A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words West Indian specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it also to describe the descendants of European colonists who stayed in the West Indies. Then by mid-20th century the West Indian "had become black".[1] The OED now defines it as referring to any permanent citizen of the West Indies nations. Some West Indian people reserve this term for citizens or natives of the British West Indies only, to the exclusion of not just the Hispanophones, but also French and Dutch West Indians.

See also

References

  1. Hall, Catherine (2003). "What Is a West Indian?". In Schwartz, Bill (ed.). West Indian Intellectuals in Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 9780719064746. OCLC 52829533. Retrieved 12 December 2013.

Further reading

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