Up next in 10
How Did Each American Country Get Its Name
12K views
Mar 31, 2025
CHECK OUT "How Did Each African Country Get Its Name": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCM-dRb8AfU Timestamp list: Antigua and Barbuda 00:46 Argentina 1:12 Bahamas 1:42 Barbados 1:58 Belize 2:18 Bolivia 2:38 Brazil 3:01 Canada 3:35 Chile 4:00 Colombia 4:28 Costa Rica 4:42 Cuba 4:59 Dominica 5:18 Dominican Republic 5:32 Ecuador 5:56 El Salvador 6:25 Grenada 6:42
View Video Transcript
0:00
After doing this for the states of the USA and European countries, you all seem to like the idea
0:07
so I'm going to do it for every other continent as well, starting here with America. America has
0:12
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
0:23
of their old colonial empires. We're going to cover all of those in this video, and while
0:28
America doesn't have as many countries as Europe, the video is still long, so I again posted timestamps
0:34
in the description for you to skip to whichever country you want if you don't feel like watching
0:38
the entire thing. Since we're talking about names, let's go with an alphabetical order
0:43
first with the countries and then with the territories. Therefore, starting with Antigua
0:47
and Barbuda. Antigua is Spanish for ancient and Barbuda is Spanish for bearded. Antigua was
0:53
It's originally called Guadadli by the natives and is still locally known by that name, but
0:58
it became Antigua when Christopher Columbus named it after Santa Maria la Antigua, an
1:03
icon from the cathedral in Sevilla. The bearded of Barbuda is thought to refer either to the male inhabitants of the island
1:09
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
1:19
In Italian, it means made of silver or silver-colored, probably borrowed from the old French adjective
1:25
Argentine, which means made of silver. In fact, argent means money in French
1:31
In Spanish, silver is plata and initially the colonial region was partly known as Rio
1:36
de la Plata, but the region eventually became Argentina, being likely named by Venetian and
1:40
Genoese navigators. Next, the Bahamas, most likely derived from either the native Bahama, meaning big upper
1:48
middle land, which was a term for the region used by the indigenous people, or from the Spanish
1:53
bahamar, meaning low tide, reflecting the shallow waters of the area. Close by is Barbados. The name
1:59
origin of Barbados is apparently exactly the same as Barbuda, from the Portuguese or Spanish barbudush
2:05
meaning the bearded ones, either referring to the local population or the local bearded fig trees
2:10
The original native name was Ichiruganaim, with a possible translation being something like
2:16
red land with white teeth, and Belize, which seems to come from the original name of a local river
2:23
the Belize River, originally called Baliz, from the Mayan word Belix, which means muddy watered
2:28
However, some say it comes from the Mayan phrase Bel Itza, meaning the road to Itza
2:34
a local city of the Mayan Empire. In continental southern America, Bolivia, which is named after
2:39
Simon Bolivar, a Venezuelan leader in the Spanish-American Wars of Independence, apparently
2:44
upon the foundation of the republic. Congressman Manuel Martín Cruz proposed, if from Romulus
2:50
Rome, then from Bolívar, Bolivia. Venezuela, which we'll see ahead, also has a reference to
2:55
Bolívar in its name and is officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. And next to it
3:01
Brazil, whose name likely comes from the Portuguese word for Brazilwood, a tree that once grew a lot
3:07
along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, Brazilwood is called Pau-Brasil, with Brazil meaning
3:12
red like an ember formed from the Portuguese word Braza, which means ember. The official
3:17
Portuguese colonial name of the land was the land of the Holy Cross, but European sailors
3:22
and merchants commonly called it the land of Brazil because of the Brazil Wood Trade
3:27
It is said that the original native name for the general area where Brazil is was Pindorama
3:32
meaning land of the palm trees. All the way up north, Canada, which seems to come from the native
3:37
Iroquois word canata meaning village or settlement. In 1535 indigenous inhabitants used the word to
3:43
direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona. Cartier later used the
3:49
word Canada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area under native rule
3:55
and eventually it was applied to large colonial areas and then the country. Going south again
4:00
Chile. According to a 17th century Spanish chronicler, Diego de Rosales, the Incas called
4:05
the valley of the Anconcagua, Chile, after a tribal chief called Tili. Others say it
4:10
comes from a Mapuche word, Chile meaning where the land ends, or from the Quechua, Chiri
4:16
meaning cold. Regardless, it seems to come from the way the natives refer to the area
4:20
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
4:36
Granada, upon independence from Spain, then becoming Colombia in 1863. Back in Central America
4:42
Costa Rica, meaning rich coast in Spanish. It seems to have been originally named by Spanish
4:47
explorers who visited the area in the early 16th century, reporting large quantities of gold
4:53
jewelry worn by the natives, who either gifted or were robbed of these riches by the Spanish
4:58
And off the coast, Cuba, from the Taino language. Its exact meaning is unclear
5:03
but might be related to fertile or abundant land from Cubao, or great place from Coabana
5:09
Some writers who believed Christopher Columbus was Portuguese say that he named it after the
5:14
small Portuguese town of Cuba, but this is unlikely. Another island nation is Dominica
5:19
also apparently named by Christopher Columbus' expedition, who named the island as Dominica
5:23
after the Latin term Dominicus, referring to the day of Sunday, the day when the Spanish first saw
5:29
it in November of 1493, with a similar name, the Dominican Republic. Despite the same connection
5:34
to the Latin word for Sunday, the origin here seems to be different. The name originates from
5:39
Santo Domingo de Guzman, known as Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of the Dominicans, who
5:44
established a house of higher education in the colony of Santo Domingo, also named after the
5:49
saint, a Castilian Catholic priest from the 12th, 13th century, who is the patron saint of astronomers
5:56
Back to the mainland, Ecuador, the only country in the world named after a geographical feature
6:01
the imaginary planetary line, which divides the world into the North and South Hemisphere
6:05
which was in fact discovered and mapped out by a French explorer in 1736 in the region
6:10
The line's name itself is derived from the medieval Latin word aequator
6:15
It's a whole thing, it comes from a phrase that reads Circulus aequator die et noctis, meaning circle equalizing day and night
6:24
Also starting with an E, El Salvador, which conquistador Pedro de Alvarado
6:28
named after the religious figure of Jesus Christ, San Salvador. The territory's name was later extended to, in Spanish
6:35
the province of Jesus Christ, the savior of the world, which was then shortened to the Republic of El Salvador
6:41
Another Caribbean island is Granada. Its name origin is uncertain, but likely to be named by the Spanish sailors
6:47
after the Spanish city of Granada, initially named La Concepcion after the Virgin Mary
6:52
And then we have Guatemala, which comes from the native, now-wattle word, Guatemala, which means place of many trees
6:59
We just mentioned Pedro de Alvarado, who was a Spanish conquistador, and then the governor of the Guatemala colony
7:05
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
7:13
Guiana with an I, the original name for the region that formerly included what is now Guiana itself
7:19
Suriname, and French Guiana, as well as parts of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. Apparently
7:24
the term Guiana comes from an indigenous Amerindian language and means land of many waters. And back
7:30
north, Haiti. Coming from the indigenous Taino language, Haiti. It was the way they referred to
7:35
the entire island, which the Spanish called Espaniola, today divided between Haiti itself
7:40
and the Dominican Republic, meaning land of high mountains. In French, Haiti's nickname is the
7:45
Pearl of the Antilles, because of its natural beauty and the wealth it accumulated for the
7:50
kingdom of France, due to its production of sugar and coffee. Neighboring a few we already saw
7:55
Honduras. The literal meaning of the term Honduras is depths, in Spanish, perhaps referring to the
8:00
depth of the bay of Trujillo which allowed the large Spanish ships to enter and dock in the area
8:06
and in the land of the fastest man alive, Jamaica. Similarly to Haiti, the name also comes from the
8:12
native Taino language who called the island Chaimaca, meaning the land of wood and water or
8:17
the land of springs. Moving to one of the biggest American countries, Mexico. Mexico was the native
8:23
term for the heartland of the Aztec empire. It seems to have meant place of the Mexica, the local
8:28
people. Now this is ridiculous but I don't know how to say this name without risking the algorithm
8:33
picking it up for something that it's not, so I'm just not going to risk saying it. You can see what
8:38
it is on screen, just blame poor artificial intelligence. There are two theories on the
8:43
origin of the name. The first is that it was coined by Spanish colonists based on the name
8:47
of a chieftain of a powerful indigenous tribe, adding the term agua, which means water in Spanish
8:53
The second theory is that the country name comes from a native word Nik and then Anwak which meant the Anwak reached this far or Nik Atl Nahuac which meant here by the water or surrounded by water Speaking of water the country that famous for its c Panama where the most likely
9:09
theory states that the word is a Hispanicization of the native word Banaba in the native Cune
9:16
language, which means distant or far away. Also starting with a P, Paraguay, which comes from the Guarani Paragua, meaning feather crown
9:23
and so Paraguay would mean something like river of crowns. Now I can't cover Peru without mentioning
9:29
the coincidence that it has with Turkey. In English, Turkey is the country but also the bird
9:34
while in Portuguese and Spanish, Peru is the country but also that same exact bird. And despite
9:39
being two different languages, it's so weird that this would happen for two countries at the same
9:44
time. There's no connection. Turkey comes from the Latin Turquia, referring to the Turkish people
9:49
while Peru may be derived from Biru, the name of a local river, or from a Qashua word meaning
9:54
land of abundance, perhaps referring to the wealth of the great Inca civilization which ruled over
10:00
the region for hundreds of years. Covering three more sets of islands, starting with Saint Kitts
10:06
and Nevis. Saint Kitts was natively named Llamuiga by the Kalinago and it roughly translates as
10:12
fertile land. Christopher Columbus is said to have named it San Cristobal and when the English
10:17
arrived, they translated it to Saint Christopher, which shortened became Saint Kitts. Nevis comes
10:22
from the Spanish explorers who named it Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, meaning Our Lady of the
10:27
Snows. Then Saint Lucia, named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse, after, according to the legend
10:33
French sailors shipwrecked on the island on the day of Saint Lucy. A fun fact is that Saint Lucia
10:38
and Ireland are the only two nations in the world named after a woman, Ireland after the Celtic
10:44
goddess, Ada. And then Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Columbus really got to name a whole
10:49
bunch of places, this one included, naming it after Saint Vincent of Zaragoza, whose feast day
10:54
it was on the day he first saw the island. The name of the Grenadines refers again to the Spanish
10:59
city of Granada. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the natives called Saint Vincent
11:04
Yulomain in honor of Yuluka, a spirit which they believed inhabited the islands. Having originally
11:10
been one of the colonial Guyanas, but then changing its name, Surinam. Surinam made arrive
11:15
from an indigenous people called Surinen, and despite the area having been called Dutch
11:19
Guiana for a while, it was technically referred to as Surinam since early on. In 1598, a fleet
11:25
of three Dutch ships visiting the wild coast mentioned passing the river Surinamo, as did
11:30
the British in a similar way. Officially, the name of the region came from this local river
11:34
while the river name origin itself might be those native people. Entre East, Trinidad and Tabago
11:40
The native name for Trinidad seems to have been Caer, meaning land of the hummingbird
11:44
or just island. Columbus named it Trinidad, island of the Trinity, father, son, and holy spirit
11:50
While Tobago was also named by the Spanish, some say in reference to its cigar shape
11:55
or the fact that native people use tobacco. In the most populated American country, we find the most simple name explanation, the
12:02
United States. Despite a lot of people using the name America, that's incorrect
12:05
America is a continent and the country are the United States of America. The continent itself
12:11
is apparently named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer who identified the lands Columbus
12:16
discovered as a part of a new separate continent. When it comes to the country of the US, the name
12:21
means precisely that. They are a group of United Federated States. Off Brazil's southern border
12:26
Uruguay. Named after the Uruguay River, whose name in turn comes from the native Guarani people. It
12:31
It might mean bird river or it might refer to a river snail present on the shores of
12:35
it called Uruguay. A popular interpretation of the name, origin by the locals, is that it was proposed by a
12:41
famous poet of the country with the meaning river of painted birds
12:45
And finally, Venezuela. In 1499, an expedition led by an Italian navigator visited Venezuela
12:51
They found houses on stilts which reminded them of the city of Venice in Italy, and so
12:55
they named the region Veneziole or Little Venice. However, a member of this expedition crew recorded the event in his work, Suma de Geografia
13:03
and according to him, the crew found indigenous people, called themselves the Venezuela
13:08
with the name having then evolved from that. However, the Little Venice theory also makes sense
13:13
Even if it wasn't originally the case, it seems to have been believed early on
13:17
because there was a German colony in the Americas, conducted by the Welserbanking family
13:21
who obtained colonial rights in the province of Venezuela in return for debts
13:25
owned 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 go in reverse alphabetical order I won cover US
13:37
territories because I did that in a video about US state name origins, I'll post the link in the
13:42
description. Regarding other territories in the American continent, I'm starting with the biggest
13:46
one on its way to becoming their own country and then going in reverse alphabetical order just
13:51
because I feel like this one deserves more attention. Greenland, named by early Norse
13:55
settlers, who after finding a habitable area and settling there, named it Groenland, supposedly in
14:01
the hopes that the pleasant name would attract settlers. Now onto the rest. Turks and Caicos
14:07
The Turks and Caicos Islands are named after the Turks' cactus, I assume present on the island
14:12
and the Lukayan term Kaya Iko, meaning string of islands. The cactus has that name because it's
14:18
similar to the traditional hat of the Turkish male citizens during the late Ottoman Empire
14:23
Saint-Martin or Saint-Martin is an island divided between the French and the Dutch
14:28
but it has the same name in both languages, having been named by Christopher Columbus in honor of Saint-Martin of Tours
14:34
Saint-Pierre and Michelon. Saint-Pierre is French for Saint-Peter, the patron saint of fishermen
14:40
while Michelon might come from the Basque translation of Michael. Saint-Barthélemy was again named by Christopher Columbus for his younger brother
14:48
Bartolomeu Columbus in 1493, although I am unsure if he was or is really a saint
14:54
Montserrat was again named by Columbus as Santa Maria de Montserrat after the Virgin Mary of the
14:59
Montserrat Monastery in Barcelona and Montserrat means serrated mountain in Catalan. Martinique
15:05
is thought to be an adaptation of the native name for the island which was Madinina meaning
15:10
island of flowers, but some say originally natives called it Guarnacaera meaning island of iguanas
15:16
Then Guadalupe, called Caruquera, the island of beautiful waters by the native Arawak people
15:22
It was named after Santa Maria de Guadalupe by, you guessed it, Columbus, referring to a shrine
15:27
to the Virgin Mary in the town of Guadalupe in Spain. French Guiana obviously has the same origin
15:32
as Guiana's, except this part was and is ruled by the French. The Falkland Islands or the Malvinas
15:39
Falkland comes from the name of the strait that separates the two islands, which is in turn
15:43
named after Anthony Carey, the fifth viscount of Falkland, the treasurer of the navy at the time
15:49
who sponsored the journey to the area. In Spanish, Malvinas derives from the French
15:54
Isle Malouine, the name given to the island by a French explorer who founded the first settlement
15:59
on it. Curaçao might be named after the way the natives identify themselves, although another
16:04
explanation states that it was a location that Portuguese or Spanish sailors used to recover
16:10
from illnesses. In Portuguese, the island would be named Ilha da Curaçao, Island of Healing
16:15
although the name could also refer to the island as a center of trade in the area, Curaçao
16:20
heart in Portuguese. The Cayman Islands are said to be named after the crocodiles that inhabited
16:25
them, with Cayman being a native term the locals used to call the crocodiles. The Caribbean
16:30
Netherlands are just a specific area of the Caribbean, ruled by the Dutch. Caribbean
16:34
in turn, comes from the name of the Caribs, a native group of the area. The British Virgin
16:39
islands were originally Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgenes, named by Columbus after the legend
16:45
of Saint Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins. The name was later shortened to the Virgin Islands
16:51
Bermuda is named after the Spanish sailor Juan de Bermudez, who discovered the islands in 1505
16:56
Aruba might come from one of three options, the Spanish Oro-Ubo, meaning there was gold
17:01
the native Carib Oruba, meaning well-placed, or also from the native Carib words Oda and Ubau
17:07
meaning respectively shell island. And finally, anguilla. From the Italian, anguilla meaning
17:13
eel in reference to the island's shape. For similar reasons, it was also known as snake or
17:18
snake island. And that is the name origin of each country and territory in the American continent
17:24
allowing us to understand the impact that native people have had in the naming of that which
17:29
started off as their own rightful land, as well as the impact of European settlers and colonizers
17:34
from Portugal, Spain, France, the UK or the Netherlands, as well as some other influences
17:40
which I for one didn't really know about. If you notice any mistakes or have any additional
17:45
information regarding these country names, just leave a comment letting me know, subscribe if you
17:49
want and I will see you next time for more general knowledge
#education
#Hobbies & Leisure