In recent years Karate has become a generic term for any of the "harder" sorts of open-hand defense, but the term and the origin of both is from Okinawa. Okinawa-Te is the generic term for the unique set of fighting systems which were developed by the Okinawans in response to the influence of Chinese Kung-Fu (many spellings exist), Japanese warrior arts, and their own unique contributions.
The term Karate is a fairly recent derivation from Okinawa-Te. When the Japanese adopted certain styles of Okinawa-Te they preferred the term Karate, as it had no connotation of its origin.
Okinawa-Te as practiced by us adheres more to the older modes of Okinawa-Te. The influence of Chinese arts is clearly evident in many of our kata. The emphasis on less linear modes is also more evident in Okinawa-Te than in other systems of Karate.