Places Named by Mistakes
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Places Named by Mistakes — Daily trivia Monday, April 6, 2026: questions and answers
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Q 01Because Columbus thought he had reached Asia, the Caribbean archipelago he landed in still carries what name?
- AWest Indies
- BSunda Islands
- CWindward Isles
- DNew Spain
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West Indies
He called the people he met Indios, and the label stuck to the islands and, in the US, to Indigenous peoples for centuries.
Q 02What is the primary reason the Dead Sea cannot support most life?
- AHigh levels of toxic heavy metals
- BExtreme salinity
- CLack of oxygen in its waters
- DExtremely cold temperatures year-round
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Extreme salinity
The Dead Sea is named for its extreme salinity, which is about 9.6 times saltier than the ocean, preventing most macroscopic aquatic organisms like fish and plants from surviving in its waters.
Q 03Which name did Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 world map print for the first time, honouring Amerigo Vespucci?
- AColumbia
- BVespuccia
- CHesperia
- DAmerica
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America
It appeared only over what is now South America, on the largest wall map printed to that date, and later maps stretched it across both continents.
Q 04Which mostly ice-covered land did Erik the Red give a pleasant name to tempt settlers?
- AGreenland
- BIceland
- CSvalbard
- DFaroe Islands
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Greenland
The Saga of Erik the Red says outright that 'people would be attracted there if it had a favourable name'; 14 boatloads of settlers followed him from Iceland in 986.
Q 05The Canary Islands are named after what animal, not the bird?
- ADogs
- BGoats
- CSeals
- DLizards
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Dogs
Pliny the Elder wrote that Canaria held 'vast multitudes of dogs of very large size', dogs still appear on the islands' coat of arms, and the bird was named after the islands rather than the reverse.
Q 06John Meares named Cape Disappointment in 1788 after mistaking the mouth of which river for a bay?
- AFraser
- BColumbia
- CSacramento
- DKlamath
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Columbia
A shallow shoal kept his ship out, so he sailed on and named the water beyond it Deception Bay; the river was formally entered only in 1792.
Q 07False Pass, Alaska was named for a mistaken belief that the strait could not be navigated by what?
- ASmall fishing boats
- BDeep-draft ships
- CPaddlewheel steamers
- DNative skin kayaks
Show answer
Deep-draft ships
The name stuck to the strait between Unimak Island and the Alaska Peninsula, and to the small fishing town beside it.
Q 08In the 16th-century Spanish romance that gave 'California' its name, what kind of place was California?
- AA mountain peak touching the heavens
- BA hidden valley of eternal youth
- CAn underwater city of mermaids
- DAn island of black warrior women
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An island of black warrior women
Queen Calafia's island lay 'east of the Indies', so when Cortés's men heard of an island off Mexico supposedly ruled by Amazons, the name seemed to fit.
Q 09What geographical feature did many early European explorers believe the Gulf of California to be?
- AA deep ocean trench
- BA vast inland lake
- CA strait to the Pacific
- DA major river mouth
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A strait to the Pacific
Cortés's scant knowledge of southern Baja led to the assumption that it was one big island, and mapmakers kept drawing it that way long after explorers knew better.
Q 10Which explorer, convinced an inland sea lay at Australia's centre, instead found the stony desert that bears his name?
- ACharles Sturt
- BJohn Oxley
- CEdward Eyre
- DLudwig Leichhardt
Show answer
Charles Sturt
His 1844 push into the interior, with John McDouall Stuart as draughtsman, crossed the gibber plains later named for him and ran into the Simpson Desert instead of water.
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