The origins of names for each American country explained

After doing this for the states of the USA and European countries, you all seem to like the idea, so I'm going to do it for every other continent as well, starting here with America. America has 35 countries and additionally some relatively autonomous territories of other countries like Greenland or the small islands still owned by France, the UK, and the Netherlands as remnants of their old colonial empires. We're going to cover all of those in this video, and while America doesn't have as many countries as Europe, the video is still long, so I again posted timestamps in the description for you to skip to whichever country you want if you don't feel like watching the entire thing. Since we're talking about names, let's go with an alphabetical order, first with the countries and then with the territories. Therefore, starting with Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua is Spanish for ancient and Barbuda is Spanish for bearded. Antigua was originally called Guadagli by the natives and is still locally known by that name, but it became Antigua when Christopher Columbus named it after Santa Maria la Antigua, an icon from the cathedral in Sevilla. The bearded of Barbuda is thought to refer either to the male inhabitants of the island or to the bearded fig trees present there. Then, Argentina. The name oddly comes from Italian, first being used in a Venetian map from 1536. In Italian, it means made of silver or silver-colored, probably borrowed from the old French adjective Argentine, which means made of silver. In fact, argent means money in French. In Spanish, silver is plata, and initially the colonial region was partly known as Rio de la Plata, but the region eventually became Argentina, being likely named by Venetian and Genoese navigators. Next, the Bahamas, most likely derived from either the native Bahama, meaning big upper middle land, which was a term for the region used by the indigenous people, or from the Spanish Bajamar, meaning low tide, reflecting the shallow waters of the area. Close by is Barbados. The name origin of Barbados is apparently exactly the same as Barbuda, from the Portuguese or Spanish Barbudus, meaning the bearded ones, either referring to the local population or the local bearded fig trees. The original native name was Ichiruganaim, with a possible translation being something like red land with white teeth, and Belize, which seems to come from the original name of a local river, the Belize River, originally called Baliz, from the Mayan word Belix, which means muddy watered. However, some say it comes from the Mayan phrase Bel Itza, meaning the road to Itza, a local city of the Mayan Empire. In continental southern America, Bolivia, which is named after Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan leader in the Spanish-American Wars of Independence. Apparently, upon the foundation of the republic, Congressman Manuel Martin Cruz proposed, if from Romulus, Rome, then from Bolívar, Bolivia. Venezuela, which we'll see ahead, also has a reference to Bolívar in its name and is officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. And next to it, Brazil, whose name likely comes from the Portuguese word for Brazil wood, a tree that once grew a lot along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, Brazil wood is called Pau Brasil, with Brazil meaning red like an ember, formed from the Portuguese word Braza, which means ember. The official Portuguese colonial name of the land was the Land of the Holy Cross, but European sailors and merchants commonly called it the Land of Brazil because of the Brazil wood tray. It is said that the original native name for the general area where Brazil is was Pindorama, meaning Land of the Palm Trees. All the way up north, Canada, which seems to come from the native Iroquois word canata, meaning village or settlement. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona. Cartier later used the word Canada to refer not only to that particular village, but to the entire area under native rule, and eventually it was applied to large colonial areas and then the country. Going south again, Chile. According to a 17th century Spanish chronicler, Diego de Rosales, the Incas called the valley of the Anconcagua, Chile, after a tribal chief called Tili. Others say it comes from a Mapuche word, Chile meaning where the land ends, or from the Quechua, Chiri meaning cold. Regardless, it seems to come from the way the natives refer to the area, and in fact, the early Spanish conquistadors, which traveled south of Peru in 1536, called themselves Men of Chile. And then, Colombia, which seems to be pretty straightforward, coming from the last name of Christopher Columbus. Originally, it was known as Republic of New Granada upon independence from Spain, then becoming Colombia in 1863. Back in Central America, Costa Rica, meaning rich coast in Spanish. It seems to have been originally named by Spanish explorers who visited the area in the early 16th century, reporting large quantities of gold jewelry worn by the natives, who either gifted or were robbed of these riches by the Spanish. And off the coast, Cuba, from the Taino language. Its exact meaning is unclear, but might be related to fertile or abundant land from Cubao, or a great place from Coabana. Some writers who believed Christopher Columbus was Portuguese say that he named it after the small Portuguese town of Cuba, but this is unlikely. Another island nation is Dominica, also apparently named by Christopher Columbus' expedition, who named the island as Dominica after the Latin term Dominicus, referring to the day of Sunday, the day when the Spanish first saw it, in November of 1493, with a similar name, the Dominican Republic. Despite the same connection to the Latin word for Sunday, the origin here seems to be different. The name originates from Santo Domingo de Guzman, known as Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of the Dominicans, who established a house of higher education in the colony of Santo Domingo, also named after the saint, a Castilian Catholic priest from the 12th-13th century who is the patron saint of astronomers. Back to the mainland, Ecuador, the only country in the world named after a geographical feature, the imaginary planetary line which divides the world into the North and South Hemisphere, which was in fact discovered and mapped out by a French explorer in 1736 in the region. The line's name itself is derived from the medieval Latin word aequator. It's a whole thing, it comes from a phrase that reads circulus aequator diei et noctis, meaning circle equalizing day and night. Also starting with an E, El Salvador, which conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, named after the religious figure of Jesus Christ, San Salvador. The territory's name was later extended to, in Spanish, the province of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, which was then shortened to the Republic of El Salvador. Another Caribbean island is Granada. Its name origin is uncertain, but likely to be named by the Spanish sailors after the Spanish city of Granada, initially named La Concepción after the Virgin Mary. And then we have Guatemala, which comes from the native Nahuatl word Guatemalan, which means place of many trees. We just mentioned Pedro de Alvarado, who was a Spanish conquistador and then the governor of the Guatemala colony and the local native warriors are said to have given him this name when he asked what the region was called. To the southeast, Guiana. The name Guiana derives from Guiana with an I, the original name for the region that formerly included what is now Guiana itself, Suriname and French Guiana, as well as parts of Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. Apparently, the term Guyana comes from an indigenous Amerindian language and means land of many waters. And back north, Haiti. Coming from the indigenous Taino language, Haiti. It was the way they referred to the entire island, which the Spanish called Hispaniola, today divided between Haiti itself and the Dominican Republic, meaning land of high mountains. In French, Haiti's nickname is the Pearl of the Antilles because of its natural beauty and the wealth it accumulated for the Kingdom of France due to its production of sugar and coffee. Neighboring a few we already saw, Honduras. The literal meaning of the term Honduras is depths in Spanish, perhaps referring to the depth of the Bay of Trujillo, which allowed the large Spanish ships to enter and dock in the area. And in the land of the fastest man alive, Jamaica. Similarly to Haiti, the name also comes from the native Taino language, who called the island Chaimaca, meaning the land of wood and water or the land of springs. Moving to one of the biggest american countries mexico mexico was the native term for the heartland of the aztec empire it seems to have meant place of the mexico the local people now this is ridiculous but i don't know how to say this name without risking the algorithm picking it up for something that it's not so i'm just not going to risk saying it you can see what it is on screen just blame poor artificial intelligence there are two theories on the origin of the name the first is that it was coined by Spanish colonists, based on the name of a chieftain of a powerful indigenous tribe, adding the term agua, which means water in Spanish. The second theory is that the country's name comes from a native word, Nic, and then Anuac, which meant the Anuac reach this far, or Nic Atl Nawac, which meant here by the water or surrounded by water. Speaking of water, the country that's famous for its canal, Panama, where the most likely theory states that the word is a hispanicization of the native word banaba in the native kuna language, which means distant or far away. Also starting with a P, Paraguay, which comes from the Guarani Paragua, meaning feather crown. And so, Paraguay would mean something like river of crowns. Now, I can't cover Peru without mentioning the coincidence that it has with Turkey. In English, Turkey is the country but also the bird, while in Portuguese and Spanish, Peru is the country but also that same exact bird. and despite being two different languages, it's so weird that this would happen for two countries at the same time. There's no connection. Turkey comes from the Latin Turquia, referring to the Turkish people, while Peru may be derived from Biru, the name of a local river, or from a Kachua word meaning land of abundance, perhaps referring to the wealth of the great Inca civilization which ruled over the region for hundreds of years. Covering three more sets of islands, starting with Saint Kitts and Nevis. Saint Kitts was natively named Llamuiga by the Kalinago and it roughly translates as fertile land. Christopher Columbus is said to have named it San Cristobal and when the English arrived, they translated it to Saint Christopher, which, shortened, became Saint Kitts. Nevis comes from the Spanish explorers who named it Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, meaning Our Lady of the Snows. Then, Saint Lucia, named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse, after, according to the legend, French sailors shipwrecked on the island on the day of Saint Lucie. A fun fact is that Saint Lucia and Ireland are the only two nations in the world named after a woman. Ireland after the Celtic goddess Ada. And then Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Columbus really got to name a whole bunch of places, this one included, naming it after Saint Vincent of Saragossa, whose feast day it was on the day he first saw the island. The name of the Grenadines refers again to the Spanish city of Granada. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the natives called St. Vincent Julomain in honor of Juluca, a spirit which they believed inhabited the islands. Having originally been one of the colonial Guianas, but then changing its name, Surinam. Surinam made arrive from an indigenous people called Surinen, and despite the area having been called Dutch Guiana for a while, it was technically referred to as Surinam since early on. In 1598, a fleet of three Dutch ships visiting the wild coast mentioned passing the river Surinamo, as did the British in a similar way. Officially, the name of the region came from this local river, while the river name origin itself might be those native people. Entre East, Trinidad and Tabago. The native name for Trinidad seems to have been Cairi, meaning land of the hummingbird, or just island. Columbus named it Trinidad, island of the trinity, father, son and holy spirit. While Tabago was also named by the Spanish, some say in reference to its cigar shape or the fact that native people use tobacco. In the most populated American country, we find the most simple name explanation, the United States. Despite a lot of people using the name America, that's incorrect. America is a continent and the country are the United States of America. The continent itself is apparently named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who identified the lands Columbus discovered as a part of a new separate continent. When it comes to the country of the US, the name means precisely that. They are a group of United Federated States. Off Brazil's southern border, Uruguay. Named after the Uruguay River, whose name, in turn, comes from the native Guarani people. It might mean bird river or it might refer to a river snail present on the shores of it called Uruguay. A popular interpretation of the name, origin by the locals, is that it was proposed by a famous poet of the country with the meaning river of painted birds. And finally, Venezuela. In 1499, an expedition led by an Italian navigator visited Venezuela. They found houses on stilts which reminded them of the city of Venice in Italy and so they named the region Veneziola or Little Venice. However, a member of this expedition crew recorded the event in his work Suma de Geografia and according to him, the crew found indigenous people called themselves the Venezuela with the name having then evolved from that. However, the Little Venice theory also makes sense. Even if it wasn't originally the case, it seems to have been believed early on, because there was a German colony in the Americas conducted by the Welser banking family, who obtained colonial rights in the province of Venezuela in return for debts, owed by Emperor Charles V, who was also king of Spain, and this colony was called Klein Venedig, meaning Little Venice. When it comes to the territories, let's go in reverse alphabetical order. I won't cover US territories because I did that in a video about US state name origins, I'll post a link in the description. Regarding other territories in the American continent, I'm starting with the biggest one on its way to becoming their own country, and then going in reverse alphabetical order, just because I feel like this one deserves more attention. Greenland. Named by early Norse settlers, who after finding a habitable area and settling there, named it Groenland, supposedly in the hopes that the pleasant name would attract settlers. Now onto the rest. Turks and Caicos. The Turks and Caicos islands are named after the Turk's cactus, I assume present on the island, and the Lucayan term Kaya Iko, meaning string of islands. The cactus has that name because it's similar to the traditional hat of the Turkish male citizens during the late Ottoman Empire. Sint Maarten or Saint Maarten is an island divided between the French and the Dutch, but it has the same name in both languages, having been named by Christopher Columbus in in honor of Saint Martin of Tours. Saint Pierre and Michelon. Saint Pierre is French for Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, while Michelon might come from the Basque translation of Michael. Saint Barthélemy was again named by Christopher Columbus for his younger brother Bartholomew Columbus in 1493, although I am unsure if he was or is really a saint. Montserrat was again named by Columbus as Santa Maria de Montserrat after the Virgin Mary of the Montserrat Monastery in Barcelona and Montserrat means serrated mountain in Catalan. Martinique is thought to be an adaptation of the native name for the island, which was Madinina, meaning island of flowers. But some say originally natives called it Guanacaera, meaning island of iguanas. Then Guadalupe, called Caruquera, the island of beautiful waters by the native Arawak people. It was named after Santa Maria de Guadalupe by, you guessed it, Columbus, referring to a shrine to the Virgin Mary in the town of Guadalupe in Spain. French Guiana obviously has the same origin as Guianas, except this part was and is ruled by the French. The Falkland Islands or the Malvinas. Falkland comes from the name of the strait that separates the two islands, which is in turn named after Anthony Carey, the 5th Viscount of Falkland, the treasurer of the navy at the time who sponsored the journey to the area. In Spanish, Malvinas derives from the French Ile Malouine, the name given to the island by a French explorer who founded the first settlement on it. Curaçao might be named after the way the natives identified themselves, although another explanation states that it was a location that Portuguese or Spanish sailors used to recover from illnesses. In Portuguese, the island would be named Ilha da Curaçao, Island of Healing, although the name could also refer to the island as a center of trade in the area, Curaçao, heart in Portuguese. The Cayman Islands are said to be named after the crocodiles that inhabited them, with Cayman being a native term the locals used to call the crocodiles. The Caribbean Netherlands are just a specific area of the Caribbean ruled by the Dutch. Caribbean, in turn, comes from the name of the Caribs, a native group of the area. The British Virgin Islands were originally Santa Úrsula y las Once Mil Virgenes, named by Columbus after the legend of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 virgins. The name was later shortened to the Virgin Islands. Bermuda is named after the Spanish sailor Juan de Bermudez, who discovered the islands in 1505. Aruba might come from one of three options, the Spanish oro-ubo, meaning there was gold, the native Carib oruba, meaning well-placed, or also from the native Carib words ora and ubau, meaning respectively shell island. And finally, Anguilla, from the Italian anguilla, meaning eel, in reference to the island's shape. For similar reasons, it was also known as Snake or Snake Island. And that is the name origin of each country and territory in the American continent, allowing us to understand the impact that native people have had in the naming of that which started off as their own rightful land, as well as the impact of European settlers and colonizers from Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, or the Netherlands, as well as some other influences, which I for one didn't really know about. If you notice any mistakes or have any additional information regarding these country names, just leave a comment letting me know. Subscribe if you want and I will see you next time for more general knowledge.