Question

Columbus called the Taino people Indians because...

Options:
A. They convinced him that they had descended from Asian culture groups.
B. They resembled natives of India that he had observed on previous voyages.
C. He believed that he had landed in the Indies.
D. None of the above.

Answer 1

Christopher Columbus called the Taino people 'Indians' under the erroneous belief that he had reached the Indies (near India), when in fact he had discovered the New World.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer to why Columbus called the Taino people Indians is because he believed that he had landed in the Indies. When Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492, his goal was to find a new route to Asia by sailing west. Due to his miscalculation of the Earth's size and lack of knowledge about the Americas, he mistakenly assumed he had reached the East Indies when he landed in the Bahamas and then proceeded to the island he named Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti).

Believing he was in proximity to India, Columbus referred to the native Taínos as "Indios," which translates to 'Indians' in English. This term was erroneously used to describe the indigenous people of the entire New World thereafter.