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The naming of the Americas, or America, occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus 's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal. However, some have suggested other ...
Jan 17, 2024 · March (Martius) was named for Mars, the god of war, because this was the month when active military campaigns resumed. May (Maius) and June (Junius) were also named for goddesses Maia and Juno. April (Aprilis) is thought to stem from the Latin aperio, meaning “to open”—a reference to the opening buds of springtime.
Oct 26, 2023 · California got its name from an unlikely source that is remarkably fitting for the beautiful state it is. The name California, with its mellifluous charm, evokes images of palm trees, golden beaches, and the glinting Pacific. However, the origins of the state’s name are rooted not in historical fact but rather in a work of fiction, a ...
Dec 15, 2015 · So 16th century Spanish explorers got the name from Montalvo's story, but where did Montalvo get the name? Muslims. The inspiration for the word was likely "Khalif" or "Khalifa" which means "successor" in Arabic but more specifically refers in Islam to a head of state or leader of the Muslims.
- ARCTIC. Most bodies of water are named for the areas they surround or the areas that surround them. For example, the Arctic Ocean was named because of its location in the Arctic Circle—which begs the question, how did the Arctic Circle get its name?
- ATLANTIC. The first documented usage of the term “Atlantic” was in the sixth century BC by a Greek poet, Atlantikôi pelágei or the “Sea of Atlas.” In Greek mythology, Atlas is the Titan tasked with holding up the heavens for all eternity.
- INDIAN. The Indian Ocean has been known as such since at least 1515 and is another example of an ocean being named by the area that surrounds it. Earlier accounts named it the Eastern Ocean and Ancient Greece referred to the northwestern Indian ocean as the Erythraean Sea or the Red Sea, likely referring to seasonal blooms of cyanobacteria near the water’s surface turning the normal green-blue water a reddish brown.
- PACIFIC. The Pacific Ocean or Mare Pacificum, meaning “peaceful sea,” was dubbed so by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520 after his treacherous journey to find the “Spice Islands”, now known as the Malaku Islands in eastern Indonesia.
Jun 18, 2018 · The modern-day name for Russia (Rossiya) is derived from the Greek word for the Rus’. As the Kievan Rus’ was evolving and separating into different states, what we now know as Russia was being called Rus’ and Russkaya Zemlya (the land of the Rus’). Finally, when the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow united, some of the former Kievan ...
This 1562 map Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio by Diego Gutiérrez was the first map to print the toponym California.. Multiple theories regarding the origin of the name California, as well as the root language of the term, have been proposed, but most historians believe the name likely originated from a 16th-century novel, Las sergas de Esplandián.
