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Video: 5 countries named due to the misconceptions of the discoverers
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In different historical periods, looking at ancient maps, people tried to find legendary, rich territories. But, often, sailing on the seas and oceans, many lost their way and pushed to the shores of the lands that were not at all those they were looking for. It is because of such confusion that icy Greenland became the "Green Land" and Australia the southernmost continent.
1. Greenland
Translated from Norwegian Greenland (Grønland) means "Green Land", although on the island itself you can see solid glaciers. According to the 11th century chronicler Ari the Wise, the island was given a harmonious name by its discoverer Eric the Red, who thus wanted to create a colony there. According to another version, in the 10th century, the climatic conditions in Greenland were actually milder, so the green landscapes of the southwestern part of the island could appear in front of the eyes of Eric the Red.
2. Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands got their name from the light hand of the Spaniard Medanya de Nera in the 16th century. When the traveler exchanged gold from the local aborigines, he compared their land with Ophir - the legendary country mentioned in the Bible, where countless treasures were supposedly located for King Solomon. It remains to be seen whether Medanya de Nera actually believed that he had discovered a mythical country, or whether he simply wanted to draw attention to his person, as the discoverer of Ophir.
3. Madagascar
The island of Madagascar got its name from the Italian traveler Marco Polo, who got confused in the descriptions of African countries. The sailor, most likely, decided that the territory of the island "Madagashikaru" with lush vegetation is the site of Mogadishi (the current name of the capital of Somalia).
4. Australia
The mainland Australia also got its name by mistake. In the 17th century, travelers believed that they had finally found Terra Australis Incognita - the land in the very south of the globe depicted on ancient maps. For some period of time, Europeans believed that no one lived on the mainland, until in 1770 the English navigator Alexander Dalrymple presented evidence that the population of Terra Australis Incognita was at least 50 million people. When everything fell into place, the mainland remained Australia, that is, the "Southern Land".
5. Brazil
According to one version, Brazil was confused with the island of Brasil (O'Brazil and Hi-Brasil), which is mentioned in Irish mythology. An island in the Atlantic Ocean was depicted on maps from the 14th-17th centuries west of Ireland. Attempts to find it were made several times, since Hai-Brasil was considered the Promised Land. Other researchers are of the opinion that the name "Brazil" sounded in 1510, a Lisbon merchant established a redwood trade with Portugal. In the metropolis this breed was called "pau-brasil" (from the port. Brasa - coals, heat). The Portuguese themselves decided that they had discovered the territory from where the Arabs got the valuable mahogany.
The location of many mythical places still worries the minds of researchers and scientists. These 5 legendary lost worlds still looking for.
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