• Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    6 hours ago

    This map is the gift that keeps giving:

    • Obodo Oyibo Belfast, Polar Obodo Oyibo — Obodo oyibo is “white man land” in Igbo. See RL Niger and Nigeria.
    • Big Wota — colonisers often picked some random word/expression the locals mention and assumed it was the name of the place. See RL Yucatán, probably from Maya ma’anaatik ka t’ann (I don’t understand you)
    • Baris, Rom, Nedelan, Phrans, Deutshland, Doisrikondre, Caucasia — Paris, Rome, Netherlands, France, Germany [Deutschland], Germany (again) Caucasus. It’s all somewhere there anyway.
    • Cabo Cinza — geographical feature + adjective. See RL Cabo Verde (Green Cape).
    • Duckstan — it’s basically “place of the ducks”; most of the time you see -(i)stan being associated with a local people but that isn’t obligatory, see Persian ⟨گلستان⟩ (gulistān “rose garden”). See RL Lagoa dos Patos (Ducks Lagoon).
    • Lithium Coast, Cheese Coast — after some local resource. See RL Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast
    • Qhadafia — after some random political big shot. (From the colonising side, of course.) See: RL Philippines, Victoria
    • Kemetic Ocean — Kemet is the old name of Egypt, both the pre-Roman kingdom and the region around the Nile. I think it’s being modelled after the RL Atlantic Ocean vs. Atlas.

    Surprised to not see any place being called “Big River” or “Day of Arafah Island”.