USELESS KNOWLEDGE
Why is it the name of "Indian file" to a queue organized with some people behind the others?
The most accepted hypothesis is that the expression simply describes the way the Indians lined walk the trails in the woods.
Therefore, "Indian", in this case, has nothing to do with the residents of India, but with the native populations of the Americas.
Walk in single file was an excellent war strategy to the tribes of North America.
Historical accounts record that, when warriors moved through the forest, each person stepped in the footprint of the front, the last man to erase his own footsteps and those of the whole group.
So no one left traces of their passage to the enemy.
Some experts also point out that the expression reveals the discrimination suffered by indigenous populations in the United States.
"Actually, it is more a label created by the settlers to give the impression that Indians are savages always ready for war," says linguist Wolfgang Mieder specialist in folklore and proverbs from the University of Vermont, USA .
However, history shows that indigenous war strategies were incorporated by the American Army during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783).
While the British soldiers attacked in blocks, Americans took advantage lined walking and hiding behind trees and stones, as did the natives.
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