Geography fun facts and oddities: Difference between revisions

→‎Name origins: america name
(→‎Name origins: america name)
Line 88: Line 88:
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole Sinkhole (wiki)]]
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkhole Sinkhole (wiki)]]


== Name origins ==
== Name origins (etymology) ==
* etymology is the study of the origin of words
 
=== Country names ===
* Literal Meanings of Country Names map
* Literal Meanings of Country Names map
** a credit card travel service in Australia created a world map showing the "literal translation" of names of every country
** a credit card travel service in Australia created a world map showing the "literal translation" of names of every country
Line 97: Line 100:
*** here [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12QSXFBOLaNS05EdRXE6FsyBO8Noj-pSkr8LD0yTg3z0/edit#gid=0 a web-based spreadsheet with details of the word origins (etymology)]] from the makers of the map  
*** here [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12QSXFBOLaNS05EdRXE6FsyBO8Noj-pSkr8LD0yTg3z0/edit#gid=0 a web-based spreadsheet with details of the word origins (etymology)]] from the makers of the map  
=== America ===
=== America ===
* '''America''' is name for the Italian explorer and map-maker Amerigo Vespucci
[[File:Waldseemuller map 2.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Universalis Cosmographia, Waldseemüller's 1507 world map which was the first to show the Americas separate from Asia (wiki)]]
* '''America''' is named for the Italian explorer and map-maker Amerigo Vespucci
** Vespucci was the first European explorer to recognize that the lands Christopher Columbus discovered were distinct regions from Asia
Click EXPAND for more on Vespucci and the Waldseemüller map which labeled part of the "new world" as "America"
<div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
** Vespucci was from Florence and went on two expeditions to the Americas in 1499 (for Spain) and 1501 (for Portugal)
** Vespucci was from Florence and went on two expeditions to the Americas in 1499 (for Spain) and 1501 (for Portugal)
**  
** in 1503 and 1505 two accounts of his voyages were published using his name
*** his authorship and many of the details in them is doubted by historians
*** the booklets were wildly popular across Europe
*** Vespucci's accounts were the first to consider the Americas as distinct from Asia (Columbus insisted he had reached the "Indies")
*** Vespucci referred to Brazil, which he visited on his second voyage, as the "New World"
*** in 1507, the German cartographer (map maker) Martin Waldseemüller labeled "America" on a portion of his world map
*** he credited Amerigo Vespucci for the insight
**** the map was the first to show the Americas as distinct continents from Asia
* see
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerigo_Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci (wiki)]]
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Waldseem%C3%BCller#1507_world_map Waldseemüller world map (wiki)]]
</div>
 
=== Central America ===
=== Central America ===