Indians
The name "Indian" was first applied to them by Christopher Columbus, who
believed that the mainland and islands of America were part of the Indies, in Asia.
So, when the Europeans started to arrive in the 16th- and 17th-century they were met by
Native Americans. The Natives regarded their white-complexioned visitors as something
of a marvel, not only for their outlandish dress and beards and winged ships but even
more for their wonderful technology - steel knives and swords, fire-belching arquebus
and cannon, mirrors, hawkbells and earrings, copper and brass kettles, and so on.
However, conflicts eventually arose. As a starter, the arriving Europeans seemed attuned
to another world, they appeared to be oblivious to the rhythms and spirit of nature. Nature
to the Europeans - and the Indians detected this - was something of an obstacle, even an
enemy. It was also a commodity: A forest was so many board feet of timber, a beaver
annaabi.ee 
