and he was brave enough to prove it.....but do you know that some ancient egyptians might have reached the new world long before and even some arab maps showed some land mass existence in the far west, im amazed why the Ottomans didnt go for it before the Spanish.....
2 people like this
@shakadoodoo (737)
• Dallas, Texas
26 Jan 07
I can dig it. There were Africans here when columbus was first came - Have you ever seen the Olmecs - columbus reporst many of these different Africans in his log. I have also read where Don Juan was telling Columbus about a new route to a new land - In the book - They came before Columbus by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
1 person likes this
@kitchenwitchoftupper (2290)
• United States
30 Jan 07
This is one of the best discussions I've read so far. Thank you so much for brightening my day ~Donna
1 person likes this
@hockeygal4ever (10021)
• United States
1 Feb 07
I find it humorous that we have to differentiate when WE talk of an "Indian" person... whether we mean Native American or from India. I personally use Native American when I speak of those but I have background with NA in it and know that they prefer it that way. I never really thought about how it could offend anyone from India, but I guess if they were touchy it might? LOL
@shakadoodoo (737)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Feb 07
That is why I asked. Native Americans do not like to get called Indians here so I wanted to know how true Indians felt.
@SplitZip (1488)
• Portugal
30 Jan 07
It's simple, the world was literally divided between Spain and Portugal. The Portuguese had found a trade route to India by travelling East, and the Spanish were looking for a similar route but on their jurisdiction (that is, on their "side" of the world, to the West). Because no one knew for sure if there was a whole continent in that direction, Columbus travelled West and found land. He thought he had found a new route to India. But he was wrong. Kinda like Kellogg's cornflakes were invented, it was a mistake. I think it's more offensive to the so-called Native Americans tp be called Indians... they are not Indians, they are Americans. The true Americans, by the way, since they were already there before the Europeans got there.
@shakadoodoo (737)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Feb 07
Thanks for the response - I think they should stop teaching us in the USA that he thought the world was flat because if he did - he would have went east to get to the far east. Thanks again!
@dbeast (1495)
• India
30 Jan 07
no man we dont get upset at all.i doesnt affect us a bit because they dont mean it in the same sense.native Americans are supposed to be called Red Indians and we are Indians.so we dont have any hard feeliings. anyway thanks for the concern man.Yes and you are right people knew where India was and you do seem to know your geography too well :-)
@shakadoodoo (737)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Feb 07
Are you saying that Indians in India feel like they have something in common with Native Americans? That is interesting - tell me more about that.
