|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
WITHOUT diving for the atlas OR the internet, how many present day countries can you think of that were named after people?
I came up with 4 fairly quickly and one question mark (see below), but there must be more? Also thought of one from the recent past - don't think we need to go back into antiquity (Ceasaria?).
USA - Amerigo Vespucci
Bolivia - Simon Bolivar
Columbia - Christopher Columbus
The Philippines - King Philip of Spain
Question mark - Jordan?
Recent Past - Rhodesia - Cecil John Rhodes
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618 |
Surely the American continent(s), and not the USA directly, were named for this Amerigo character; the US then taking its name from the continent.
Yes. I am anal-retentive, I know.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Cecil John RhodesWhale oil.  Who the heck is/was he?. Obviously, geography is one of my many weak points. I can't think of any other countries named for people, but I can think of one named for a concept. (No points awarded for this one; it's too easy.) I wonder why there isn't a Cortesia, or a deGamaland...?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Going back to "people", do we have San Salvador? (Can't recall if that is the country of which El Salvador is the capital, or vice versa.)
San Marino? (I presume there was a saint?)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Right, Keiva! No points, but...perhaps we could work out some other suitable reward? Edit: Keiva, you snuck one in whilst I was composing. Welcome to addiction. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Well, according to Helen I'm busily engaged in "research", so I'll be in the library for awhile.
PS to stales: I believe Caesaria was a city, not a country.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,094 |
Liberia, of course.
Wait a sec, I thought Liberia came from liberty, as in slaves going there for freedom. The capital, though, is Monrovia, named, of course, after James Monroe.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
Israel
Saudi Arabia (or?)
Jordan (does the "Hashemite Kingdom" count?)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
At the end of the day, the USA takes its name from Sr. Vespucci - no matter how convoluted the reasons.
As to anal retention, may I recommend increasing your intake of water, fruit and fibre.
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
I can't think of a country off hand, but I know that 'Thessaloniki' in Greece was named after Alexander the Great's sister. Her husband (the king) apparently founded the city in Macedonia just for her - what a sweet-heart.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
Cecil John Rhodes Who the heck is/was he?. You'll have to ask Bill Clinton If you are still not sure, check out the following site produced in homage to Mr Rhodes: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/RhodesScholarship/abouttrust.htmlThere are plenty of other views about his role in history. Google to get a selection of views. This site http://slate.msn.com/TVReview/98-01-10/TVReview.asp gives a flavour of the BBC series "Rhodes". There are even less charitable views of Mr Rhodes' life around. The comment "Rhodes was no 19th-century Hitler. He wasn't so much a freak as a man of his time." characterises the reviewer's viewpoint.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636 |
Mexico was named after the Mejicas, a group that just didn't have any luck at all.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Of course I've heard of this, Jo--thank you! My goodness, the things I learn on this board. I never even knew (or had completely forgotten, if I had) that Rhodesia was named after anybody, let alone that there was a connection to Rhodes scholars. I had heard of the Kimberly diamond mines, though. I notice that one the first Trustees of the scholarship was Earl Grey. Was that the tea manufacturer? I do actually like "Earl Grey, hot" (hi, l-head!  ), the only hot tea I've ever found palatable.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>I do actually like "Earl Grey, hot"
We must pass that on to TEd, I understand that he makes darn fine tea. I'm looking forward to trying it one day.
{That reminds me, I did go once all the way to North Bend near Snoqualmie Falls to try the "damn fine cherry pie", ... obsessive, I ain't)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Mexico was named after the Mejicas
The list will expand greatly if we include countries named for a group of people, rather than for a specific individual. E.g, Hungary (so too its official name, Magyar); Russia; England; Scotland.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
>Mexico was named after the Mejicas, a group that just didn't have any luck at all.
Yep, but they are immortalized in that great book, The Last of the Mejicans." It tells the story of the cobbler who made all their footwear for them.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
the USA takes its name from Sr. Vespucci
*If we accept that notion (which, apparently, some don't) we also have the possibility that the name Amerigo derives from a Germanic phrase meaning Kingdom of Heaven.
And then, Rome started out as the name of a city but became the name of an entire empire.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
As I noted in a post a week or so ago, Jordan was originally (ca. 1925) called "Trans-Jordan" by the Brits, meaning the country on the other side of [the river] Jordan. The "Hashemite Kingdom" part came later, when the name was abbreviated to "Jordan".
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
San Salvador is the capitol of El Salvador. Or Holy Saviour is the capitol of The Saviour. The Spaniards were fond of giving religious names to places they conquered or founded. "Los Angeles" is only a part of the original name.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Jordan was originally (ca. 1925) called "Trans-Jordan" by the Brits, meaning the country on the other side of [the river] Jordan.
byb uses "country" in the sense of "territory". Until 1948 this area was a trust territory administered by Great Britain, not an independent country.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Kenya - for Jomo Kenyatta who, legend tells, did not want the country named for him therefore the change in pronunciation. KEN-ya from KEEN=yatta.
I think he came to power after the Mau Mau raised some hell, killed some British planters/farmers and the Brits responded by interning many hundreds of native peoples and confiscating their lands etc. Then came independence. I believe Kenyatta was leader of the Thicka (sp?) party of which the Mau Mau were a militant off-shoot group.
Whew! my memory dredged that up from where (God-alone-knows) I had it tucked it away.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
WOW wow!!
Thanks for that one - a beauty!
stales
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Stales - you cause me to  . Just an off-shoot of having lived through a lot of history and a decent memory for past. Now, where did I put those keys ?????
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 460 |
and then, of course, there's Oz, named after Frank (of Muppets fame) or, perhaps, after that wizard?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
Kenya was around long before Kenyatta. The British colony of Kenya probably was, and I think Jomo Kenyatta might have been, named for Mt Kenya. On a side-note, I once read that "Jomo" was the sound of a knife being taken out of a sheath.
Other countries named for individual people:
Solomon Islands
Wallis and Futuna Islands (the Wallis part anyway)
Cook Islands
Pitcairn Islands
Falkland Islands
St Helena
St Christopher (and Nevis)
St Vincent
Bermuda (? - named after one Bermudez?)
Georgia (though only in English, Russian etc., not in its native form Sakartvelo)
Belize (? - said by some to be an alteration of Wallace)
St Pierre (and Miquelon)
Tristan da Cunha (an explorer?)
Northern Marianas (but who was Mariana, or was this a Spanish name after the Virgin Mary?)
[That's enough countries. - Ed.]
Hi Jackie, I'm back
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Bermuda (? - named after one Bermudez?)Yup. There were two Bermudezes, and the island was named after the short one. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
the short oneAugh! Oh, GROAN!! But...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
|
|
OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Last post on this subject...
Thought I'd collate the responses into a final list for us all to keep and study for that next Quiz Night. Apologies if any are still contentious - the ones below fill the criteria I set myself when thinking of the subject.
(1) (United States of) America
(2) Belize
(3) Bermuda
(4) Bolivia
(5) Columbia
(6) Cook Islands
(7) Falkland Islands
(8) Israel
(9) Northern Marianas
(10) Pitcairn Islands
(11) (Rhodesia)
(12) Saint Christopher
(13) Saint Helena
(14) Saint Pierre
(15) Saint Vincent
(16) San Marino
(17) Solomon Islands
(18) The Philippines
(19) Tristan da Cunha (named for its Portuguese discoverer in 1506, Tristao da Cunha)
Thanks to all contributors
stales
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
767
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
