This map reveals the meaning of the names of each country
The Australian company Credit Card Compare has made the map with the meaning of the names of the countries of the planet, and the results are most curious.
"To create this world map we have used multiple sources of information, highlighting the CIA's The World Factbook and the Oxford University Press Dictionary," Andrew Boyd, co-founder and director of Credit Card, explains to Traveler.es Compare.
Many of the names have an unknown origin and there are various explanations as to their meaning. Let's zoom in on each continent to discover them.
EUROPE
Many of the names of the countries that make up the Old Continent show the origin of these lands and their inhabitants. Thus, the country of our Gallic neighbors finds its origin in the German word 'franka', which means 'fierce', making France in 'Land of ferocious'.
In Old English, England (Engla land) literally means 'the land of angels'. Macedonia is the 'land of the high' and Cyprus , the 'copper island'. ** Hungary **, by its pate, means 'ten arrows' and Portugal responds to the name of 'hot port'.
"The most surprising name is Spain , which derives from the Phoenician word 'I-shephan-im' or 'Ishaphan' and translated means ' land of rabbits ", comments Gisele Navarro, Director of Operations.
"We discovered that rabbits abound in Spain. The first written reference to hunting rabbits with ferrets is found in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, where he tells how, in the year 6 BC Emperor Augustus sends ferrets to the Balearic Islands to control a plague of these animals", Gisele continues explaining.
And she provides the following information: "Farm rabbits continue to be a basic dish in Spain, where they consume around 30 million a year."
Spain derives from the Phoenician word I-shephan-im or Ishaphan and means 'land of rabbits'.
"While we were brainstorming at the beginning of the project, our goal was create a piece of content that will show travelers the world in a new light Gisele says.
"We wanted to show ** something that travelers would immediately recognize, but with a little twist. {#resultbox} ** In the end, we decided to make a world map but instead of the name of the countries as we all know them, we delved to find the story behind each one, "she concludes.
ASIA
The most populous continent on Earth has a great cultural and historical diversity and the names of its countries are a good example of it.
Japan is frequently translated as the 'land of the rising sun', Singapore is the 'lion city' and Korea means 'tall and beautiful'.
Also, Iraq it is related to its location, since it comes to say 'next to the water'; Bhutan is the 'land of the Thunder Dragon' and Azerbaijan means 'protected by fire'.
Japan means 'land of the rising sun' and Bhutan is the 'land of the Thunder Dragon'
NORTH AMERICA
Much of the North American countries find their origin in European colonization. Thus, 'The Savior' corresponds to The Savior and 'Rich Coast' to **Costa Rica.**
Mexico is the Spanish translation of Nahuatl and means 'the navel of the moon'. Guatemala it is the 'land of many trees', Jamaica is the 'forest land and water' and Panama it is the 'place of abundant fish'.
"We felt that these maps were a very interesting way of arouse the curiosity of travelers to discover countries they may not have considered visiting at the same time that we showed them a new peculiarity of the places where they had already been", says Gisele.
In the Nahuati language Mexico means 'the navel of the moon'
SOUTH AMERICA
Nature is the main responsible for the names of the countries of South America.
A) Yes, Chili comes from the Mapuche word 'chilli', which means 'where the earth ends' Y Guyanese it means 'place of many waters' (due to the multitude of rivers in the region) .
Paraguay it means 'people born by the river' Y Venezuela It translates as 'little venice' because it reminded the Italian city.
Ecuador, As you can already deduce, it responds to its location and Colombia It was named in honor of Christopher Columbus.
Water is present in many names of the countries of South America
AFRICA
The African continent is known to be the place where all human beings come from and the etymology of their countries responds to a history of colonization.
malawi it means 'earth on fire', by the custom of burning dead grass to prepare the land for cultivation. Burkina Faso it means 'land of honest men' while Cameroon answer the meaning of 'prawn river' , since Cameroon is the anglicized form of the Portuguese camarões.
Comoros derives from the Arabic designation Juzur al Qamar, which means 'island of the moon'. For its part, Kenya is a shortened version of the Kikuyu name, Kirinyaga, 'mountain of whiteness' Y Zambia is the 'land of the great river'.
Cameroon means 'river of shrimp' since it has its origin in the Portuguese camarões
OCEANIA
Terra Australis Incognita (unknown land of the south) was the name with which the Greeks baptized Australia.
Micronesia , applying overwhelming logic, translates into Greek as 'small island', Vanuatu respond to the expression 'our land forever' Y Nauru literally means 'I go to the beach'.
The island of Nauru means 'I go to the beach'. Just for that we want to meet her!
Gisele remembers that before launching the campaign, they shared the map on Reddit to gather a final round of comments.
"The thread was on the front page with over 500 comments. Our team reviewed every comment and some of the discussions were pretty fun." comments Gisele
"Many users loved the map, while others hated it. In the end, we made a lot of changes and decided to make all the research available because we knew it could be a controversial project," she concludes.
"In addition, we have used multiple sources to ensure that we present correct information," says Andrew.
You can view the full investigation here.