Content tagged with “geography” under “Stuff I Looked Up”

“ This is a historic name for the island of Great Britain. It might come from the Latin word for ‘white,’ referring to the white cliffs of Dover. ”

“ This is a province on the southern tip of Spain. The cities of Seville and Cordoba are located here. The region has a strong Muslim history, and is the location of The Great Mosque/Cathedral of Córdoba. ”

“This was a very important road in Ancient Rome. It was named after a guy called ‘Appius.’ It was a technologically advanced road for the time (300s BC). It was paved with interlocking stones, and was crowned to run water off to gutters on the sides. It was about 350 miles long, and in one section,…”

“No, not really. It is specifically not a single country. Most generally, this is the entire Arabian Peninsula, which currently includes the countries of: Saudi Arabia (most of it) Kuwait Oman Qatar United Arab Emirates Yemen The root of the word is ‘Arab,’ which has meant all sorts of things over…”

“It is just south of present-day Baghdad, Iraq, about 50 miles, along the banks of the Euphrates. It no longer exists as a major population center, but there are significant ruins of the ancient walled city remaining. Here it is on Google Maps. Babylon was no longer a ‘city’ by about the 900s – was…”

“This comes from the Latin word barbarus meaning foreign. ‘Barbary’ referred to foreign lands (lands not of ones own). And ‘barbarian’ referred to the people who lived there. The northern coast of Africa was named ‘The Barbary Coast’ by English speakers after attacks from pirates based in Tripoli…”

“This is a large, Gilded Age home in Ashville, North Carolina. It was built by the Vanderbilts in the early 1890s. It would technically be the largest private residence in the United States at 135,000 sq. ft., but it’s been a museum since the 1950s. It’s owned by a private company, open to the…”

“‘Bohemia’ was an actual place – it was the western end of the current Czech Republic, though it’s not technically named this anymore. The word ‘Bohemian’ has come to refer to a carefree, counter-cultural, often traveling lifestyle. This usage comes from a French reference to the Romani people of…”

“This is the extreme western region of France. It’s mostly a peninsula that extends into the Atlantic. The largest city in the region is Rennes, with about 750,000 in its metro area. (Interestingly, the two other large cities are named Vannes and Nantes, which points to some common etymology.)…”

“This was an ancient city near the modern city of Tunis in the country of Tunisia on the northern coast of Africa. It lay directly across the Mediterranean from Italy, and was often at war with the Roman Empire. The African Muslim populated drove the Romans out of Africa when they laid siege to and…”

“This is from the Greek ‘kataraktes,’ which means ‘downrush.’ Clearly, most people know ‘cataract’ from the disorder of the mammalian eye. So, how did that get named for a waterfall? Wikipedia has some theories : As rapidly running water turns white, so the term may have been used metaphorically to…”

“ It may stem from a Turkish word to describe an ancient ruling dynasty. Marco Polo used the word quite often when describing his travels. ”

“This was the original name of the current country of Sri Lanka. It was named Ceylon until 1972. I couldn’t find any specific reference to where ‘Ceylon’ came from. The Portuguese used it when they occupied the island in the early 1600s, and it carried forward. It was finally rejected as a ‘slave…”

“Neither. Both the actor and the city were named (indirectly) for a medieval English hunting ground. The actor, who was born in 1943, is actually named Cornelius Chase. ‘Chevy’ is a childhood nickname. (Apparently, he was also indirectly named after the English land, not the city.) The city in…”

“Well, it’s not formally defined, really. A continent is a ‘large landmass’ on Earth, but opinions on the specifics vary. In the United States, we’re taught that there are seven continents, but not everyone agrees. In different places and different time periods, the count has changed. Many countries…”

“This is a vague term, and it’s not a single thing. You can speak of a continental divide, not the continental divide. In most contexts, it refers to a hydrological divide, which is a point where water flows to different oceans. This means that most continents will have a north-south divide and an…”

“ This is a city in Spain. However, it was formerly the Islamic capital of Spain, and it was ruled by Muslims from the 700s to the 1200s. At one point, it was the largest Islamic city in the world. It’s still home to The Great Mosque of Cordoba. ”

“This is the southeastern coast of France, also called the French Rivera. The name translates to ‘Coast of Azure’ or ‘Coast of Blue,’ referring to the color of the Mediterranean. The French Riviera ends at the Italian border in the east, but where it starts in the west is up for debate. Some sources…”

“This is a pass through the Appalachian Mountains. It’s located at almost the exact point where Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia come together. It is depressed between 600 and 900 feet from the peaks on either side of it. It used to have a highway, but that was dangerous, so a tunnel under the…”

“This is the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula, against the Adriatic Sea. It’s dominated by Croatia spreading southward, with the exception of a tiny sliver of Bosnia poking through to the ocean. In addition to the mainland coast, there are hundreds of small islands. The name comes from the…”

“ The word ‘detroit’ is French for ‘narrow strip of water’ or ‘strait.’ ”

“ This is technically a specific mountain sub-range in the Rockies. However, it’s used as a general descriptor for area on the Eastern side of the Rockies. ”

“This is probably just a coincidence. The U.S. State of Georgia is very clearly named for King George II. It became a colony in 1732 while he was in power. The country of Georgia is one of the former Soviet republics, located north of Armenia, between the Black and Caspian seas. Where it got its…”

“In geometry, a ‘great circle’ is a flat plane that cuts through the middle of a sphere. Essentially, it becomes the longer line that was drawn around that sphere. In aviation navigation, a ‘great circle route’ is the shortest path between two points, and is achieved by finding the great circle that…”

“My first mistake here is that Harlem is not a full-fledged borough, it’s just a neighborhood in Manhattan. It’s the upper boundary of Manhattan, north of 110th Street, which is the top boundary of Central Park. It extends north to the Harlem river, which cuts diagonally from northwest to southeast….”

“There are technically eight islands…but not really. There are four islands with any notable population. Hawaii or ‘The Big Island’ is the largest physically, by far; all the other islands could fit inside of it, with lots of room to spare Maui is the next biggest, but it’s just 18% the size of the…”

“ This is a chain of islands off the northwestern coast of Scotland. Not truly north, like the Shetland or Faroe Islands, but what is essentially the northern most part of the west coast of the island of Britain. The Hebrides are directly north of Ireland. ”

“ This is the British equivalent of ‘Main Street.’ It’s meant to refer to the central or most important road in a metro, or the retail shopping district. ”

“ This is German for ‘land in back of.’ It’s often used to refer to land inland from a coast, but is always used to generally mean ‘the area away from the center of something.’ ”

“This is an informal geographic term – it seems to be slang or patois for ‘hollow,’ but some resources reject that and claim it has a definition all its own. It’s an Appalachian term for valley. The University of South Carolina defines it as: A small, sheltered valley that usually but not…”

“‘Kill’ is a borrowed word from Dutch. In that language it means ‘body of water’ or, more often, ‘creek.’ Thus, names like Fresh Kills, West Kill, Peeksill, Fishkill, usually refer to a nearby body of water. This usage is common in Upstate New York. Oddly, the Catskill Mountains might be a…”

“Like most countries in that region of the world, Taiwan is actually a chain of 168 islands. The biggest island – and the one most people think of when they think of ‘Taiwan’ – is called Formosa, and it comprises 99% of the total land area of the chain. The largest city, Taipei, is located here, as…”

“ This is an abbreviation you hear in hip hop occasionally. It can stand for: ‘Long Beach, California’ ‘Long Beach City’ ‘Long Beach (and) Compton’ ‘Long Beach Crip’ (referring to a specific street gang) ”

“The historical name for a region of Eastern Russia, Northeast China and Eastern Mongolia. This was never an official country or territory, just an informal name – like, ‘the Midwest.’ The area referred to as ‘Manchuria’ has been occupied by both China and Russia. It comprises the extreme Eastern…”

“Well, no one knows, really. What people agree on is that Memphis, Tennessee was named after Memphis, Egypt. The Egyptian Memphis is now just ruins, in the southern part of Cairo. It was long-abandoned in 1819, when the Tennessee city was founded. But, during it’s heydey in the millennia BC, it was…”

“When a country spreads beyond its immediate borders, the source or center of its power becomes the ‘metropole.’ London, for example, was the metropole of the British Empire. It’s from the word ‘metropolis,’ which is Greek for ‘mother city.’ Though, where metropolis has become generic to mean any…”

“Technically, this is an official census region of the United States. It stretches from the Dakotas in the west to Ohio in the east, and from the northern border down to Missouri’s southern tip. It’s these 12 states: Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Michigan Minnesota Missouri Nebraska North Dakota Ohio…”

“This is a geographic ‘notch’ of Minnesota that pokes up into Canada. It contains the northernmost point in the contiguous United States. What’s unique about this place is that it mostly consists of the Lake of the Words in the southern portion, which cross the entire span, from east to west. At the…”

“This is the Slavic name for a country subdivision – what other countries call a ‘state’ or a ‘province.’ The former Soviet Union used the word, and it’s used by many former Soviet republics – Ukraine, Belarus, etc. It literally translates from Russian as ‘region.’ There are 46 oblasts in…”

“ The Orient technically means anything east of Europe – basically, Asia. It comes from the Latin ‘oriens’ which literally means ‘east.’ In the Western world, we have traditionally associated it with the Far East (again, relative to Europe) counties, such as Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. ”

“It’s an alternative name for Iran. The term ‘Persia’ is considered a relic of ancient times by most, and usage of it usually implies a historical reference to Iran. In 1935, the reigning shah announced that the country would henceforth be referred to by its modern name of ‘Iran.’ This wasn’t…”

“This is a French-controlled island in the Indian island, east of Madagascar. The French often call it ‘La Réunion.’ It was ‘settled’ by the French in the 17th century and used for sugarcane production, mostly through slave brought in from East Africa. Today, it still produces sugar and rum, but is…”

“This is roughly the Northern half of Scotland. It’s very mountainous and sparsely populated and known for the production of Scottish whisky (‘scotch’). (Trivia: The Scottish spelling of ‘whisky’ specifically omits the ‘e’. It’s a very big deal .) Historically, the Highlands were home to ‘clans’ –…”

“A historical kingdom and region in Central Europe. Today, it’s mostly part of Poland. It’s a named region only (like ‘the Midwest’) and has no government or citizenship. It’s home to eight million people, with its largest city being Wrocław, Poland. It’s divided up into Upper, Middle, and Lower…”

“A mountain range in Italy. They’re named for the type of rock they’re formed of. Also known as The Southern Alps. The mountains are located at the Northern Edge of Italy, towards Austria. This is where you ski in Italy, apparently. Unbeknownst to me, the winter scenes of For Your Eyes Only – one of…”

“This is the third largest city in The Netherlands, commonly known for the International Court of Justice (the ‘World Court’), which is the judicial arm of the United Nations. The name was originally a royal hunting ground in the 1400s, and was known as ‘des Graven Hage’ (the Count’s Enclosure or…”

“This is a group of municipalities on the east end of Long Island, known for wealth, expansive homes, and proximity to New York City. In the state of New York, there are multiple governmental subdivisions: county, city, town, village, hamlet, etc. Some of these have their own governing bodies, and…”

“This refers to a group of three lowland countries in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Large amounts of land in these countries is below sea level, hence the name. The three countries are politically aligned via a 1960 treaty. In many contexts (especially business), these…”