NativeAmerican

NativeAmerican
Native American n.
A member of any of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. The ancestors of the Native Americans are generally considered by scientists to have entered the Americas from Asia by way of the Bering Strait sometime during the late glacial epoch.
  Native American adj.  
Usage Note: Many Americans have come to prefer Native American over Indian both as a term of respect and as a corrective to the famous misnomer bestowed on the peoples of the Americas by a geographically befuddled Columbus. There are solid arguments for this preference. Native American eliminates any confusion between indigenous American peoples and the inhabitants of India, making it the clear choice in many official contexts. It is also historically accurate, despite the insistence by some that Indians are no more native to America than anyone else since their ancestors are assumed to have migrated here from Asia. But one sense of native is “being a member of the original inhabitants of a particular place,” and Native Americans' claim to being the original inhabitants of the Americas is unchallenged.·Accuracy and precision aside, however, the choice between these two terms is often made as a matter of principle. For many, Native American is the only choice for expressing respect toward America's indigenous peoples; Indian is seen as wrong and offensive. For others, the former smacks of bureaucracy and the manipulation of language for political purposes while the latter is the natural English term, its inaptness made irrelevant by long use. Fortunately, this controversy appears to have subsided somewhat in recent years, and it is now common to find the two terms used interchangeably in the same piece of writing. Furthermore, the issue has never been particularly divisive between Indians and non-Indians. While generally welcoming the respectful tone of Native American, most Indian writers have continued to use the older name at least as often as the newer one.·Native American and Indian are not exact equivalents when referring to the aboriginal peoples of Canada and Alaska. Native American, the broader term, is properly used of all such peoples, whereas Indian is customarily used of the northern Athabaskan and Algonquian peoples in contrast to the Eskimos, Inuits, and Aleuts. Alaska Native (or less commonly Native Alaskan) is also properly used of all indigenous peoples residing in Alaska. See Usage Note at American Indian. See Usage Note at First Nation. See Usage Note at Indian.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • American Black Indians — Infobox Ethnic group group = African Native Americans caption = Notable African Native Americans: Bessie Coleman·James Earl Jones · Beyonce Knowles ·Rosa Parks · Lolo Jones · Oprah Winfrey poptime =182,494 are registered(2000) * However experts… …   Wikipedia

  • Choctaw — For other uses, see Choctaw (disambiguation). Choctaw Choctaw portraits Total population 160,000   …   Wikipedia

  • Ron Gonzales — Infobox Governor name= Ronald R. Gonzales caption= order= office=63rd Mayor of San José term start= 1998 term end= 2006 predecessor= Susan Hammer successor= Chuck Reed birth date= 1951 birth place= California death date= death place= spouse=… …   Wikipedia

  • Choctaw Freedmen — The Choctaw freedmen were enslaved African Americans who became part of the Choctaw Nation with emancipation after the American Civil War, a requirement of the 1866 treaty the US made with the Choctaw. The Choctaw had sided with the Confederacy… …   Wikipedia

  • Wewoka, Oklahoma — Infobox Settlement official name = Wewoka, Oklahoma settlement type = City nickname = motto = imagesize = image caption = image mapsize = 250px map caption = Location of Wewoka, Oklahoma mapsize1 = map caption1 = subdivision type = Country… …   Wikipedia

  • Monaca, Pennsylvania —   Borough   Former New Philadelphia Society s church, which was founded and led by Bernhard Müller from 1832 to 1833 …   Wikipedia

  • London Company — The London Company (also called the Charter of the Virginia Company of London) was an English joint stock company established by royal charter by James I of England on April 10, 1606 with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North… …   Wikipedia

  • Powhatan — The Powhatan (also spelled Powatan and Powhaten), or Powhatan Renape [The word Renape , which means human [http://www.powhatan.org/history.html] , is cognate with Lenape, the name of another Algonquian speaking tribe of what is now New Jersey and …   Wikipedia

  • Platte Purchase — The Platte Purchase in 1836 added convert|3149|sqmi|km2|0 to the state of Missouri, making up its northwest corner. It includes the following counties: Andrew (435 square miles, 1127 km²), Atchison (545 square miles, 1412 km²), Buchanan (410… …   Wikipedia

  • Presidential $1 Coin Program — Presidential One Dollar Coin United States Value 1 U.S. dollar Mass  8.100 g  (0.26 troy oz) Diameter  26.5 mm  (1.043 in) Thickness …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”