Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Amerindian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amerindian is an ambiguous term given to people descended primarily from the native inhabitants of the Americas prior to the European colonization (following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492). The term distinguishes those people from mestizos (of mixed native and European races) and criollos (American-born Europeans).
The Indigenous peoples of Americas are often called "American Indian" or just "Indians". These terms, as well as "Amerindian" term are all ambiguous, because they derive from the word Indian, which denotes someone from the nation of India. The term originated when Columbus thought he had found a route to India, when he had actually found the Americas.
In the United States, the terms Amerindian and American Indian present additional ambiguity when they refer to children of Indians (from India) born or raised in the US, in the same manner as the terms afroamerican and African American are used. In Canada, therefore, the terms "First Nations," "Aboriginal," or the name of the tribe (such as Cree or Ojibway) are often used instead. Native American is the term often used for indigenous people in the United States.