1. Place Names

2. Amazon River Early Spanish explorers noticed that women battled alongside men and so named the river for the legendary Amazon female warriors. Austria From the word Ostreich meaning, "eastern kingdom.“ Belgium The Celtic tribe Belgae lived in the area before the first century.

3. Bolivia Named for the South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar. Delaware, United States Named for the 17th century governor of Virginia, Thomas West, the Baron De La Warr. Ireland From the Gaelic name of the country, "Eire", which is pronounced "air." Ivory Coast / Cote d'Ivoire, Africa In the 19th century, the French traded ivory from this coastal colony.

4. Japan Comes to us from a transliteration the Chinese phrase meaning "land of the rising sun." In Japanese call their nation Nippon. Mediterranean Sea In Latin, the term "mare mediterraneum" means "sea in the middle of the earth." At the time of it's name, civilization surrounded the Mediterranean. Sydney, Australia Named for the British Secretary of State Lord Sydney. Australia itself is named for the ancient mythical Greek Terra Australis, or "southern land."

5. Tripoli, Libya The name means "three cities" in Greek and is named because of three ancient cities which were once in the modern city's location. Venezuela Reminded explorers of Venice because of native homes on stilts; Venezuela means "little Venice." Albania Based on the Latin root "albus," for white, Albania means white land. Argentina "Argentum" is the Latin word for silver thus Argentina means silvery.

6. Congo In Bantu the word "kong" means mountains. Estonia The ancestors of modern Estonians were called "Esthes." Gambia Gambia comes from the local word for river "ba-dimma." Jamaica In Arawak, Jamaica means "island of water springs."

7. Maldives This oceanic nation of 1200 atolls gets its name from the words in the Sanskrit language, "mal" for thousand and "diva" for island. Myanmar From the words "mien" for strong and "ma" for honorable. Russia The Swedish word "rus" means inhabitants or tribe and was applied to the ancestral Russians.

8. Singapore Singapore is the "city of lions" from Sanskrit - "singha" for lion and "pore" city. Ukraine The name Ukraine is Slavic for border or frontier. Vatican City The Pope lives in the Vatican Palace in this enclave, named for the Latin word "vaticinatio" for prophesy. Yemen This country, located at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, has a name that means "to the south" or "to the right" in Arabic.