Expert: Joseph Logue - 10/29/2008

Question
can you explain why east indies and west indies are called that?
i have  drawn a vague line to british colonization and columbus thinking that
america was india but then today's west indies is east of america!  and, which
countries or region is east indies "east" to?  the real India?  help!

Answer
Hello Liz,

There was at one time a relatively simplistic understanding of the geographical world.  Remember that in the 15th and 16th centuries, everything was viewed through the eyes of the mapmakers and navies of the European powers.  Compass points were, then, the rulers of everyone's sense of their place in the world.  The Orient, classically, was the Far East, and so to orient oneself is to try to find oneself directionally.

So, before Columbus there was The Indies, those islands that make up much of southern Asia today (India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.).  Think of how today the new world is called The Americas (North, Central, and South).  Thus, the West Indies were named only after it became apparent that they were NOT the Indies Columbus set sail for.  Those islands had to become the East Indies to differentiate them from the West Indies.  They are west of Europe, not of the United States.  See?  Everything at the time was viewed through a European prism.

Thanks for writing, Liz.  

Sincerely,

Joseph Logue