When the early European colonizers arrived in the Americas (Christopher Columbus and those who followed), they thought they had circumnavigated the globe and arrived in the lands east of India (which were referred to as East Indies at the time).
So, that’s why they referred to the indigenous people of the Americas as “Indians” and the name stuck.
When the early European colonizers arrived in the Americas (Christopher Columbus and those who followed), they thought they had circumnavigated the globe and arrived in the lands east of India (which were referred to as East Indies at the time).
So, that’s why they referred to the indigenous people of the Americas as “Indians” and the name stuck.