Why do they call it West Indian?
The West Indies refers to a collection of islands in the Caribbean. These islands have nothing to do with India – they were named the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus arrived on the island of Hispanola (where the Dominican Republic and Haiti are), he thought that he was in India.
What is a West Indian nationality?
Caribbean Americans or West Indian Americans are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Caribbean. Caribbean Americans are a multi-ethnic and multi-racial group that trace their ancestry further in time mostly to Africa, as well as Asia, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and to Europe.
Are Caribbean and West Indian the same?
Nowadays, the term West Indies is often interchangeable with the term Caribbean, although the latter may also include some Central and South American mainland countries which have Caribbean coastlines, such as Belize, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, and the Atlantic island nations of Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda …
Is West Indian the same as Jamaican?
Jamaica and the West Indies are not the same. Jamaica is actually an island in the West Indies. The West Indies is a group of crescent-shaped islands over 3,200 km (2,000 miles) long which separates Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north.
Who are considered West Indian?
Three major physiographic divisions constitute the West Indies: the Greater Antilles, comprising the islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico; the Lesser Antilles, including the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe.
Who are West Indians?
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago).
Is West Indian an acceptable term?
WEST INDIAN UNACCEPTABLE: The term most widely used in the past for African-Caribbean people and may be acceptable for some, especially for older people born in the Caribbean.
What are West Indians mixed with?
The population of the West Indies is ethnically heterogeneous and largely the legacy of an early plantation society based on slave labour. Most of the population is descended from enslaved Africans or from Spanish, French, British, or Dutch colonists or is of mixed ethnicity.
What is a West Indian black?
Blacks in the West Indies are descendants of African slaves brought to the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Blacks make up 80 percent of the population of the British West Indies and 90 percent of the population of Haiti.
Why is it called East Indian?
As we touched upon earlier, the term East Indian was derived out of a necessity to differentiate between cuisine from India and cuisine created by populations native to North America, back when Indigenous people were still called Indians in everyday parlance.
What is the difference between east and West Indian?
Eastern religions are Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism. Western religions are based on Abrahamic monotheism, and they derive mostly from the Middle Eastern milieu. Eastern languages comprise of Japanese, Chinese, Malaya, and Polynesian languages, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese.
What race are you if your from Trinidad?
Among its neighbours, the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago stands out due to its ethnic makeup. The population of most Caribbean nations is mainly of African descent; similar to Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago is evenly divided between Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians.
What it means to be West Indian?
What is a West Indian Black?
What is the difference between East and West Indian?
What part of India are Trinidadians from?
Generally, most Indians in Trinidad and Tobago can trace their ancestors back to northern India, especially the Bhojpur and Awadh region of the Hindi Belt, which lies in the Gangetic plains, a plain that is located between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers and faces the mountain ranges of the Himalayas and the Vindhyas.
What is a West Indian American?
West Indian Americans or Caribbean Americans are Americans who can trace their recent ancestry to the Caribbean, unless they are of native descent.
What is the most culturally similar community to the West Indian community?
Of the Hispanic population, the Puerto Rican, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Honduran, Panamanian, Cuban and Costa Rican populations are the most culturally similar to the non-Hispanic West Indian community.
Is West Indian tobacco a British company?
West Indian Tobacco is a member of British American Tobacco Group of Companies, one of the world’s most international businesses, with brands sold in more than 200 markets around the world. Information of value to an analyst, shareholder, potential investor or any other stakeholder.
Where did most West Indian immigrants come from?
From the end of the 19th century up to 1905, most West Indian people emigrated to South Florida, New York and Massachusetts. However, shortly after, New York would become the main destination for the West Indian immigrants.