As a Virginian, it always amuses me that our state was named for the "virgin queen" & our official tourism slogan is "Virginia is for lovers" 😄😘

Algonquians : The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups. Historically, the peoples were prominent along the Atlantic Coast and into the interior along the Saint Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes.

About the red color of the Colorado river, it varies depending on the time of year. Sometimes its nice and clear, and others it is in fact a reddish brown. That is from the soil that makes its way into the water, and the soil has a larger than average amount of iron in it, and when iron is oxidized it rusts, and becomes red.

Most Native American tribes name themselves in their own language as "the people" which this video translates as friends or allies but the more literal translation would be, "us". This also explains why the video says the Apache named Idaho from their word Idahey (Enemy) but the more literal translation would actually be just "them". Algonquian is the name of a language group of Native American peoples. Though there is an Algonquian tribe (which now resides near present-day Quebec), it is mostly used to describe a group of tribes using a similar language.

Love how Millie got it right about New Jersey being named after the Island of Jersey and how James said old Jersey lol 😂😂😂

Algonquin (or Algonkin) in this case is a term for a family of languages that includs many languages in the eastern part of the US.

James.. it snows in places like Nevada. Las Vegas has gotten snow times before. But you also have to remember all the Rocky Mountains in places like Nevada & Arizona are very high, which means they get snow caps pretty regularly.

The Fourth is one of those holidays when most things are closed, or have shortened hours. Malls and shops are closed. Grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations are open. Perhaps more places in cities, but in the suburbs, most things are closed. No mail delivery either.

Fun fact, that etymology is why "Friendship" is our state motto here in Texas.

I am from Utah and the state is full of Ute Indians. I was taught all my life that Utah was named after the Ute Indian Tribe.

Y'all would probably be interested to learn about the Lewis & Clark expedition; the first serious attempt by the early US government to chart the newly acquired western lands of the Louisiana purchase and beyond to the Pacific coast. There aren't a lot of detailed videos about it on KZfaq but the channel Megaprojects has a pretty decent one: "The Lewis and Clark Expedition: How the USA Discovered Its Eventual Western Borders." There are also more serious documentaries but they are significantly longer than your usual reactions.

Minnesota here: The natives told the white explorers that the name of the river was Minnesota. The explorers knew that Mni meant water (today: Minneapolis=water city, Minnetonka=big water, Minnehaha=falling water) and for sota the natives poured milk into water. The explorers didn't get it so the natives pointed to the clouds. The explorers thought they were pointing to the sky and said "Ahh, land of the Sky Blue Waters!" Even though we know this is wrong many Minnesota brands advertise themselves as 'from the land of the sky blue waters' because it sounds better than 'from the land of cloudy water'.

One thing that most of us don't appreciate is how MANY Native American tribes there are in the United States. A quick search says that the federal govenment recognizes 574 different Native American tribes within the 50 States. I never suspected that there were nearly that many.

Actually Sioux is pronounced Sue. Native Americans sometimes came to elementary schools and taught us a bit of history of their culture. It was one of those guest speakers deals during our classes on the Oregon trail or the trail of tears. It was actually kinda nice learning about what they were. Florida has a lot of people of Seminole heritage heck even the county I live in has the tribe’s name. It’s hard for them though as they haven’t really integrated into modern society too well as they tend to keep to their reservation and casino near Miami. A few wander up every once in a while though. They are having trouble just getting decent jobs without the casino because it’s literally all they know. It’s a hard life for them you know.

Algonquian is a Native American language group

The Colorado River used to look red prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. After the dam was constructed, the sandstone silt was trapped behind the dam and the river is now blue 😊

Colorado. Yes, it means Colored Red in English from the Spanish given word. I grew up in Colorado Springs & there is a red clay layer below the top soil. Should you go farther Southwest you will find more of the reddish clay soil. This is the region the Spanish explorers examined in the 15th & 16th century & inspired the name, Colorado. The rivers, including the Colorado River can give a deep red hue after the winter snow melts in the Springtime.

When water level is low, Colorado River can have a reddish muddy color. It flows through states with a lot of desert areas where soil is dry & rivers take on color of type of desert soil it flows through which varies from gray, brown, to brick red. Soil in many places contain clay. During monsoon (rainy) season, river level is higher & so it is more a blue/aqua color. Grand Canyon in Arizona was formed from the Colorado River. If you look at pictures, you can see many shades of red & brown rock layers it flowed through over the centuries to erode it to level it is now & river would have been that rock color during low water levels. (Today Arizona is well known for its red rocks.) O’Odham Native Americans still live on an reservation in Arizona & “small spring” refers to how low water levels of rivers & streams are throughout year because there is so little rainfall except during monsoon season. Names that are close to original Native American terms for rivers, mountains, plains, etc., is where state name originated, not from European influence or who discovered that Native Americans already lived there. When Europeans showed up, Native Americans already had names for everything. Europeans changed Native American terms to make them "sound" more European & so they were easier to spell. (Incas & Aztecs that lived in Mexico & Central America are also considered Native Americans.) Native Alaskans called Eskimos (a term they don't prefer/like) are Native American Iñupiats/Inuits. (Inuits are also found in western Canada & Greenland). Native American Alaskan Aleuts live on Alaska's Aleutian Islands, but are not considered Eskimos. Sioux is pronounced “Soo” (like word moo). Algonquin is Native American tribe that is divided into numerous other tribes that lived in Canada, New England, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, & Iowa. Within most states there are cities/towns, rivers, forests, etc., that still have Native American names which puzzle people visiting the U.S. who don’t understand the origin of their names. If you want to learn more about Native American tribes you can google it in general or a specific tribe. (Tribes are usually split into smaller tribes that each lived in their own area within the greater tribal area. Easier to understand if you think of the large tribe as a “state/territory” & sub-tribes within it as individual “cities” or “towns.”) Today what is known as U.S. history only dates back to about 1510s, but Native Americans possessed American land for centuries prior to European arrivals & tribes have rich histories. (America’s history didn’t just begin when colonies & then states & then a nation was formed.)

No one asked, but here is Canada quickly explained 🤣 Canada - Kanata - Huron-Iroquois word for "village/settlement" Alberta - Queen Victoria's fourth daughter British Columbia - Originally Columbia. Named after the Columbia River. To avoid confusion with Columbia in South America, the Queen named it British Columbia Manitoba - likely comes from the Cree "Man-into-wahpaow", which means "the narrows of the Great Spirit" New Brunswick - to honour the reigning British monarch, King George III, who was also Duke of Brunswick. Newfoundland - discovered by John Cabot in 1497 as the “New Found Launde.” Northwest Territories - self explanatory as it was known as the Northwestern Territory Nova Scotia - Latin for New Scotland Nunavut - means “our land” in the Inuit language of Inuktitut Ontario - comes from the Iroquois word “kanadario”, meaning “sparkling” water. Prince Edward Island - to honour commander-in-chief of British North America, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Quebec - comes from the Algonquin word for “narrow passage” or “strait” Saskatchewan - The Cree name for the Saskatchewan River was “Kisiskatchewanisipi,” meaning “swift-flowing river.” Through common use, this eight-syllable name was shortened to Saskatchewan Yukon - probably comes from the word “Yu-kun-ah” meaning “great river.”

One problem on his Oregon theory is that Oregano is not native here. It seems that someone figured the State and the herb sound so much alike, it must be the origin, but it can't be. The one big one he left out is the French word for Hurricane, which sounds a lot like Oregon, and those early French mountain men could have been here during a very stormy season and see the rough Pacific, and I can easily see a possibility for using that. Though it seems we'll never, ever really know the true origin.

1:45 can you trust a source that says "Aslaska"?

Utah is named after the Ute Indians! And yes the Colorado River looks like that once it gets to the desert of Utah. But in Colorado it’s mostly blue and rapids good for rafting snd kayaking! The Colorado River made the Grand Canyon too.

The Colorado river runs through a lot of territory where the soil color is distinctly red. before it was dammed - the river tended to carry so much sediment that that some wags said, "The Colorado is too thick to drink, but too thin to plow!"

Colorado River is clear when it's just glacial melt but turns red when it rains hard and washes the red dirt from all the canyons down into the river .

Michigan: surrounded by its Great Lakes. Makes sense. They are like mini oceans. You don’t realize how big they are until you see them. Us Michiganders love our Great Lakes!

What's really helpful is seeing a map of where all the different Native American tribes were living and what portion of North America was mostly considered to be their tribal lands around 1500 A.D. There are several maps on the internet which shows North America divided up by tribes rather than by states for reference. You'll also find a lot of counties that make up each state often will be named after an Indian tribe. Iowa is a very good example, it is made up of 99 counties and many of them are named after tribes.

For me, Native Americans don't get enough love here in the North America, sadly. Yet I live in a county that derives from Delaware Native American word for "sandy, or gravelly creek". In reference to the creek the county was named after. Stuff like that keeps these languages alive!

Born of the Dinéh T’aa Nation: meaning “the first peoples, or people of this Nation, or traditionally known as the ‘the holy peoples’” (in Spanish: The Navajo Nation of New Mexico and Arizona), I am glad to hear our First Nations represented. As long as I’ve lived here I never knew the origins of the states myself. Thank you for sharing this video. It’s a huge eye opener. It’s sad that many of our First Peoples (native Americans, or indigenous peoples) do not exist today, but can be remembered by these names. My grandfather told me that the states were given these tribal names to identify locations as settlers drew their maps of each territory. If they could just remember where each body of water is then they’ll know which territory they were in. And, of course, the rivers means a lot to the first peoples because it is the source of life to us. The River releases it’s spirit and soul so we could live and breathe. And the connecting of rivers represents our connection as one… traditionally speaking of course. For the longest time the name “Indian” bothered me. Because we’re not Indians. We don’t come from India! (No disrespect), so we just started calling ourselves ‘the first peoples’ of this land. I don’t even use the word Native Americans either because I had an altercation with a white woman about the use of the meaning “native”. She claims she could identify herself as a Native American because she was born in America. She is native to America. So I started using ‘first peoples’ instead. Then she argued that a small part of her genealogy is connected to the Cherokee or the Comanche tribe. I had to walk away laughing. They always say that. 🙄🤭 She says… “we have a Cherokee princess in our bloodline so that make me of royal descent!” 😂😂😂 Anyway… I just let her have that. You never know these days what anyone can find in their genealogy these days using Ancestry.com 🙄🤦 Anyhoo… thanks guys! This was another great video. Y’all are so awesome. Love ya!! ❤️❤️❤️

I'd always heard that Utah was named for the Ute tribe. Fun fact, Apache is a Ute word also meaning "enemy." Colorado means "colorful," not "colored," and that is indeed red clay. Three of the six Sioux (pronounced "Soo," not "See-ewe") nations with similar sounding names: Nakota, Dakota, and Lakota. Arkansas is pronounced "Ar-can-saw."

When there is run-off from the mountain streams the water is really red in Colorado so it makes sense that those streams empty into the Colorado River and turns the river red. It's really cool when the run-off merges with the streams!

The Union Jack 🇬🇧 on the Hawaiian flag is because the last monarch of the islands, before it was “annexed” into the United States by big businesses, considered the UK her closest ally. Apparently it was the country that was most respectful of her as a queen, whereas most other countries considered the native Hawaiians too technologically “primitive” to acknowledge their leaders as “real” royalty. It is confusing as a U.S. student when you see 🇬🇧 on a state flag for the first time. I’m told by people who wear the state logo on a shirt or ring that it’s often mistaken for New Zealand.

Speaking of history: Most students, during their school years, do a class on state history, US history and World history. You learn about your state, but the US history class normally is about the states as a whole, not state by state. And world history is normally about big events and not individual countries. I am pretty sure what I was taught about world events is not the same as what students study today. More personal: I took an English Literature class that included a lot about British History.

Spending the 4th of July up in the cool, snow capped mountains of Nevada. ❤

It's actually called "Independence Day" and it is a Federal Holiday so almost all government offices, banks, post offices are closed and most businesses do observe it but essential services, food stores and restaurants may be open. Since it's always observed on July 4th, it has become commonly called "The 4th of July" celebration/holiday.

The Spanish influence - particularly with place names extends from Florida to Alaska. The city of Ketchikan sits on Revillagigedo Island (good luck with that pronunciation), named for Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, the viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) in the late 18th century. Likewise, the San Juan Islands in the State of Washington are also named in his honor, as well as Guemes Island, and Orcas Island (Orcas being an abbreviation of Horcasitas.) Vancouver Island (in Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (in the US) are separated by the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Florida actually got its name from the flowers in florida. named by Ponce de leon. he actually saw many new species unfortunately he was a conqueror though fortunately he did not encounter the native seminole indian tribes as that would have been disastrous. He did explore from miami's bay to st augustine doing a few stops to camp for a few nights.

Many folks think of Nevada as "hot" - because most people experience visiting Nevada in Las Vegas - which is low desert. but the majority of Nevada is mountainous high desert - which is indeed quite cold in the wintertime.

Alabama isn't named for the river. It's named after the tribe Albaamo. They spoke Muskogean. They named the river and the state after these people. This tribe was written about by the first Europeans that came here, the Spanish, in 1540.

Don't worry Millie... You're not the only one that forgets about Nebraska. (Coming from a Native Nebraskan.)

The Colorado river here in Colorado turns that color every spring during the spring thaw and runoff when all the melting snow runs into the river.

Yes, the Colorado River use to be red, due to the minerals and sild that leached from the limestone, which is all around the river. However, when man created the Glen Canyon Damn, it prevented this mineral/silt from flowing downstream so the river no longer runs red.

I'm from Kentucky and in our Kentucky history class we were taught that the name derived from an Indian word meaning dark and bloody ground. This was because various Native American tribes considered this area as their hunting ground and would fight other tribes for the right to use it as such. That was a long time ago. 😁

The Louisiana Territory is almost all prime farmland, so yes it's worth a lot of money.

Algonquian refers to a large group of people who lived primarily in the southern part of Canada.

We have had a TV series named, “How the States Got Their Shapes,”. As it is a series they are able to spend more time on each state and teach about how the borders got defined for each state as well as the names. Extremely interesting.

It's a Federal Holiday, no mail delivered, banks are closed and 90% of business are closed or paying time and a half.

FLORIDA was discovered by the Spaniards during the Easter Weekend in 1514 and noticed the abundance of flowers hence the name "Pascua Florida" or "Flowery Easter".

Well, he wasn't lying when he said he was mispronouncing many of the names. 😅

The original video had an understandable pronunciation error. Sioux, he pronounced See-oo, is actually pronounced Soo.

That was fun, ty!

Though not connected but coincidental, Ohio is also the word for Good Morning in Japanese.

Since I’m retired (75y old) I was at home. Lots of fireworks in our neighborhood. Nearly constant booms. And it’s drizzling. 😊

Hello from Holtwood pa!off today!My 4th is very quiet and by myself because Hubby is in a nursing home.

I had to work, time and a half. Spent part of it listening to y'all's videos

Aloha! 🤙When you got to the "New Jersey" reaction part, I started singing in my head, 🎶 "It's a small world after all....." 😆 🤙

The Puerto Rico - San Juan switch (supposedly) was a mistake by a cartographer.

Great reaction! I have said this in a couple other people's reactions to this video, he pronounces ojibwe wrong, It's o-jeeb-way (for the jeeb part it's like how you would say jeep, but with a b instead of a p). Not trying to criticize him, he's amazing, just letting you know so if you ever come across it again you know how it's supposed to be pronounced.

This was a great video. With a ton of great information. But I must agree with the narrator that his pronunciation was not very good. It's hard for many people to pronounce the words of native language. Pretty much all of them were wrong. Many of the words are still used today. Like the word Sioux. They are still a tribe. It's pronounced like "sue" as in the name of a girl Sue or to take someone to court and Sue them. Many of the locations still use the native name. Like the Alleghany river. It's pronounced "Al-eh-gain-ee". Other than butchering some of the words it was great.

So interesting! I enjoyed that one.

What would you nam…”Millie.” 😂

I live in Idaho. The man who suggested the name claimed it meant "Gem of the Mountains" in a local native language. However, he totally made it up. The Geography King channel called Idaho his favorite state name because it doesn't really mean anything! 😂

Yes the Colorado river does look like that in certain areas and at certain times of the year especially during the spring and early summer months due to soil and rock erosion during the winter melting season

My family came here in 1910 from Alderany Island. Would love to visit just to explore all the places my grandfather did

An Algonquin term is from the Algonquin Indian Tribe language.

I did work today from 7 to 3 and got my overtime for it and I’m also celebrating tonight with beer and fireworks so win-win all the way

Dang! Of course, I'd end up in Idaho! Lol

I grew up in illinois and we were always taught that it was the "French-ized" spelling of the Illini tribe and it meant "superior people" since the illini were sort of overlords of many other tribes in the area.

What did Tennessee? Precisely what Arkansas. 😎 What did Delaware? A New Jersey.

the west coast includes the Cascade mountains, and its been suggested that a few states will become Cascadia in the event of a secession

Don't worry, everybody forgets about Nebraska. We are just here doing our own thing. As for the name, the video really glosses over the WHY the names are given. Nebraska has a ridiculous amount of rivers and streams, having more riverfront land than any other U.S. State. Since the elevation gradient of the state is such a slow drop across a large distance there are many places where the bigger rivers are prone to spread out creating huge flowing wetlands and flood plains. Hence, "Flat Water"

My grandmother's name was Millie ❤.

VERY GOOD ! ! ! THANK YOU ! ! ! 🙂😎👍

Just a clarification, the southwest was NOT conquered by the US. What actually happened was that Mexico started a war with the US over a border dispute in Texas. The US won the war and Mexico paid recompense by giving the US their northern territories.

There are two tribes in Utah and nearby states, Goshute and Ute. University of Utah calls its students Utes, with the permission of the tribe to keep it. The logo is a Native American drum with a feather. The mascot was changed to a red tailed hawk in recent years as the naming of mascots and teams was changed from tribal names was considered derogatory.

My 4th of July was fantastic

I work in tech support for an ISP, so I was on the clock today, but thankfully I get holiday pay on top of hourly, so I got paid double today lol.

Good grief. The film immediately misspells Alaska.

The Algonquin were a native tribe, and also the term expanded to include Algonquin speaking language peoples. The tribe living in Illinois was called the Illini tribe.

14:36 Algonquian is another native tribe that was discovered by the French before the Quapaw

Utah is actually named after the tribe that lived in the area, Utes (pronounced YOOTS)

Regarding the Louisiana Purchase...in 2022 the farmland in the state of Iowa alone was valued at $407.3 billion dollars (35.7 million acres @ $11,411.00/acre).

No one heard that scream at 24:03??? 😂😂

There's a long running joke that Illinois was named after the local natives asking the french people to "speak normally" and stop speaking gibberish.

14:18 The Algonquin are a native peole that were largely based in the southern part of Canada

The Algonquin people are an Indigenous people who now live in Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, which is part of the Algonquian language family.

24:04 random woman screaming in the background like a Banshee.

The great falls of the Little Colorado River, a tributary in northern Arizona, is so brown it looks like something out of Willie Wonka.

Utah was also the home of the Ute Indian Tribe so...Ute - Utah?

Good for him, not skipping your home island of Jersey.

The Colorado river can be red like that. It's not like that all the time though. It's due to the red clay in the area washing down into the river after it rains. The clay is red due to decay of plant life like leaves etc etc mixing in with the iron oxides in the ground. In my state of Georgia it's like that around here too. When it rains a lot or very hard lots of the rivers, streams, and creeks waters will have a reddish color to it.

Just wanted to point out the word Sioux is pronounced Sue. In the video, the maker pronounced it wrong. The Sioux are a native American tribe.

Interesting video thanks

Hi Old Jersey! -From New Jersey.

Illinois meaning “speaks normally” is ironic because northwestern school of journalism in the state made the American dialect used by a lot of journalist as they went there. It’s now replaced a lot of dialects because media used it for years.

There was a show a while back called How the States Got Their Shapes where they talked about how the boarders for all the states were drawn. It was interesting kind of like this video. Can't for the life of me remember what network it was on though.

The name "Utah" originates from the Native American "Ute" tribe which means people of the mountains. This is the primary theory, the 2nd is rom the Apache word "yuttahih" meaning "one/those that is/are higher up". Either way, the Native Tribe is called UTE - The University of Utah, at the blessing of the UTE TRIBE are called the UTEs or the RUNNING UTEs

New Jersey has a town named Carteret.

14:35 Algonquin is the language of most northern woodlands tribes- like the ones within the Iroquois Confederation and many great lakes tribes like the Cree, Mohican, and Ojibwa

I was taught that Texas was derived from an Indian word "tejas" meaning friend or friendly.

When I was 12, our history teacher had us create our own state and discuss how it got its name, the culture that was there, any wars it was in and the politics that came from it.... I named mine Bonjovi😂.....