1818: American Tartarian, or Hunting Indian

The question remains, if Tartary had nothing to do with the continental Americas, than how did the names manage to bleed through?

Tartarian, or Hunting Indian, Inhabiting the Inland parts of North America.
  • Facial types of two different native Americans from Newfoundland and Labrador. Both wear fur clothing.
  • The second one can be seen here.
Tartarian_indian.jpg

Tartarian_indian_published.jpg

Source
And a little bonus for those willing to read:
  • A Nation Now Extinct: American Indian Origin Theories as of 1820: Samuel L. Mitchill, Martin Harris, and the New York Theory
 

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Could Tartarian mean "wanderer" in this context, and the author just used it for the lack of knowledge? I've read somewhere here in the comments (I believe it was from an old book) that Tartarians were just supposed to mean wanderers, hence so many "tribes" and mentions of Tartarians on old maps in multiple places, and their need to explain specific types of habitats for them, mostly tents. Not that I buy that really.
 
It sure could, but don't we give our contemporary narrative writers too much of a leeway? What gives us the right to question the knowledge and credibility of the authors of the past? Is there a similar meaning to the Esquimaux?

esquimaux.jpg
 
It sure could, but don't we give our contemporary narrative writers too much of a leeway? What gives us the right to question the knowledge and credibility of the authors of the past? Is there a similar meaning to the Esquimaux?

Hello KD, you are right.

As far as I know the public is still not sure where the word "eskimo" originated (same can obviously be said about Tartarian) and to be honest, this is the first time I see it spelled like this.

As always, questions only lead to more questions.
 
Sure is not a spelling we are used to. Contemporary explanation suggests that "Eskuimaux" spelling has French roots.
  • French traders who encountered the Innu (Montagnais) in the eastern areas adopted their word for the more western peoples and spelled it as Esquimau or Esquimaux in a transliteration.
  • Eskimo - Wikipedia
 

Eskimo (n.)

1580s, from Danish Eskimo or French Esquimaux (plural), both probably from an Algonquian word, such as Abenaki askimo(plural askimoak), Ojibwa ashkimeq, traditionally said to mean literally "eaters of raw meat," from Proto-Algonquian *ask- "raw" + *-imo "eat." Research from 1980s in linguistics of the region suggests this derivation, though widely credited there, might be inaccurate or incomplete, and the word might mean "snowshoe-netter," but there are phonological difficulties with this. See also Innuit.
 

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