Historical Place Names and Origins

[God of Kings]

Joao: "And I will call this great body of water... Funchal Bay!"
Cartographer: "Um, what?"
Joao: "No questions please."
Cartographer: "But Funchal is, well it's way over there. Shouldn't this be Porto Bay or something?"
Joao: ....
Cartographer: "No, you're right, sounds good to me, great choice."

Meanwhile, in real life, Vancouver, BC is not on Vancouver Island, the Hudson River flows in the opposite direction from Hudson Bay with the source of the Hudson River being very far from the Hudson Bay watershed, and Atlanta being on the boundary of the Atlantic Ocean watershed rather than being next to the Atlantic Ocean (and yes, Futurama fans would tell us that Atlanta would later be relocated to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, only for it to sink).

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Meanwhile, in real life, Vancouver, BC is not on Vancouver Island, the Hudson River flows in the opposite direction from Hudson Bay with the source of the Hudson River being very far from the Hudson Bay watershed, and Atlanta being on the boundary of the Atlantic Ocean watershed rather than being next to the Atlantic Ocean (and yes, Futurama fans would tell us that Atlanta would later be relocated to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, only for it to sink).

- And Atlantis, from all the real evidence, was in the Aegean in the far end of the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, and by all the normal rules for naming things after people, America should have been named Vespucci or Vespucciland (extra credit for anyone who remembers which group made a comedy routine out of that little tidbit!)

 

[God of Kings]

- And Atlantis, from all the real evidence, was in the Aegean in the far end of the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, and by all the normal rules for naming things after people, America should have been named Vespucci or Vespucciland (extra credit for anyone who remembers which group made a comedy routine out of that little tidbit!)

More like Vespuccia or Vesputia

That reminds me.

The American capital city of Washington is located in the District of Columbia, not Washington state.

The Columbia River flows across Washington state and does not go anywhere near the District of Columbia.

Some names need to be switched.

If I were a cartographer with political power, I would rename the District of Columbia as Potomac (as the Potomac River flows along it) and rename Washington state as Cascadia to prevent confusion with the neighbouring province of British Columbia or the county of Colombia.

Meanwhile, Sandusky, OH (the city the Cedar Point theme park is in) is not in Sandusky County, OH.

Good thing Toronto Township in Ontario renamed itself Mississauga.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Given that the modern USA geographical and political nomenclature is based on Founding Fathers who were immersed in Classical Greek and Latin writings, plus native American languages, plus random naming after explorers, or explorer's patrons, or whoever saw something first, any logic in any of them is purely random and probably accidental.
Heck, just here in Puget Sound we have the cities of Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle, Mount Rainier, the Nisqually, Snokomish and Puyallup Rivers and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Try finding any linguistic continuity in that!

 

[Zaarin]

Given that the modern USA geographical and political nomenclature is based on Founding Fathers who were immersed in Classical Greek and Latin writings, plus native American languages, plus random naming after explorers, or explorer's patrons, or whoever saw something first, any logic in any of them is purely random and probably accidental.
Heck, just here in Puget Sound we have the cities of Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle, Mount Rainier, the Nisqually, Snokomish and Puyallup Rivers and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Try finding any linguistic continuity in that!

The linguistic diversity of our toponyms is honestly my favorite thing about America. (You get some of that most places--e.g. the smattering of Celtic and pre-Celtic names in England--but in America it's dialed to 11.)

 

[shaglio]

More like Vespuccia or Vesputia

That reminds me.

The American capital city of Washington is located in the District of Columbia, not Washington state.

The Columbia River flows across Washington state and does not go anywhere near the District of Columbia.

Some names need to be switched.

If I were a cartographer with political power, I would rename the District of Columbia as Potomac (as the Potomac River flows along it) and rename Washington state as Cascadia to prevent confusion with the neighbouring province of British Columbia or the county of Colombia.

Meanwhile, Sandusky, OH (the city the Cedar Point theme park is in) is not in Sandusky County, OH.

Good thing Toronto Township in Ontario renamed itself Mississauga.

When the state of Washington was first entering the union, they wanted to call it Colombia, but the Senate vetoed the name because they didn't want people confusing it with the District of Colombia. So they decided on Washington instead.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

When the state of Washington was first entering the union, they wanted to call it Colombia, but the Senate vetoed the name because they didn't want people confusing it with the District of Colombia. So they decided on Washington instead.

They did manage to name the largest local river Columbia, though . . .

And Portland, Oregon might have been New Boston if the vote of the first settlers had gone the other way - lots of New Englanders in the first homesteaders there, it seems. Also interesting is that the other early towns in Oregon were all English named: Salem. Eugene, Astoria, while the first towns/cities in Washington all got Native American names: Seattle, Steilacoom, Tacoma, Spokane. Go figure.

 

[Zaarin]

They did manage to name the largest local river Columbia, though . . .

And Portland, Oregon might have been New Boston if the vote of the first settlers had gone the other way - lots of New Englanders in the first homesteaders there, it seems. Also interesting is that the other early towns in Oregon were all English named: Salem. Eugene, Astoria, while the first towns/cities in Washington all got Native American names: Seattle, Steilacoom, Tacoma, Spokane. Go figure.

So confusing that two states in the nation have their biggest city named Portland; to make matters more confusing, both Portlands are not their state's capital. Confusion is slightly alleviated by the fact that no one ever talks about Maine.

 

[God of Kings]

They did manage to name the largest local river Columbia, though . . .

And Portland, Oregon might have been New Boston if the vote of the first settlers had gone the other way - lots of New Englanders in the first homesteaders there, it seems. Also interesting is that the other early towns in Oregon were all English named: Salem. Eugene, Astoria, while the first towns/cities in Washington all got Native American names: Seattle, Steilacoom, Tacoma, Spokane. Go figure.

If Portland, OR were named New Boston, then imagine the Boston Celtics playing against the New Boston Trailblazers in basketball.

 

[leif erikson]

Moderator Action: Moved this off topic discussion from the Funny Screenshots thread to the History forum.