Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/608

 ORIGIN OF THE NAME " INDIAN "

By F. F. HILDER

An historian has written that the two most important events in the history of the world were the birth of Christ and the discov- ery of America. But even the most enthusiastic and imaginative of the early adventurers did not and could not conceive the enor- mous and far-reaching results of that discovery and the mighty influence it would have upon the destinies of mankind.

From the anthropological point of view the western continent stands as a world apart, with people unlike any other, with lan- guages, arts, and customs essentially their own. On this conti- nent opportunity is afforded to study man under the most primitive conditions and under circumstances that furnish the best indica- tions of his independent development. Many fantastic theories have been promulgated to prove the consanguinity of the Red Man with archaic races of the Old World, but no conclusions that will bear scientific test have ever been reached in support of therm On any theory of the origin of the human race, the widely diver- sified indigenous stocks of America must have required an ex- tremely long period for their development ; and by any philo- logical speculation as to the origin of languages, a vast extent of time must have been required to admit of the development of the almost numberless aboriginal dialects of the American continent. So far as any conclusive evidence is concerned, there is nothing in the physical or mental condition of the aboriginal Americans which requires us to postulate for them a foreign origin.

The origin of the movement which brought these primitive people in contact with civilized men of the Old World, through the adventurous voyage of Columbus, can be traced backward for several centuries, and it is to this that we must look for the basis

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