The curious case of the West Indies and the West (of) India:

[DHONI183]

It gets a little confusing at times when you use sentences such as "Viv Richards was a great West 'Indian' batsman" in relevance to the West Indies. Suddenly the other person may take it to be for a second that you are actually referring to the West (of) 'India'.

Is there a way to 'solve' this problem?

[Zulqarnain_Mohammad]

As per my knowledge goes...When Christopher Columbus went on his journey to look for a better route to India,unknowingly he sailed in the wrong direction....he didn't find India but what he found was the Caribbean Islands.Later it turned out that India was located on the eastern side of Europe and the Caribbean Islands were located on the western side of Europe.....so the islands of the Caribbean were named as the West Indies,meaning India in the west,in honor of Columbus' mistake.

[DHONI183]

As per my knowledge goes...When Christopher Columbus went on his journey to look for a better route to India,unknowingly he sailed in the wrong direction....he didn't find India but what he found was the Caribbean Islands.Later it turned out that India was located on the eastern side of Europe and the Caribbean Islands were located on the western side of Europe.....so the islands of the Caribbean were named as the West Indies,meaning India in the west,in honor of Columbus' mistake.

Very, very, very interesting and adds a great, great, great deal to my knowledge. Thanks brother:19:!

Any sources please?

[Zulqarnain_Mohammad]

Very, very, very interesting and adds a great, great, great deal to my knowledge. Thanks brother:19:!

Any sources please?

Well mate.....I read it somewhere when I was little....maybe some book or newspaper or some magazine.....I don't remember the exact source....that was long ago

[DHONI183]

Well mate.....I read it somewhere when I was little....maybe some book or newspaper or some magazine.....I don't remember the exact source....that was long ago

Thanks, still:19:!

[Zaz]

It gets a little confusing at times when you use sentences such as "Viv Richards was a great West 'Indian' batsman" in relevance to the West Indies. Suddenly the other person may take it to be for a second that you are actually referring to the West (of) 'India'.

Is there a way to 'solve' this problem?

Apparently chris columbus set out to the west to prove that the world was round not flat (as was commonly thought in those days)

The intention was that he would navigate the globe and hit india from the west, hence the carribean islands which were instead discovered are called West Indies

[ElRaja]

It gets a little confusing at times when you use sentences such as "Viv Richards was a great West 'Indian' batsman" in relevance to the West Indies. Suddenly the other person may take it to be for a second that you are actually referring to the West (of) 'India'.

Is there a way to 'solve' this problem?

ive never had that problem, still, just say west indian in a carribean accent and it should do the trick.

plus india is so big, people usually use states to talk about where someone is from.