'Who are West Indians?' #SOC119 #SOCShorts #WestIndies #WestIndian #Columbus #Ethnicity #Nationality

Who are "West Indians" and why is the Caribbean sometimes called "West India" or the "West Indies?"

Reminder: Do NOT make fun of the volunteers - they are sometimes nervous and have a lot of thoughts going through their heads. You'd be surprised what you forget if you were in front of 600 of your peers, plus the stream.

Joins us live on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Right here on YouTube!

Full Lecture Here!

Class Reflection Videos:

Spring 2023 Semester, Class 6

[SOC]

Who are "West Indians" and why is the Caribbean sometimes called "West India" or the "West Indies?"

Reminder: Do NOT make fun of the volunteers - they are sometimes nervous and have a lot of thoughts going through their heads. You'd be surprised what you forget if you were in front of 600 of your peers, plus the stream.

Joins us live on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Right here on YouTube!

Full Lecture Here!

Class Reflection Videos:

[robertgould]

It's strange that the word Indian stuck. It was really only Columbus who carried on with the belief he'd reached India. Most others figured out early on that he'd reached a new world.

[sherlock]

I read somewhere that Columbus knew he had not reached India but kept up the pretense so he could still get funding.

[danimooti]

My people! I’m American but I’m a Trinidadian, black, Spanish and Indian! The blend honey! 🇹🇹💕

[RonJohn]

"Everyone" who went to school in the 1970s learned about Columbus sailing West for India.
Landing on what's now called Hispanola, he reasonably thought he'd landed on an island west of India (the opposite of the *East* Indies).

[myaccount]

Exactly!! Well said! Columbus was trying to find another trade route to India. Back then there were 2 choices for trading with the indies - either across land (very treacherous over mountains, thru deserts, thru Muslim territories) and the second was around the continent of Africa - huge trip. So he thought if he sailed west he would end up in the East where the Indies were. That’s why they called the people they saw “Indians”!

[thelastmotel]

I grew up in a West Indian neighbourhood in Manchester in the 70s and 80s. Then we couldn't say West Indian anymore, we had to say Afro-Caribbean. Then, we couldn't say that anymore, we had to say Black. True story. Why did it evolve into us having to say Black? Cos the people there were British. No point referencing where their parents and grandparents had come from when talking about them, cos they were born in England, not in the Caribbean. Americans could learn a thing or two.

[RunnerBeanzDad]

My wife visited Trinidad (where she was born) a few years ago to visit her brother. She told me that the majority language there is now Spanish due to the influx of people fleeing Venezuela.

[chanskichanski]

Wow! It’s so important to know the history. It explained everything

[jabaltariq]

Columbus thought he was i India because the indigenous people of the Caribbean look like Tamil Indians in India!!

[dabidibup]

Still mind blowing the Americas range North to South, but Columbus hit an Island

[darcy]

When I moved to Canada I was so confused when a man I dated said he was East Indian. I asked which island. He had no idea what I was talking about. He was from India, not Indonesia, the islands called the East Indies.

[RobertLeather]

So, you don’t think it’s the fact he called them indigena, which means “native” in Latin, and it was mistranslated as Indians when it went to English. In the same way canals on Mars were a mistranslation of canale in Italian, which actually means channels.

[IamRa-]

The Columbus/India thing is a myth. India, was not called ‘India’ at the time of Columbus, Columbus named them Indians, meaning, a people in god, or a people of god.
Still was a crazy psycho, but the whole naming thing is incorrect

[olegOG]

crazy how this is a lecture and people don’t learn this basic stuff in school

[manuelmoraleda]

That mistake of Columbus was retained up to now. Humans are practically incorrigible !

[milkinanime]

That's wild these kids are only learning this now

[Radjhitoocool]

That’s why we got all the cool food so many cultural influences and bountiful ecologically diversity environment for ingredients ❤🤤😋

[CHuzz]

Feels like something someone who isn’t from the West Indies and has never been there will try to ban soon…

[justiniantcbk]

No, it was Columbus being stupid. Whether he really thought it India, or lied about it to continue his expeditions, either way it was stupid.