Surprisingly Literal Country Names

Surprisingly Literal Country Names

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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
Facts About Ecuador: https://www.atlasandboots.com/interesting-facts-about-ecuador/
History Of Ecuador: https://www.infoplease.com/world/countries/ecuador
Countries On The Equator: https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/countries-equator
History Of Gran Colombia: http://staff.esuhsd.org/balochie/studentprojects/grancolombia/index.html
Why Did Ecuador Name Itself Just Equator?: https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Ecuador-just-name-itself-equator
Things You Never Knew About Montenegro: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/montenegro/articles/11-incredible-things-you-never-knew-about-montenegro/
History Of Montenegro: https://www.visit-montenegro.com/montenegro/history/
Why Does Montenegro’s Name Sound Italian?: https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question101739.html
Facts About Costa Rica: http://www.bahiaaventuras.com/information/costa-rica-facts/
Why Is Our Country Called Costa Rica?: http://www.liveincostarica.com/blog/2017/09/why-our-country-is-called-costa-rica-and-the-origin-of-pura-vida.html

50 Comments

  1. Tyler Durden on September 10, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    7:13 Venice was not a Kingdom, its famous for being "the most serene republic"



  2. ЖЖЖ on September 10, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    The map of Pakistan is incorrect. You should refer to the UN version of the map.



  3. D'om Rogg on September 10, 2021 at 10:10 pm

    Regarding Montenegro, the name is translation from its Slavic name Crna Gora into Venetian (and Italian), not the other way around as you said! 😑



  4. Empereur_ du_Congo Eddy-Malou on September 10, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    Kingdom of venise…? Heu are you sure about that?



  5. Suh Guy on September 10, 2021 at 10:14 pm

    I’m South African, but our neighbours also have literal names.

    Lesotho, the citizens speak the Sotho language.
    Botswana, they speak the Setswana language.
    Eswatini, it literally translates to place of Swati – which is their language.



  6. Cat Life on September 10, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    Pretty sure Zealand was in Denmark not the Netherlands last time I checked



  7. FCSΩ //FCSectorΩ on September 10, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    Wait, but Ecuador was named by the French



  8. Name Explain on September 10, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    Let me know what other surprising literal country names I may have missed out!



  9. Muhammad Smith on September 10, 2021 at 10:19 pm

    Colorado river. means Red Colored River.



  10. Christopher Scheler on September 10, 2021 at 10:20 pm

    Germany has many different names (e.g. "Deutschland" and "Allemagne"). The Polish word "Niemcy" means "not able to speak" or "the silent ones". The Lakota call Germany "bad speaker land" and the Netherlands "really bad speaker land". 😂 🇩🇪🇳🇱 The Navajo call it "metal cap wearer land" because soldiers’ helmets. And the German word "deutsch" means "of the people" (because the language was spoken by simple people, unlike Latin).
    https://youtu.be/AYrTCqJJB64



  11. Boss Dog on September 10, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    Cote D’ivoire is another one. Ivory Coast.



  12. Juan Miguel Angat on September 10, 2021 at 10:28 pm

    argentina is actually a food in the phillipines



  13. tim bowerman on September 10, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    Isla Nublar is fictitious and is a creation of Michael Creighton, it was set near Costa Rica



  14. tiger li on September 10, 2021 at 10:29 pm

    when im looking at the map i pronounce ecuador ecuator



  15. poezie katje on September 10, 2021 at 10:31 pm

    i knew 1 and 2



  16. Keith Pixton on September 10, 2021 at 10:33 pm

    Timor is T-mor not tie-mor

    Con-key-stuh-dor, not con-quis-tuh-dor



  17. Jakk Aka Sunset on September 10, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    Isla Nublar… where have I heard that before?



  18. Max Empathy on September 10, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    Puerto Rico means "Rich Door" or "Rich Port" so I guess that’s pretty literal



  19. ScruffyTube on September 10, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    iceland. land of ice. can you BE more literal?



  20. Mateo A. on September 10, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    Ecuador is not named after its positioning at the Equator. Ecuador is named Ecuador because the French discovered the position of the Equator in the Geodesic Missions in that country, this Geodesic Mission helped pinpoint where the Equator was, also it helped the French create the Meter, because they had finally messured the globe. All thanks to the Andes mountains of Ecuador, which helped to triangulate the position of what later would be the Equator.

    Also, fun fact. Quito, the capital city of Ecuador was named Quito, based on a native language of the region, Quito meaning "The middle of the world". The indigenous people knew that they lived in Ecuador way before anyone else even though that the Equator was there.



  21. Lloyd_lyle on September 10, 2021 at 10:35 pm

    Isla Nublar is where Jurassic Park takes place



  22. Dumb Dragon on September 10, 2021 at 10:36 pm

    Hmmmm why is south Africa called that?… why do u think



  23. Optimal Synergies on September 10, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    Cool video



  24. Mateo A. on September 10, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    Ecuador used to share a border with Brasil. Then came Perú. There was a war and all. But yeah, Ecuador used to have a border with Brasil some decades ago.



  25. Nugget on September 10, 2021 at 10:37 pm

    This video was just painfully obvious for us Spanish speakers



  26. tony pese on September 10, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    The pacific or should i say Polynesian islands have some interesting names too.
    Sāmoa – sacred center
    Tokelau – north wind (located north of Sāmoa)
    Tonga – south ( located south of Sāmoa)
    Niue – middle ( located between Sāmoa and Tonga)
    Rarotonga – down south ( main island of Cook Island located south of most of the Cook Islands island)
    And Hawaii got its name from Savaii which is the name of the biggest island in Sāmoa.



  27. Andy W. on September 10, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    You forgot Niger / Nigeria which are named after Black



  28. CommandoTheDead on September 10, 2021 at 10:38 pm

    In Macedonian, Montenegro is called: Сирна Гора. Which means: Black Top. lol.



  29. Mrlazykoaxla on September 10, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    Im slavic so montenegro is really obvious to me ( since its called something like crnogora in most of our languages and crno means black and gora means mountain ) Ecuador i already knew and costa rica i kinda knew since i always forgot what rica means



  30. lazy_gamer on September 10, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    6:10 WTF negro in Greek means nigga



  31. A A on September 10, 2021 at 10:40 pm

    Can u speak slow,



  32. Adam on September 10, 2021 at 10:41 pm

    Can you do a video on languages who put surnames before given names? @nameexplain



  33. Bestuan on September 10, 2021 at 10:43 pm

    list starts at 2:40



  34. Da Co on September 10, 2021 at 10:44 pm

    Venice was never a kingdom, it was a republic



  35. adnaanu on September 10, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    @0:22 it was in a small house in Surbiton, Surrey to be exact.



  36. carschmn on September 10, 2021 at 10:46 pm

    Côte d’Ivoire: part of the African coastline used by traders to export ivory.



  37. ajay chandel on September 10, 2021 at 10:47 pm

    ecuador – equator



  38. AS - 06KS 808844 Calderstone MS on September 10, 2021 at 10:48 pm

    Maybe that feeling is Gree ( Grrrrr + SIgh + Roll ( ing ) )



  39. Kamini Shirrekrisengee on September 10, 2021 at 10:49 pm

    It was a long time that I learned moutenegro means black mountain.
    In my opinion I like the way they named country



  40. Ismail Garmate on September 10, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    Morocco means western land in Arabic because at the time before discovering America they thought it’s the end of land in the western side



  41. ManuStorm on September 10, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    6:28 the black mountain of mountainblack



  42. Ricardo Brito Ruiz on September 10, 2021 at 10:54 pm

    3:43 English language is just like peanuts for me



  43. singlah on September 10, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    If Costa Rica made the list, then Puerto Rico should have an honorable mention.



  44. Multi-Fandom-Fanboy on September 10, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    Can you increase the volume of the video



  45. Wendy Chavez on September 10, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    My partner’s family is from Ecuador, and he lived there for a while at age 9, so of course I’m interested in this topic! My mom spent 2 years in Bolivia, so I was extra excited to hear about Simón Bolivar, too.



  46. mfv89 on September 10, 2021 at 10:59 pm

    This ethnologies are only surprising to those that do not speak any romance language



  47. Gom Random on September 10, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    9:47 sees a diploma of my country being given to some random guy.
    Me: (proceeds to smash his windows in san jose, the capital of costa rica)



  48. Ismail Garmate on September 10, 2021 at 11:03 pm

    Cyprus also means copper
    Argentina means silver
    Because of the mines of those metals in there



  49. Luke Plays Games on September 10, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    m e who speaks dutch: equator = evenaar



  50. Curtis Thomas on September 10, 2021 at 11:05 pm

    A cousin of sorts of Equador is Equatorial Guinea, named for its location near both the equator and Gulf of Guinea, and Costa Rica’s cousins are Gold Coast and Ivory Coast, so named because in colonial times gold and Ivory were shipped from their respective ports after being obtained from their interiors