Hello, My Name Is...

Question: What country takes its name from a city of stone houses?

Answer: Zimbabwe is a Shona word meaning "stone houses." Great Zimbabwe was a city, abandoned about 600 years ago, that controlled trade in southeastern Africa.

Question: What is another name for Mount McKinley?

Answer: Mount McKinley was known to the Athapaskan Indians as Denali (the High One) and to the Russians as Bolshaya Gora (Great Mountain).

Question: What was the original name of Mexico City?

Answer: The Aztecs, the original rulers of Mexico, had their capital at Tenochtitlan, which was located on the site of modern-day Mexico City. The Spanish conquered the city in 1521.

Question: Which of these countries was once called Siam?

Answer: Thailand was long known as Siam. In 1939 the country’s name was changed to Muang Thai, or Land of the Thais, a name that itself means “free.”

Question: During the Soviet era, what was the city of St. Petersburg called?

Answer: St. Petersburg was renamed Leningrad following the Russian Revolution. It then reverted to its original name with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Question: The people who live there call it Suomi. What do we call this country?

Answer: In the Finnish language, the country of Finland is called Suomi. The word probably means "land."

Question: Another name for Iran is:

Answer: For much of its history Iran has been known as Persia to the outside world.