Fascinating Tales Of How
Countries Got Their Names
Explorers named the countries they discovered using
a little bit of legend and a dash of superstition. Many
of us know the fascinating tale of how Greenland and
Iceland got their names. The viking Floki Vildegarson
named Iceland for its icebergs after suffering
misfortune, while Erik the Red named Greenland for
itslush valleys to encourage his countrymen to settle
there, and yet each country’s climate now seems to
contradict its deceptive name. Here are 10 other tales
behind the naming of countries.
The Forgotten Welshman Who
Gave America Its Name...
We’ve always discussed how various civilizations,
some from Europe, might have reached the
Americas hundreds of years before Columbus did.
Columbus, who had landed on modern-day Haiti,
was sure he was somewhere near India.
One man who was part of his expeditions, the
aforementioned Amerigo Vespucci, knew full well
that this was a new continent, and his tales of
this “new world” amazed two Germans who were
reprinting an ancient treatise on geography. The
Germans incorporated Vespucci’s discovery in the
treatise’s preface:
“There is a fourth quarter of the world which Amerigo
Vespucci has discovered and which for this reason
we can call ‘America’ or the land of Americo.”
However,
a
second
theory
involves
Welshman Richard Amerike (or Ap Meryk), who
funded an expedition that reached Newfoundland in
1496. One piece of evidence supporting this theory
is that the US flag’s “Stars and Stripes” design is
similar to that of the Amerike family’s coat-of-arms.
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