The Indians

Ongoing conversations and our attempts to define and clarify use of this term, have led us to engage in the following discussion:

Over the years, the term "Indians" has been appropriated for use in virtually all modes of literary expression. A basic google.com search of the word "Indian" quickly yields at least a billion and a half matches with the vast majority of the references being to the inhabitants of Indian subcontinent and the East and West Indies. When used to represent the "Native People of North America" or "The Indigenous peoples of the Americas," the word "indians" returns almost two million google.com matches. A decade and a half into our Internet based exposition of the story of the People of colonial Albany and their world, we have employed the term more than a hundred times. At the same time, we prefer and have used "Native peoples" or "Native Americans" to describe the people first encountered by the European colonists and their descendants.

Mostly, the Colonial Albany Project has employed such descriptive terms within the context of our expositions relating to the so-called Fur Trade and the principal function of the Albany-based Commissioners of Indian Affairs.

At this point, we do not feel we can add to this topic in a meaningful and appropriate way. Thus, we move on for now. Please let us know if our overview statement is incorrect and/or puzzling and/or how we can do better!