The Indians are coming! The Indians are coming!

First, let me apologize for using this apparently insulting term. Not as bad as Redskin, but still not appreciated by many. But the point is, nomenclature, or the names we give to certain things. In this case, I wonder why we call Native Americans of the U.S. and Canada Native Americans while we call Native Americans of Mexico and further South, Hispanics and Latinos. Most of the people coming to the U.S. from South of the border have mainly Indian blood in their veins. They happen to speak Spanish, a Latin based language but they certainly don't speak Latin. But they are, Native Americans, or rather, Native North Americans, while further South they are Native Central Americans, and then Native South Americans. So really, most of the illegal aliens are actually Native Americans! Just as prior to the U.S. taking over the Southwest states of California, Arizona, New Mexico (hence the name), Colorado, and Texas, they were controlled by the Spanish who had conquered Mexico and much of South America and Central America. And then when France conquered much of Europe, including Spain, France ruled Mexico for a while. And of course, there was mixing of the blood and genetics so a number of the people do have European blood and genetics, but for the most part..... it IS the Indians Coming! Some say we should "Circle The Wagons!" Really, its history coming full circle, but now it is Native Americans from the South that have been coming here, legally and illegally, expanding their population, increasing their political power, and altering the demographics. I wonder if those we normally consider Native Americans, those we have put on reservations (such as the Shoshone/Arapahoe and Shoshone/Blackfoot reservations near where I live) are taking note!

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Originally posted by jaxnmarko

edit on 1-8-2013 by jaxnmarko because: accidental enter button pressing

Really?
From what I can see, your post could of used a few more ENTER button presses.

I'm no professional writer myself and I don't mean to knock anyones writing or spelling skills but, come on man. I can't really be bothered to read a giant block of text like that.

Originally posted by starfoxxx
MOD Removed Ill Mannered Comment

I concur.

Was there a point to this thread?

Once again I'm missing something or maybe not I don't care.

In south America people are not all pure natives. They are a mixture of native and european. When people think of "A Mexican" they are thinking of a person who is mixed euro/native.

That's the reason they are called latinos, hispanics, and speak spanish. Because they were taken over by european powers, which interbred with the locals and spawned a new race basically.

In the northern Americas there was not such extreme levels of interbreeding, so they stayed more native than their friends to the south.

That's not to say there aren't any pure natives left, there's plenty of places in southern america that still have populations of natives. But the term "native american" is really just a PC/legal term in the USA, not an accurate descriptor to detail all of the continents inhabitants. Basically it's just a term used to refer to the native populations of the USA's territory.

A guy in south america probably wouldn't call himself a native american, he would call himself whatever country he lives in, territory, tribe, whatever you want to use. The term is used in America because there is a big difference between the natives and the current "ruling class"

In a place where the natives ARE the people in charge of the country, there really isn't any need to further signify themselves as being native. It's kind of implied.

reply to post by jaxnmarko


Your to funny the people of Spain raped and murdered the "Native" out of South America. The other poster is right in there are some left. To say though that People of South America are native Americans would be like calling me one just because way way back one of my family members traded a horse for a wife. Just an example but you should understand.

reply to post by James1982


the western southern americans have japanese blood in them from what ive been told.

reply to post by ShadowLink

You are correct, I should have paragraphed repeatedly though its not a giant amount of text, a mere 20 lines.

reply to post by darknull

Perhaps there are far less Hispanics and Latinos where you live. I have met many Peruvians, Ecuadorans, Salvadorans, Hondurans, Bolivians, and I assure you, most of them have very little European in them. Most of them are from more rural and poorer districts and tribes and even if they had some Spanish blood in them from centuries ago, it has been greatly diluted since then after the Spanish were driven out so long ago, and the Europeans bloodlines often behaved like the Royals of Europe in not diluting their own bloodlines when possible. They looked down on the natives as sub-humans fit for hard labor and utilization. Not to say there is no Spanish blood by any means, just that to a large extent, they are Native Americans, North, South, or Central.

Originally posted by James1982
In south America people are not all pure natives. They are a mixture of native and european. When people think of "A Mexican" they are thinking of a person who is mixed euro/native.

That's the reason they are called latinos, hispanics, and speak spanish. Because they were taken over by european powers, which interbred with the locals and spawned a new race basically.

In the northern Americas there was not such extreme levels of interbreeding, so they stayed more native than their friends to the south.

That's not to say there aren't any pure natives left, there's plenty of places in southern america that still have populations of natives. But the term "native american" is really just a PC/legal term in the USA, not an accurate descriptor to detail all of the continents inhabitants. Basically it's just a term used to refer to the native populations of the USA's territory.

A guy in south america probably wouldn't call himself a native american, he would call himself whatever country he lives in, territory, tribe, whatever you want to use. The term is used in America because there is a big difference between the natives and the current "ruling class"

In a place where the natives ARE the people in charge of the country, there really isn't any need to further signify themselves as being native. It's kind of implied.

When the Conquistadors got to S. America and C. America they took few families with them compared to the European colonists in the USA.

But the 2nd Wave Asiatic folks aka Native Americans were not the first peoples to arrive in the America's...

reply to post by DocHolidaze


reply to post by WatchRider


reply to post by WatchRider


Both understood; I was making the point that the peoples of South America are not pure natives, they are a hodgepodge of different races that have come over and interbred with them. Something the OP evidently had no idea about.

reply to post by jaxnmarko


I have a large number of friends who are native Shoshone, and they refer to themselves as "Indian." In fact, i have never heard them refer to themselves as anything other than "Indian" or "Shoshone."

The end.

jaxnmarko
I wonder why we call Native Americans of the U.S. and Canada Native Americans while we call Native Americans of Mexico and further South, Hispanics and Latinos.

Just as a point of clarification...in Canada, they are referred to as First Nations, not Native Americans.

just boils down to how the southern native culture wishes to identify themselves. many do not see themselves as Maya, Inca decedents or the Meshica people. i know many native people from Mexico who identify themselves as Meshica people and while most of Mexico's native born residents could, most do not, they just identify themselves as Mexican.

it's their choice and it doesn't really matter now does it.