Quiz | Easy like Sunday morning: How countries got their names

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This Caribbean Island was originally called Wadadadli, but Christopher Columbus decided to name it for the Church of St. Mary of the Ancient. The neighbouring island, originally known as Wa’omoni, was given a name that meant ‘bearded’, a reference to the fig trees everywhere. How do we know this country now?

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This country is named after the oldest desert in the world. Originally known as Southwest Africa, professor Mburumba Kerina gave the country its name. Its root is ‘Nama’, which means ‘area where there is nothing’. Which country is this?

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This country gets its name from the family that rules over it. The name of the family comes from the Arabic word ‘sa’d’, which means ‘happy’ or ‘prosperous’. Which is this country, aiming to become a global investment powerhouse by 2030?

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This Pacific island nation was named after Captain Thomas Gilbert, who landed here in 1788. Till its independence in 1979, it was known as the Gilbert Islands. If their Christmas Island was renamed ‘Kirisimasi’, what was the country renamed as?

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This South American country is believed to have got its name from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. When he saw the stilt houses in Lake Maracaibo, he thought the place looked like a ‘Little Venice’, which is said to have inspired its name. What country is this?

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This huge expanse of islands in the Pacific had been inhabited for more than 5,000 years. In 1568, Spanish explorer Álvaro de Neira ‘discovered’ these islands. He apparently saw gold flecks in the river and immediately thought that this place was where a Biblical king obtained all his wealth. Which country got its name from this not very wise reasoning?

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When Spanish explorers landed in this area in South America, they called it ‘River of Silver’. This was in reference to the ornate jewellery the locals wore. The place later became ‘Silvery Land’ in Italian. What name did the country get when, eventually, only the Latin word for silver remained?

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This Central African country gets its name from the Wouri river running through it. The Portuguese explorers called it ‘Rios dos Camarões’ (river of prawns), due to the abundance of the seafood. Eventually what name did the country become known by?

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In 150 CE, Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy drew a map with a large land mass in the Southern Hemisphere. He labelled it “unknown southern land” in Latin. The Dutch called it ‘New Holland’, and the English called it ‘New South Wales’. What is the Latin word for ‘southern’, which became the country’s name?