If one is European (so called white people, U.S.), how can one be cherokee(Ameri

Question:

If one is European (so called white people, U.S.), how can one be cherokee(American) Indian(from India)?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Actually, Columbus never actually touched the North American continent, only some of the Caribbean Islands. He did not think he was in "India" but "The East Indies" (Indonesia, etc.)

But the reason for the name is the same... he thought he was somewhere else! I'm half Cherokee, half Irish. Happens all the time.

I usually say I'm Cherokee Native though, not Indian. chris columbus thought he landed in india and thus called the natives indians. i think the pc term now in native american.but what gets me is how many people who are very obviously white claim to be native american.just because your great great great great great great gramma was 1/8th native american doesnt make you one

Dana..you should just say you are mixed race.or irish/cherokee...you are both not just cherokee Whoops! I stand corrected. Columbus got to what are now the West Indies, in the Carribean, to what is now Central America and to what is now South America. He never reached what is now the North American continent.

When Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world, called the natives "Indians" even though they were not. The name stuck and has been causing confusion ever since. It isn't accurate, but no one has been able to change it.

Cherokees are one tribe of Native Americans. "American" can mean a white native of the USA. It can also mean a black, red or brown native of the USA. It can also mean anyone who lives on the North American or South American continents, or, more broadly, close to to the continents, like Cubans and Hatians.

Some people call Indians from India "East Indians" and Indians from the Americas "Red Indians". Some people use the term "Native American" for American Indians. Some use "American Indians".

Some residents of the USA are 100% Cherokee, some 50%, some 25%. It depends on how many of their grandparents (great grand parents, great great grandparents) were Cherokee.

Columbus didn't "discover" America; the Cherokees (Aztecs, Incas, Apaches . . .) knew it was here because they lived here. The Vikings had found it centuries before. There is some evidence Portugese fishermen knew about it and kept it secret so no one else would fish in the grand banks.

When he did "discover it" he got it wrong. All in all, he gets more credit than he deserves until you contemplate crossing 3,000 miles of empty ocean in a small, flimsy ship. Then, especially if you've been at sea in 50-foot waves, you admire him. I say Native American or Cherokee. I never say Indian because people always assume India. Race is political. I had an American Indian great great grandmother. I was born with redhair, blue eyes and I have a complexion that freckles and burns in the sun. I had to have a chemo treatment on my face I had so many precancerous lesions. I think anybody would say I am a white person.

Also I would say I am a Native American whether I had an American Indian great great grandmother or not, because I was born here. Had one ancestor that came here in 1608. Blame Columbus for that one. The silly man though he had discovered India when he sailed to the new world. So thats why the natives are called Indians.

Also genes dont ncesarily show that you are of native ancestry.

Just look at Chuck Norris. He's got light brown hair and blue eues, and very Caucasian skin. Yet he is also half native.

Both his parents are half Native Indian. Chuck picked up the Caucasian genes from both parents.