It's because when Columbus first arrived he named the natives "Indians" because he didn't know the North American Continent existed and the name stuck. People had been to India overland from the Middle East and Europe and had been to China then too (Marco Polo) then but people didn't know about the North and South American Continent then.
So, it's to differentiate "East Indians" from Native Americans that we use these terms today. Because often Americans will say "Indians" to denote Native Americans still.
Or in Settler talk in the 1700s and 1800s "INJUNS".
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