Why did Columbus call the lands he found the West Indies?

Answer 1

He thought he had found land in east Asia.

Columbus did not know that there were continents between Europe and Asia. When he set sail, he was trying to reach Asia by sailing west from Europe instead of sailing around Africa. He hoped that this route would be shorter.

"The Indies" was a generic label used by Europeans to describe all of the lands of east Asia. So when Columbus found land that he thought was part of Asia but which other Europeans didn't know about, he called them the West Indies.

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Answer 2

Columbus called the lands he found the West Indies because he believed he had reached the eastern coast of Asia, specifically the region known as the "Indies" or the "East Indies." Since he was searching for a western sea route to Asia, he mistakenly thought that the islands he encountered in the Caribbean were part of the East Indies. As a result, he referred to them as the "West Indies" to signify their location west of Europe in relation to the Indies in Asia.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

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