Native Americans are busy adding the place names of their ancestral homes to digital maps of the US
America sometimes has the weirdest place names 😳#usa
Some companies are embracing the idea of using Native American names on maps. The maps are meant to complement and provide context for digital maps like Google Maps and Apple Maps. Advocates say the effort is long overdue as part of a larger reckoning over the appropriation of Native American terms, including those used by sports teams.
“Native American place names remind us of the human practices that occurred in the past in areas now controlled by states,” said Gustavo Verdesio, an associate professor of Native American studies at the University of Michigan, in an email interview.
“This is relevant because the history of states that developed on former indigenous territory has replaced and erased the earlier human history that took place on the same territory.”
