During the decade before 1492, as Columbus nursed a growing urge to sail west to the Indies—as the lands of China, Japan and India were then known in .... read more
Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean Island on which he landed was the subcontinent of India,he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the indigenous,non-European inhabitants of North and South America.In modern times Indian may refer to inhabitants of the subcontinent of India or of the Republic of India or a member of aboriginal American people. read more