# Who's responsible for the 'Indian' label ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 4, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786 "2003-02-04T21:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/1 "2003-02-04T21:20:35Z")
I’m an Indian (and not the American kind.) Is is Columbus’s mistake that the term coined for natives on the American continents are called “Indians” ? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/2 "2003-02-04T21:28:03Z")
According to this [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgenteindios.html), which includes links to Columbus’s original letter, Columbus is the one responsible. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/3 "2003-02-04T21:31:46Z")
I think you meant to post this in GQ. (Or more accurately, in Comments on Staff Reports - which I’ll link to, as the Straight Dope has covered this topic.) [Does “Indian” derive from Columbus’s description of Native Americans as “una gente in Dios”?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgenteindios.html) ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/4 "2003-02-04T21:31:52Z")
Yup! That Chris, what a card… > [@](#): > > … The place of the first Caribbean landfall was most likely modern San Salvador, or Watling Island, in the Bahamas. > > Thinking he had reached the East Indies, Columbus referred to the native inhabitants of the island as “Indians,” a term that was ultimately applied to all indigenous peoples of the New World. From [Biography.com](http://search.biography.com/print_record.pl?id=4596) ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/5 "2003-02-04T21:33:41Z")
I hate you forever, **SpoilerVirgin**. You spoiled everything. Including my virginity. No, wait … ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/6 "2003-02-04T23:25:22Z")
\*Look for The Indian label When you are buying A shirt, dress, or pants\* Columbus… what a doof. (Except, he _did_ have internet access, if a staff report can link to his letter… Hmmm…) One wonders what American aboriginals would’ve been called…? I’ll search/post that in Comments. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/7 "2003-02-05T00:00:39Z")
Blackfeet, crow, sioux, eighty some other names… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/8 "2003-02-05T00:10:35Z")
No, no, no. As a _group_ [Any ideas?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160777) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/9 "2003-02-05T01:29:27Z")
American Aboriginals sounds pretty good to me. Or if you’re Canadian, you might say First Nations. But that’s rare south of the border. And I don’t know if all groups were organized enough to be called nations in the modern sense of the word. Why is this in The Pit? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/10 "2003-02-05T01:50:48Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** This was probably originally intended for GQ, but since there was a Staff Report, I’ll move it to CSR instead. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/11 "2003-02-05T03:13:27Z")
I normally use “Amerind”, although some linguists are now using the word in a somewhat restricted sense. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-responsible-for-the-indian-label/152786/12 "2003-02-05T03:36:49Z")
He thought he’d landed in India so they were all called “Indians.” Imagine if he thought he’d landed in China, they’d all be called Kung Pao.