Why weren't Native Americans given the chance to name what we today call America?

America was named after Amerigo Vespushi. He was a European map maker or explorer and had really nothing to do with these Native Americans. It just seems odd to me that the name given to them or where they are from isn't even something that they chose. This just isn't fair why does everything have to be so Europe-centric?

Why weren't Native Americans given the chance to name what we today call America?
The better issue is that the Native Indians were robbed of their land. The cartographer you mentioned had little to do with their displacement, but as another poster stated, there are many areas named after the Indians. That is not to circumvent the fact that they were mistreated, murdered and now given such small tracts of land.





It is true that many of our now government disregards what I describe as ethnocentric socialism. It separates not only the Indians, but the populace of Americans of African descent as well as others. You never hear of a white person from Africa termed "African American"; only black citizens. I never understood that.





I am of English and Scottish descent. Would one consider me an English-Scottish-American? No; just American. Nor would you consider an African elephant in a zoo as an African American elephant.





These labels are victim of our society. I'm not white (as a sheet of paper) and black people aren't really black either. We are all Americans. We're not white Americans or black Americans or American Indians; we are Americans.





I look forward to when we all come together and realize that we are one nation, no matter of race or color.
Reply:America was invaded and conquered by the Europeans from the other side of the world. They massacred and even displaced many people we would call Native Americans. The Europeans were well-educated and they had the technological advantages to take on the Natives. The European conquerors also had something called paper. On that paper they would write contracts that claim the right to the land, something that the Native Americans did NOT have.





There was also a difference in military. The Natives had sticks and sharp objects, while the Europeans had - you guessed it - guns. A small group of European men with guns could definitely take on tribes who only had tree branches to defend themselves.
Reply:The Native Americans were not a unified nation. Most of them probably had no idea what was beyond their own lands. I doubt the Pawnee knew about the tribes in Brazil. The Sioux probably had no idea that the Seminoles existed. They may have had contact with tribes in the region, but the American continents are vast.


The Europeans, however, had more contact with each other than the Native Americans did. They also travelled more. That is why they named places more than the Native Americans did.
Reply:Well I live in Canada, and "Canada" is derived from a Native word. As is "Ontario". I'd say that there's quite a bit of representation of Native words all throughout the province, not to mention a lot of words.





Lakes Ontario, Huron, Erie, and Michigan are all named after Native words or tribes.





But since the Natives got owned, it's no surprise that we wouldn't bother consulting them on our continent's name. Besides, from a European perspective, they were landing on uncharted land and had to name everything. The Natives had names for places, but the tribes were so diverse and independent of each other that the entire continent didn't have a specific name.
Reply:It's because Europeans began to explore places outside their own domain. They named the country America as a reference for themselves. They didn't simply announce it to the world and expect for everyone to agree with them.


Other people began to adopt the word and the name stuck.
Reply:It is all a little silly now. I was reading a website where a guy in Turkey was saying that the name of Egypt wasn't Egypt. I think he was saying it was named by the Jewish and that it is wrong. "A rose by any other name smells just as sweet"...actually he was talking about his competition, the Rose Theater, and its smelly bathrooms.
Reply:Well, when this country was founded, they were called Indians, along with some rather poor stereotypical insulting names. Native American came along with the whole political correctness movement, its not like George Washington called them Native Americans.





History. Study it.
Reply:"This just isn't fair why does everything have to be so Europe-centric?"





Don't you mean ethnocentric?





Hey, name one section of the United States of America that does not have indian names...oops I was un-PC...OH WELL!






Reply:The name was given,and it just stuck.Native Americans did call America something,just never was really used and nobody cared.Europe was more dominating Native Americans didn't really have control.They were being dominated.
Reply:Because the Europeans threw them off their land, forced on to reservations(which were always the worst land available). They had no rights. They were viewed as savages. They were actively exterminated.
Reply:They might have had a say if there were a civilized front, think about it all the different tribes scattered everywhere and most of tribes were hostile twards the white's witch made it impossible to do Businesss
Reply:The name is only the tip of the ice-berg. natives were robbed of our resources and given land only so they could pay tributes of cash-crops.
Reply:We speak European languages that took some names for certain things. There were hundreds of different native languages and probably not one of them had a name for North America.
Reply:I'm sure they could have cared less about what europeans called their land. I'm sure they cared more about you know, being murdered.
Reply:Because history doesn't acknowledge civilizations that go extinct.
Reply:Um, why didn't Native Americans not get the chance to choose to not be killed and have their land taken over?
Reply:They weren't given much choice about anything.
Reply:True, but a lot of states and cities were named after some kind of Native American type thing.
Reply:So what were we supposed to name it after some dude named Bouncing Rabbit? Yah and we're worried what foreigners think of us. Sheesh.
Reply:To the victor go the spoils....
Reply:Jesus, did you fail american history. When the **** have we ever gave the Indians a say in this nation.
Reply:because we stole it from them fair and square.





(sarcasm)