The present-day Nansemond people trace their lineage to this intermarriage. Three brothers from "modern day India or Pakistan" received their freedom in 1710 and married into a Native American tribe in Virginia. Upon freedom, they are said to have blended into the free African American population, considered " mulattoes". In particular, court records from the 1700s indicate a number of "East Indians" were held as slaves in Maryland and Delaware. There were also some East Indian slaves in the United States during the American colonial era. 1900, Smithsonian Institutionīeginning in the 17th century, members of the East India Company would bring Indian servants to the American colonies. See also: Asian immigration to the United States Pre-1800 Members of the Nansemond tribe, descendant of East Indian, Native American, and African American people, c. Indian Americans are included in the census grouping of South Asian Americans, which includes Bangladeshi Americans, Bhutanese Americans, Maldivian Americans, Nepalese Americans, Pakistani Americans, and Sri Lankan Americans. While "East Indian" remains in use, the term "Indian" and " South Asian" is often chosen instead for academic and governmental purposes.
Since the 1980s, Indian Americans have been categorized as "Asian Indian" (within the broader subgroup of Asian American) by the U.S. government has since coined the term "Native American" in reference to the indigenous people of the United States, but terms such as "American Indian" remain among indigenous as well as non-indigenous populations. Qualifying terms such as " American Indian" and " East Indian" were and still are commonly used in order to avoid ambiguity.
In the Americas, the term "Indian" had historically been used to describe indigenous people since European colonization in the 15th century. Indian Americans are the highest-earning ethnic group in the United States. population and are the largest group of South Asian Americans, the largest Asian-alone group, and the largest group of Asian Americans after Chinese Americans. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "American Indians." With a population of more than 4.4 million, Indian Americans make up approximately 1.35% of the U.S. Indian Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India.