[chajin]

I use the term "Native American" because the term "Indian" is wildly inaccurate

"Indian" is a morphing of "en Dios," the second half of what the Spanish missionaries called the continental inhabitants: "niños en Dios," meaning children in God.

"Native American" is the best among poor choices.

I would think that the best choice, though it will never catch on south of the Canadian border, is "First Nations," meaning the nations who were here first.

[Verginius Rufus]

Columbus thought he had reached "the Indies," so he called the natives "indios." I believe the Spanish government continued to refer to the Americas as the Indies for centuries thereafter. There is a trace of that in English with the terms "West Indies" and "East Indies" (reflecting the earlier use of "Indies" to mean East Asia).

The "en Dios" version sounds like a later invention.