listen. Germans are from germany like chinese are from china. so i dont know what makes your think arawak and other native american groups are from "west indies" when there is only one land with indian people called india. Native americans are from the america's not from "west indies" IF you ask native americans if they are indian they get offended because there not indian. There native americans.
I think we all know the history of why the natives were called Indians for centuries, and that it is no longer politically correct.
So when you claim ther are from a west indies place you saying there not from the america's.
Do you know of a West Indies, elsewhere, than in the Americas?
because they dont have indians here. Its native americans. Indians are from india which is in western asia. Not the americas. Common sense.
You must have not read this whole thread. We all know about the natives being mistakenly called Indians for centuries.
Obvioulsy the spaniards where very stupid to some how think a small island was india.
Easy for you to say, 500 years later with your maps and GPS.
Heck, most people still thought the Earth was flat, back in those days.
when india is not completly sorrounded by water,
India has islands off it's coast too, and when you pull up broadside onto an island the size of Hispaniola, in a boat, there's no way you can see that it is surrounded by water, and it would appear to be mainland.
they were no elephants in america.
Elephants don't hang out on the coast. There was no way for them to know that they would not find elephants inland. If you sail into India, you will not see elephants there either.
I mean look at india in the map. Look how big it is. how your gunna mistaken a small island for that.
When was the last time you were in a boat? Hispaniola is not a small island and it could be half the size, and still look like mainland.
India isnt even completly sorrounded by water.
They would not have known, upon arrival that the DR was an island, and that did not preclude that it could have been an island off the Indian coast.
You are trying to apply modern day knowledge and technology to the late 1400's.
So here's a brief, to help you understand what the West Indies are.
Pursuant to the Americas being discovered, yet refered to as India, and it's people, Indians, the Brits, who colonized many regions, coined the term, West Indies, to differentiate America from India, to the East. The term has faded away in the last 100 years or so, as it is more and more refered to as the Caribbean.
That's it, that's all, that's the whole story.
Nothing complicated about it.
Things change, names change, it's all a part of evolution.
My dog is called a Rhodesian Ridgeback, yet they came originally from South Africa, but were specialized in Rhodesia, which no longer exists, and is now called Zimbabwe.
Should they change the breed's name?